Fiction in the public interest

Floodlight connects investigative reporting with the film and television industry to produce informed fiction in the public interest.

Floodlight

About Us

Hard-hitting investigative journalism. Gripping films and television series. Floodlight is the bridge between these two worlds. We source and curate a selection of the most riveting investigations from top journalists, shape the material, and present it to leading filmmakers and television series creators for adaptations into rich stories.

Floodlight was created by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), the Gabo Foundation, and film industry professionals. Now an independent organization, Floodlight fuses fact with storytelling in service of the public interest.

History

The idea for Floodlight was sparked in 2022 when OCCRP Co-Founder Paul Radu and Gabo Foundation General Director Jaime Bello met for the first time in Cartagena, Colombia. In their roles at their respective organizations, Paul and Jaime encounter some of the most powerful investigative reporting of our time. Their mutual passion for truth-based fiction and the impact that film and television can have on audiences seeded this marriage between investigative journalism and the film and television industry.

After partnering with film industry veterans Philippa Kowarsky and Alesia Weston, Floodlight was officially formed.

The Summit

The year-round program includes a rigorous selection process and culminates in the annual Floodlight Summit. Investigative journalists and filmmakers spend three days together in an intimate setting in spirited conversation about the best ways to translate reporting into engrossing films and television series.

After days of pitches, panel discussions with legends in journalism and film, and one-on-one meetings, attendees leave Floodlight with a new understanding and appreciation for each other’s industry. New relationships are formed and collaborations are explored in order to bring these stories to light.

The Floodlight Select Journalists and their stories hail from all corners of the globe, including Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Oceania, and the United States.

Past film and television industry participants include producer Rodrigo Garcia (One Hundred Years of Solitude, News of a Kidnapping), director Maria Schrader (She Said, Unorthodox), producer Nicolàs Celis (Emilia Pérez, Roma), screenwriter Charles Randolph (Oscar winner, The Big Short), screenwriter Susannah Grant (Oscar nominated, Erin Brockovich), producer Andrea Calderwood (BAFTA winner, The Last King of Scotland), writer Ziad Doueiri (Oscar nominated, The Insult), and writer-director Danis Tanović (Oscar winner, No Man’s Land).

Past featured guest speakers include journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey (The New York Times, She Said), Patrick Radden Keefe (The New Yorker, Say Nothing), and Walter Robinson (The Boston Globe, Spotlight).

Consulting

Our journalists are available to consult in writers’ rooms and on projects in development.

Spanning six continents, our worldwide network of reporters includes some of the last remaining independent media in countries with well-advanced media capture, where government-owned or strongly influenced press has become dominant.

With a wealth of knowledge across a breathtaking array of subjects, we are experts in the myriad ways that global organized crime and high level corruption is interconnected and how it spreads across the world and affects almost every aspect of daily life.

Topics include: disinformation and the powers behind it, dark money in democracies, human trafficking, crime and corruption’s role in environmental destruction, how global organized criminal groups operate and their connection to terrorism, money laundering, the enablers of corruption (the lawyers, bankers, accountants and professional class), and sanctions evading.

Don’t see a topic you’re interested in on this list? Write to us — we’re probably on it.

In journalism, just one fact that is false prejudices the entire work. In fiction, one single fact that is true gives legitimacy to the entire work.
Gabriel Garcia Márquez

News and Events

Floodlight has been written about in various publications, including Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Deadline.

The first Floodlight Summit was held in 2023, in Cartagena, Colombia. Out of the 250+ proposals submitted, fourteen investigations were selected and presented by journalists to the film and television industry. Watch the video:

News and Events

How It Works

Leading investigative journalists share both their published and unpublished stories. They open up troves of meticulously gathered documentation about issues that affect us all, spanning years of dedicated work. Top film and television storytellers are invited to discover the investigations as potential projects. Each field’s process is demystified, leading to stronger collaboration, more impactful stories, and better informed audiences.

