Sony keen on buying film rights of Steve Jobs biography

LOS ANGELES: Sony Pictures Entertainment, the studio that produced highspeed and high-profile movies “This Is It,” with Michael Jackson, and “The Social Network,” about Mark Zuckerberg, could do it again with the Apple cofounder Steve Jobs.

The studio late last week concluded a deal to buy film rights to the authorized biography “Steve Jobs,” from Walter Isaacson, according to a person who was briefed on the deal and spoke on the condition of anonymity because the studio had not authorized a public statement. A Sony spokesman declined to comment. Word that discussions were being completed was posted Friday on the Deadline.com website.

After Jobs’ death Wednesday, Simon & Schuster, which is publishing the book, moved up its release date by a month, to October 24. And advance orders have been brisk, as readers hunger for more information about a leader who has emerged as the embodiment of creativity and enterprise that has appeared to falter in much of the business culture.

Historically, movies have been developed slowly, and seldom tackled current events, as circumstances, interest and the national mood would often change in the years it took get a picture on track. But that has changed, as studios took advantage of faster digital production techniques, and showed a new willingness to keep pace with the increasing pace of the media world.

After Michael Jackson’s death, the studio had his concert film, “This Is It,” in theaters within months. “The Social Network” was being written even as the book on which it was partly based, Ben Mezrich’s “The Accidental Billionaires,” was being rushed to publication.