David Carr profiles Joshuah Bearman and Joshua Davis, two journalists with a track record of landing movie deals for their magazine long-reads whose startup Epic launches this week, for the New York Times:

Mr. Bearman and Mr. Davis see Epic as a vehicle for writers, including themselves, that frees them from the narrow needs of a specific magazine. The writers will retain movie rights, but if they want help in setting up projects for Hollywood, Epic will function as a producer.

They’re partnering with Medium. Later, Carr adds:

The business model, both for Medium and Epic, is a bit murky, but it would not be hard to envision a case in which Epic becomes a hothouse for a certain kind of story with cinematic elements, and a studio or a production house cuts a first-look deal for it.

Wouldn’t it?