Curate investigations through a highly competitive process
Step
Identify filmmakers and television storytellers who can adapt investigations into truth-inspired fiction
Step
Prepare journalists’ presentations and pitches
Step
Convene investigative reporters and filmmakers and television series creators
Step
Seed collaborations and shepherd deals, deepen understanding of complementary field
Step
Release films and television series that inform mass audiences and fuel change
Step

Testimonials

Susannah Grant
The opportunity to hear the backstories and details of the most pressing investigations happening around the world right now, directly from the journalists putting their lives on the line in search of truth, was tremendous.
Susannah Grant
Screenwriter and Producer, Erin Brockovich
Walter Robinson
Floodlight was long overdue. Putting the world’s best investigative journalists, who are eager to share their work, in the same room with filmmakers who want to bring great stories to the screen was a master stroke.
Walter Robinson
Investigative Journalist, The Boston Globe, and consultant on the film Spotlight
Paul Kolsby
What emerged at the Floodlight Summit were frank discussions. Notions of good and bad, and truth and accuracy, were finally placed alongside those of character, objective, rooting interest, and conflict. In the end, we learned that journalists and filmmakers are united by a common desire: to tell engaging, believable stories that expose a greater truth.
Paul Kolsby
Producer, Ozark
Joslyn Barnes
Floodlight was a window into how these courageous experts are unearthing some of the world’s most important stories, often at significant personal risk… These are the champions of light, accountability, transparency, truth, the factors that make for active, progressive citizenship.
Joslyn Barnes
Producer, Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Elena Loginova
From the initial application process to working on ideas and pitching them, the entire journey ignites new ideas, provides focus, and at the same time, broadens the vision. I believe the magic crafted by the organizers, filmmakers, and my fellow journalists is a result of their profound love for their work and a shared belief in a better world.
Elena Loginova
Investigative Journalist, OCCRP, Ukraine
Nacho Gomez
Floodlight was an exchange. We brought data and creativity. We gave them tips to be factual, they gave us tips to be impactful. We both are willing to make a better world. Let’s do it together.
Nacho Gomez
Journalist-Editor, Noticias Uno and Cuestión Pública, Colombia

Applications for Floodlight 2025 will be open till March 15

Floodlight: Fiction in the Public Interest
Where Truth Fuels Imagination

Our Team

Paul Radu
Paul Radu
Co-Founder, Floodlight and OCCRP
Jaime Abello
Jaime Abello
Co-Founder, Floodlight and General Director, Gabo Foundation
Drew Sullivan
Drew Sullivan
Co-Founder, Floodlight and OCCRP
Alesia Weston
Alesia Weston
Chief of Creative, Floodlight
Philippa Kowarsky
Philippa Kowarsky
Executive Producer, Floodlight
Gordana Miladinovic
Gordana Miladinovic
Project Manager, Floodlight and OCCRP
Timea Hont
Timea Hont
Project Coordinator, Floodlight
Daniel Marquínez
Daniel Marquínez
Special Projects Manager, Floodlight and Gabo Foundation
Lauren Jackman
Lauren Jackman
Head of Communications, Floodlight and OCCRP
Carolina Gómez Piñol
Carolina Gómez Piñol
Head of Communications, Floodlight and Gabo Foundation
Laura Leiva
Laura Leiva
Logistics manager, Floodlight, and Special Projects Coordinator, Gabo Foundation
Paul Radu
Paul Radu
Co-Founder, Floodlight and OCCRP

Paul is an investigative journalist and the head of innovation at OCCRP. He founded the organization in 2007 with Drew Sullivan. He leads OCCRP’s major investigative projects, scopes regional expansion, and develops new strategies and technology to expose organized crime and corruption across borders. Paul is a co-creator of Investigative Dashboard — a research desk that sifts through datasets to help journalists trace people, companies, and assets. He is an executive producer of the award-winning film, The Killing of a Journalist.

Jaime Abello
Jaime Abello
Co-Founder, Floodlight and General Director, Gabo Foundation

​​Jaime is a Co-Founder of Floodlight and the Gabo Foundation. He is the general director of the Gabo Foundation (Fundación Gabo), created in 1994 in Cartagena as an initiative of Nobel Prize-winner Gabriel García Márquez. Between 1990 and 1995, he was the CEO of the Colombian public broadcaster Telecaribe. Jaime graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana of Bogotá and has dedicated his professional life to journalism, television, film, and cultural management.

