Jeff Maysh

Last updated

Jeff Maysh
Born (1982-03-30) 30 March 1982 (age 43)
Nassau, Bahamas
NationalityBritish-American
Occupations
  • Writer
  • author
  • journalist
Maysh's voice
recorded January 2017
Website www.jeffmaysh.com

Jeff Maysh (born 30 March 1982, Nassau, Bahamas) is a British-American writer, author and journalist based in Hollywood, California, United States.

Contents

Journalism

Maysh started his career at the British men's magazine Loaded . [1] He moved to America in 2010 to cover international crime, [1] for publications including The Atlantic magazine. [2]

As a correspondent for the BBC, Maysh became the first journalist to enter the notorious Korydallos prison, near Athens. [3] His profile of prisoner Vassilis Paleokostas, a Greek bank robber who escaped from the prison in a helicopter, twice, was published on the BBC News Magazine on 25 September 2014. [4] [5]

Maysh's story about Steve Davies, a mythical soccer fan who scored a goal for West Ham United, [6] was listed in the notable section of "Best American Sports Writing 2014", and voted number one in a poll of "greatest ever soccer stories". [7]

In May 2015, Paramount Pictures acquired the movie rights to Maysh's story "The Wedding Sting". According to a report in Variety , [8] bidding became "competitive" among Hollywood studios for the true account of a rural Michigan police department that trapped drug dealers with a fake wedding. The story was first published in The Atlantic magazinne. [9]

In 2016, Maysh won "Best Crime Reporting" and "Best Feature (over 1,000 words)" at the 58th Annual Southern California Journalism Awards. [10] Both awards recognised his story in Playboy magazine about a Michigan farmer who ran a $4 million smuggling operation involving counterfeit Pez dispensers. [11] [12]

Maysh's 2016 book Handsome Devil is about Victor Lustig, [13] while the following year's The Spy With No Name is about Erwin van Haarlem, a Czechoslovak spy. [14]

In 2018, Maysh published an 8,900-word article about a major fraud involving the McDonald's Monopoly promotion on The Daily Beast. [15] This story of a former police officer who stole $20 million in cash and prizes became the subject of a bidding war in Hollywood. [16] The sale of the movie rights to Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Twentieth Century Fox for $1 million was reported by The Hollywood Reporter as the highest fee ever paid for a single magazine article. [17]

Bibliography

References

  1. 1 2 "Talking About Writing: Jeff Maysh, author of 'Handsome Devil'". The Queue UK — medium.com. 12 March 2016. Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  2. ↑ "Jeff Maysh". The Atlantic. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  3. ↑ Papapostolou, Anastasios (14 September 2014). "Exclusive: Hollywood Calls For Paleokostas?". Greek Reporter. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  4. ↑ "The Uncatchable". BBC News. 25 September 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
  5. ↑ "Readers spent 2.3 million minutes on The Uncatchable @BBCNewsMagazine". Twitter. 26 September 2014.
  6. ↑ Maysh, Jeff (5 September 2013). "The day Harry Redknapp brought a fan on to play for West Ham". The Guardian . Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  7. ↑ "Readers' Poll: These Are Your Five Favorite Ever Soccer Articles". Longform.org . 2 October 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  8. ↑ Kroll, Justin (12 May 2015). "Paramount lands Atlantic Article on Flint Wedding Sting". Variety. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  9. ↑ Maysh, Jeff (12 May 2015). "The Wedding Sting". The Atlantic.
  10. ↑ "Winners: Southern California Journalism Awards 2015" (PDF). Los Angeles Press Club. 12 July 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 July 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  11. ↑ "The Pez Outlaw". Playboy. 12 March 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  12. ↑ Marks, Ben (20 March 2015). "Quest for the Pez Holy Grail: International Smuggling Meets Father-Son Bonding". Collectors Weekly. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  13. ↑ Maysh, Jeff. "The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower. Twice". Smithsonian. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
  14. ↑ Maysh, Jeff (4 January 2017). "The spy with no name". BBC News. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
  15. ↑ Maysh, Jeff (29 July 2018). "How an Ex-Cop Rigged McDonald's Monopoly Game and Stole Millions". Daily Beast. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  16. ↑ Lee, Chris (10 August 2018). "Behind Hollywood's A-List Bidding War for a McDonald's Monopoly Article". www.vulture.com. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  17. ↑ Abramovitch, Seth (3 August 2018). "Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Paid $1 Million for McDonald's Monopoly Scam Story". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
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