Neon Lands 'I Want My MTV' Film, Taps Geremy Jasper to Direct
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- Neon acquired the film adaptation in a competitive situation, with the project pitched as a 'timely' story because MTV recently shut down its last remaining music-only channels.
- Geremy Jasper is directing from a screenplay he co-wrote with Jim Hecht (Winning Time), framing the story around MTV's 1980-1985 inception and citing a personal connection — he and Hecht both worked at the network in the 90s-2000s, where Jasper met his wife.
- Noah Stahl is producing through Cinetic Media alongside Riva Marker (Linden Productions) and Barnstorm's Glen Powell and Dan Cohen, with Eva Maria Daniels, Marks, and Tannenbaum as EPs; casting is underway.
- Jasper's pedigree includes Patti Cake$, a 2017 Sundance breakout acquired by Searchlight that went on to Cannes Directors' Fortnight, and O'dessa starring Sadie Sink, released on Hulu in 2025.
- Neon arrives at Cannes with a heavy slate including James Gray's Paper Tiger, Arthur Harari's The Unknown, Cristian Mungiu's Fjord, Ryusuke Hamaguchi's All of a Sudden, Hirokazu Koreeda's Sheep in the Box, and Na Hong-Jin's Hope in competition, with Boots Riley's I Love Boosters opening May 22.
Why it matters: Neon beat out competitors for a prestige music-industry package with a director whose Patti Cake$ Sundance track record and Glen Powell production hook give the project strong awards-season and star-casting upside. The book is positioned as a meditation on a vanished medium, arriving just as MTV exited music entirely — a contrast Neon is clearly marketing.
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