Drew Sullivan
Drew Sullivan
Co-Founder, Floodlight and OCCRP

Drew is an investigative journalist and the publisher of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). He founded the organization in 2007 with Paul Radu. Under his direction, OCCRP has won numerous awards, including the European Press Prize. He is an executive producer of the award-winning film, The Killing of a Journalist. He has a degree in aerospace engineering and worked in the space industry before switching to journalism. Drew has also been a professional standup comedian and has played the evil foreigner in four Bosnian films.

Alesia Weston
Alesia Weston
Chief of Creative, Floodlight

Alesia is Floodlight’s chief of creative and oversees the organization’s creative work. Previously, she led Sundance Institute’s International Feature Film Program for a decade, where she established the screenwriters labs and grant programs for emerging filmmakers from the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, Europe. She was the executive director of the Jerusalem Film Festival and guest curator for the Beirut and New Zealand International Film Festivals. Alesia began her career at Imagine Entertainment and Trigger Street Productions, and later worked with Martin Scorsese to establish a platform for auteurs filmmakers.

Philippa Kowarsky
Philippa Kowarsky
Executive Producer, Floodlight

Philippa is executive producer, Floodlight. She is the CEO of Views, a film foundation in the making. Philippa is also the founder of Cinephil, an international sales and advisory firm representing films such as Academy Award-nominated Collective (2021), Flee (2022), A House Made of Splinters (2023), Emmy-winner Night Will Fall (2015), and Gunda (2020). She is the co-founder of Film Platform, an educational streaming service available in over 2,000 universities worldwide. Philippa also served as lead commissioning editor for BBC Storyville.

Gordana Miladinovic
Gordana Miladinovic
Project Manager, Floodlight and OCCRP

Gordana is responsible for overseeing all aspects of Floodlight. She also works at OCCRP, supporting 70+ media member centers on building sustainable organizational operations. Previously, she launched and operated several companies, including a creative agency covering design, architecture, fashion, and 3D printing. She has also led projects empowering women survivors of concentration camps. She managed a British Council-funded project producing fashion films and previously worked as a journalist covering culture on Bosnian national television.

Timea Hont
Timea Hont
Project Coordinator, Floodlight

Timea is Floodlight’s coordinator, responsible for the planning and production of events. She is also a freelance journalist and international events manager and has worked on projects in Berlin, Vienna, Shanghai, and Cartagena. Timea manages a yearly street festival in Bucharest and curates cultural projects focusing on literary residencies, art exhibitions, and film screenings. Previously, she was a reporter and community manager for the first crowdfunded newsroom in Romania. During this time she worked in public relations for Sundance Film Festival-winner Acasă, My Home.

Daniel Marquínez
Daniel Marquínez
Special Projects Manager, Floodlight and Gabo Foundation

Daniel oversees the Floodlight project on behalf of the Gabo Foundation. He directs and coordinates the Gabo Festival, the largest gathering of storytellers in Ibero-America, and the Gabo Prize, an award that annually honors the best journalistic stories published in Spanish and Portuguese. As director of special projects he also oversees programs related to Garcia Marquez´s cultural legacy, such as Gabo´s centenary (which will be celebrated in 2027), and the Netflix partnership that adapted One Hundred Years of Solitude into a television series.

Lauren Jackman
Lauren Jackman
Head of Communications, Floodlight and OCCRP

Lauren is the communications co-lead for Floodlight and head of communications for OCCRP. She has managed communications for a variety of nonprofit and media organizations. Previously, she was a television news and White House producer and worked with journalists from more than 30 countries on documentaries and news series. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in social entrepreneurship.

Carolina Gómez Piñol
Carolina Gómez Piñol
Head of Communications, Floodlight and Gabo Foundation

Carolina is the communications co-lead for Floodlight and head of marketing and communications for the Gabo Foundation. She is a social communicator and journalist, with a master’s degree in international affairs and studies in digital marketing and data analytics. Over the past 15 years, Carolina has worked as editor-in-chief in media outlets, and has been in charge of the design and execution of multi-channel strategies in different industries, working in Colombia, Spain, and Argentina.

