Blumhouse has acquired the rights to The New York Times’ story about Miriam Rodríguez, the Mexican mother who fearlessly tracked down the kidnappers who abducted and murdered her daughter, Karen.
Rodriguez — who went on to become a prominent human rights activist, helping to imprison 10 members of the local cartel in San Fernando — was shot and killed in front of her home on Mother’s Day in 2017. Blumhouse won the rights to the Times story, titled “She Stalked Her Daughter’s Killers Across Mexico, One by One,” which spawned an immediate bidding war after it was published on Dec. 13.
Azam Ahmed, the story’s writer, will produce the project alongside Caitlin Roper, the NYT’s executive producer for scripted projects, and Blumhouse’s Jason Blum. Ahmed has served as The New York Times bureau chief for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean since 2015. In 2019, Ahmed reported a series on the homicide crisis in Latin America, which won the Michael Kelly Award.
Anonymous Content represents the interests and rights for The New York Times’ journalism and brokered the deal with Blumhouse. Anonymous Content also recently sold the rights to the Pulitzer Prize-winning “1619 Project” to be produced for film and television by Lionsgate and Oprah Winfrey.
The New York Times has “The Jungle Prince of Delhi” with Mira Nair and Ellen Barry at Amazon, “Verbatim,” and the Issa Rae and Adam McKay-produced “Nice White Parents” in development. The company recently produced the Amazon Studios’ documentary “Time,” anthology series “Modern Love,” Netflix’s “Father Soldier Son,” “Some Kind of Heaven” with Magnolia Pictures and “The New York Times Presents” with Hulu and FX.