The Producer Behind Texas Monthly’s Adaption Boom

Editors Note: Updates and corrections have been made in the piece following additional reporting regarding the relationship between Texas Monthly stories and podcasts, the company’s production agreements, and its promotional efforts. We regret the errors.

They always say that the best writing leaps off the page and at Texas Monthly, it’s Megan Creydt’s job to steer that writing onto the screen. For nearly five years, Creydt has helmed the magazine’s TV, film, and podcast development efforts, resulting in dozens of successful collaborations with industry juggernauts like HBO, Max, Paramount Plus, and Netflix. There’s also been a burgeoning crop of independently financed projects with local and national investors, including Texas Monthly itself, eager to support high-quality adaptations of journalistic masterpieces. 

“The magazine was always known in Hollywood as a great place to look for stories,” says Creydt in an interview on The Sunday Long Read Podcast, noting that Texas Monthly’s richly reported narratives with complex characters are integral to the publication’s mission and have been from the very beginning, 50 years ago. Bill Broyles—the magazine’s founding editor-in-chief, who went on to become an acclaimed screenwriter, penning Apollo 13, Planet of the Apes, Cast Away, and Flags of Our Fathers among others—instilled in his staff lessons from the Tom Wolfe School of Journalism. Longform writing should be visually and emotionally transformative, he said, which makes the archives primed for a second life beyond the printed word. 

Within the last few weeks alone, Texas Monthly launched a new podcast in conjunction with the true crime longread The Problem With Erik: Privilege, Blackmail, and Murder for Hire in Austin and announced its role as executive producer of a documentary film about the late Mexican-American singer and host of The Johnny Canales Show, Johnny Canales. 

So what does it take for a Texas Monthly story to get the Hollywood treatment? For Creydt, the process often starts with a bit of matchmaking, pairing articles she’s confident will sell with the production companies, directors, writers, or studios most likely to fall in love. “I think of myself sometimes as a PR person,” Creydt says. “I’m just singing the praises of these stories and trying to sell people on my excitement for them.” 

Other times, podcasts produced by the magazine will capture the attention of those on the prowl for a new endeavor, such as with Boomtown, the 12-part series about the West Texas oil boom. The TV show starring Billy Bob Thornton debuts in November under the title “Landman” on Paramount+. 

There are a million things that could go wrong. It’s a many year process with lots of fits and starts. I try to set everybody up to understand that.

Megan Creydt, Executive producer of texas monthly

Creydt isn’t alone in her role as spokesperson for Texas Monthly’s multimedia potential. Texan Ann Blanchard, a Television Literary and Packaging agent at Creative Artists Agency who Creydt describes as “a force of nature,” as well as other agents within the company, shop stories around on the magazine’s behalf. “They are a massive engine for a lot of the conversations that we have,” she says. 

However, once the initial thrill of getting a story optioned wears off, anxiety over the practicalities and unpredictability of Hollywood quickly takes its place. “There are a million things that could go wrong,” says Creydt. “It’s a many year process with lots of fits and starts. I try to set everybody up to understand that.” 

Some projects are optioned but never get close to the development phase. Others get developed, a screenplay is written but they sputter to a halt prior to production ever beginning. Or despite jumping into filming, it may never see a widespread release. 

What’s most important for the publication is that if and when a project airs, it puts Texas Monthly and the story’s writer front and center in the credits. “People are blown away that something’s based on a true story and they go searching for it,” says Creydt. She explains that Texas Monthly’s films, TV shows, and podcasts are powerful tools for driving droves of traffic to the website, ushering in new waves of subscribers with each release. 

While its forays into the film, TV, and podcast spaces are thrilling and sometimes financially lucrative in their own right—Netflix bought Hit Man, the new Richard Linklater-directed film based on Skip Hollandsworth’s 2001 story about a fake hit man for $20 million, roughly double the film’s budget—they are, most importantly, an effective advertisement for the magazine’s written journalism. And now, when so many publications are being subsumed by conglomerates, bought by venture capitalists, or shuttering entirely, a completely independent media company is a relic of the past, which makes Creydt’s job all the more dire. 

But unlike the productions that keep viewers and listeners on their toes, Texas Monthly’s continued success wouldn’t surprise anyone. 

“We want to be able to sustain the magazine and be able to keep telling these stories,” for another 50 years, she says. 

Listen to Feldman’s interview with Creydt on Spotify and Apple or watch it on YouTube here.