Laura Leiva
Laura Leiva
Logistics manager, Floodlight, and Special Projects Coordinator, Gabo Foundation

Laura is Floodlight’s logistics manager and Special Projects
Coordinator at the Gabo Foundation. With over five years of experience
in communications and project management, she has been in
charge of coordinating conferences, festivals, and workshops that aim
to strengthen the Latin American journalism community. Laura is a
social communication graduate from the University of Cartagena and
is currently pursuing an MBA.

FAQ

How do I participate in Floodlight? (For Journalists)

Submissions are typically submitted in the first quarter of the year. You may submit an investigation for consideration at the link above. Please read the instructions carefully. The reporting must be original and you must own the rights to the investigation (or have written permission from the owner). We are looking for urgent, timely, and extraordinary stories. We select investigations in July for the Floodlight Summit, which typically occurs in December. You will be notified one way or the other about your submission. Thank you for your interest! For questions about the application process, please contact Gordana Miladinovic <gordana@floodlightproject.org>

How do I participate in Floodlight? (For Film and Television Creatives)

Invitations are extended to people in the film and television industry based on the projects we select each year and the alignment with the Floodlight mission and values. We appreciate your interest!

What about intellectual property (IP) rights? It was my idea, I did the reporting, and I wrote the story. Does this mean I own the rights to it?

Not necessarily. It depends on what agreements you have signed, your work status, and the rights of others who helped or published the story.

If you are an employee of a company, you need to look at your employment agreement. As an employee, they may claim all of your intellectual property. We prefer that the journalist obtain the IP rights from their employer. If you do not, it may become complicated to make an agreement with a film company or even prevent such an agreement. If more than one organization ran the story, they also might make a claim on the property rights. You will have to look at what agreements were made, if any, and you may need signed agreements from the company or companies, releasing all claims to the property.

Other reporters might make a claim. You want to make sure they get proper credit and their work is rewarded. You may need to either include them in any deals with a percentage of ownership or get them to sign agreements releasing any claims. Floodlight’s values dictate that all journalists are treated fairly and equitably and are properly acknowledged.

If you are a freelancer, you again need to review your agreement with the publisher. If books or documentaries were made, those people and their agents and publishers may have claims. It can get dizzyingly complicated. And once money is on the table, everything gets one hundred times more complicated and everyone will want a piece. If ownership is complicated, filmmakers won’t want to deal with it. So you need to get these things sorted hopefully before applying.

If your story features a person strongly, they have rights to their life story. You may need their permission.

Please contact us with any questions about intellectual property rights. We can help you.

Be aware that even if you do everything correctly, if the film is successful, people will come out of the woodwork. Nothing attracts legal claims like big profits. We strongly encourage you to keep all of your correspondence and document all meetings, conversations, and chats.

I want to submit an unpublished investigation. Do I own the rights since my outlet didn’t publish it?

If a story has not been published, it could make the situation very complicated. First, these stories may not be fact checked and fully vetted, which can cause legal or accuracy problems later. Second, the news gathered may be claimed as being the property of the media organization and the journalist must prove ownership of the rights. It makes the matter very unclear and we will not consider unpublished material unless it is a very compelling story. If a story is published and the pitch includes materials not included in the story, this is acceptable but the reporter may be asked to undergo fact checking or provide other documentation.

What happens if my story is selected?

Congratulations! There will be a certain time commitment needed from you leading up to and during the Floodlight Summit. We will ask you to sign the Floodlight agreement and provide proof that you own the rights to your story. We’ll have an initial orientation call and you’ll be working with Floodlight writers on your story for the Floodlight catalogue (this typically takes a few phone calls). You must be committed to this process. You’ll meet with the Floodlight team who will help you prepare your pitch and we will arrange for you to arrive early in Cartagena so that you have time to refine your pitch and practice onstage with professional assistance. We are on hand to walk you through the whole process and will give you more information after you are selected as a Floodlight Select Journalist.

After the Summit, the producers, screenwriters, and directors are required to send their expression of interest to the Floodlight team. If there are serious offers, Floodlight will provide you with a lawyer, paid for by us to help you negotiate a deal.

If my story has multiple reporters, can we submit the story together?

If your story advances through the preselection process we will ask you for a statement declaring one of you as the representative for any deals that may come about as a result of the Summit.

Please note: The Floodlight Summit can fund travel to Colombia for one journalist only and fund accommodations for no more than two journalists who worked on the story.