Convexity Films Developing Michael Lewis’s Silicon Valley Book ‘The New New Thing’ As Narrative Feature

EXCLUSIVE: Convexity Films, the production company of filmmaker Richard Dewey (Radical Wolfe), has optioned the Michael Lewis book The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story for development as a narrative feature.

The deal came together following Dewey’s collaboration with Lewis on his feature documentary Radical Wolfe, about author and journalist Tom Wolfe, which adapted an acclaimed Vanity Fair article from Lewis.

Published by W. W. Norton & Company in 1999, the bestseller is described as an insightful and engaging exploration of the dot-com boom and the technological innovations that fueled it. The book focuses on the life and ventures of Jim Clark, a Silicon Valley pioneer who founded three billion-dollar companies in the early days of the Internet: Silicon Graphics, Netscape, and Healtheon. Through the prism of Clark’s work, Lewis provides a look at the culture of innovation, risk-taking, and entrepreneurship that defined the late 20th-century tech industry.

Said Lewis in a statement to Deadline, “This was an electric time in technology and business and the ideas from that period continue to resonate. I can’t wait to see it on the big screen.”

The project, produced by Dewey, will be developed on an accelerated timeline, with private financing already secured. Brian Kaufman, a Los Angeles-based private equity manager, is executive producing.

Of The New New Thing, Dewey stated, “This is my favorite Michael Lewis book, and it represents a singular moment when the internet entered the mainstream. In many ways, this story is the prologue to The Social Network. I’m thrilled to be partnering with Michael again to bring this amazing story to the big screen.”

Known for his ability to take complex subjects of contemporary economics and make them accessible and engaging for a broad audience, Lewis has seen three of his books adapted into Academy-Award-nominated films: Moneyball, The Blind Side, and The Big Short. Most recently, he published Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon.

Dewey’s most recent film, Radical Wolfe, examining how author and journalist Tom Wolfe has reshaped how American stories are told, was released by Kino Lorber last fall. His first film, the feature doc Burden about art world provocateur Chris Burden, was released by Magnolia Pictures in 2016.

Lewis is repped by CAA.