Sopranos Writer Terence Winter and Age of Disclosure Director Team Up to Adapt Jay Stratton's UFO Memoir

Terence Winter, the writer behind The Sopranos, Wolf of Wall Street and Tulsa King, is teaming up with Age of Disclosure director and producer Dan Farah to adapt an upcoming memoir from former senior US intelligence officer Jay Stratton. The Hollywood Reporter reported that Winter will adapt Stratton's forthcoming book Out of the Shadows, and that Stratton is considered the senior most former government official to come forward claiming the existence of non-human intelligent life. The project is currently seeking distribution.

In a statement reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Winter said, "For all of human history, mankind has wondered whether we are the only intelligent life in the universe. Jay Stratton's shocking true story answers that question and more as it delves into the world of the US government's investigation of UAP and non-human intelligent life. It's a riveting journey into a world that the public knows little about. Jay is the key man in the US government's modern-day investigation of UAP. While his decades of work have been in the shadows, it has changed the course of history and I couldn't be more excited to bring his story to the screen." Farah added, "Out of the shadows has the propulsive storytelling of a high-stakes political thriller. It brings you behind the scenes of the US government's investigation of the biggest mystery of all time. At the center of the story is the deeply personal harrowing toll Jay's pursuit of the truth had on him and his family."

Stratton co-founded the Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Application Program, described as the first official US government program to investigate UAP since the Air Force's Project Blue Book closed in 1969, and he reportedly investigated UAP and non-human intelligent life on behalf of the federal government for 16 years, according to The Hollywood Reporter. In his own statement reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Stratton said, "I have seen with my own eyes nonhuman craft and nonhuman beings. It's time for the world to learn the truth. There's far too much at stake. UAP activity over our nation's sensitive military and nuclear sites is an ongoing issue." Out of the Shadows is set to be published in the US by HarperCollins imprint William Morrow on October 13.

The Hollywood Reporter noted the project is the latest in a wave of UFO related projects, which earlier this year included Steven Spielberg's film Disclosure Day, and that public interest in the topic has surged following a succession of media reports, lawmakers, and whistleblowers making claims about UAP.

Why I Think This Could Succeed Where Disclosure Day Fell Short

This is ultimately what I was hoping for with Disclosure Day. I was hoping that film was going to lean more toward a grounded, political-thriller feel, and instead it went more into the fantastical side of what Steven Spielberg does, which is why I think a lot of people ended up disappointed with it. I liked the movie, but I liked it for what it was. As a UAP movie, it didn't really do much at all.

This project, based on a memoir that hasn't even come out yet, could really dive into the subject because of who is involved. Terence Winter matters because he's a genuinely talented screenwriter, and if he's working directly from what Stratton has actually done, then you have the right person writing the actual script.

Dan Farah has become a big advocate and spokesperson for UAP disclosure, especially after Age of Disclosure and the movement it built, and I think his relationship with Stratton from interviewing him likely led to these discussions. He's been on countless shows, including Bill Maher, promoting the topic, and one reason Age of Disclosure was a hit is that Farah has the clout to get himself booked on shows in a way other directors covering similar ground haven't managed. His genuine interest in the topic is phenomenal, and teaming with Terence Winter is a strong pairing on its own.

Stratton's Untold Story and the Push for Him to Testify

We haven't really heard Stratton's full story publicly in one place before. It's come out in bits and pieces through podcasts, interviews he's given, and in Age of Disclosure. Everybody wants to see him testify, and everybody has wanted that for a while, but he hasn't been able to, because there's no protection for whistleblowers. He wants to do it, but there's apparently too much pushback.

I've said before this could be handled the way I think it's being done with David Grusch, who I believe is still working with Joseph Kosinski, the director of Top Gun: Maverick and F1. The way for people in that position to get their information out is to hand it all to a screenwriter, since it's not under oath. You can put things in a script that people might assume are fictional but that actually happened, the same way people can say things on podcasts without being under oath and can later claim the writer made it up.

That's what makes this interesting, because it takes on a true-life aspect we haven't really explored in film yet. Disclosure Day was a made-up story, and the big documentaries haven't gone into the personal whistleblower side of things. From what I've heard, Kosinski's movie was going to tell a story similar to Grusch's without being about Grusch himself. This one is about Stratton directly, so making almost a biopic inside a UAP picture is genuinely interesting and could get a lot of people talking.

This Movie Needs a Big Star to Work

The thing they're going to need for this one is a big star. We don't live in the era anymore where a Tom Cruise or a Julia Roberts or a Will Smith can put out any movie and people will show up regardless. We live in an IP driven world now, but star power still helps. I'd use Star Wars as an example, an IP that's been on a decline lately, where putting Ryan Gosling in a new entry could still help, even though a Ryan Gosling movie alone doesn't necessarily fill theaters.

With a UAP driven movie, putting an unknown actor in the lead doesn't work as well as having a recognizable name playing Jay Stratton, because bringing in that Hollywood interest functions like marketing. If the movie is good enough, and bringing in someone like Terence Winter helps that case, getting into awards conversations means people start talking about someone being up for an award in a true story about a guy who worked inside this world, and that keeps articles and interviews coming.

It's the same pattern as any biopic, the way Bohemian Rhapsody put Queen back at the top of the charts again. It's a maneuver, it's a machine, and it's a smart way to get the information out there and make the public ask what really happened. That said, it's not guaranteed. They might not write the right thing, they might not cast the right person, they might not get the right buzz or critical response, and it could all fall apart, but it's not a bad strategy.

Why I'm Already More Excited for This Than I Was for Spielberg's Film

This one is now going high up on my anticipated list. I liked watching a Spielberg movie again, but I felt it did nothing for the UAP topic overall, and the UAP community needed to support it and largely didn't. I also think Spielberg did the normal media run, talking to outlets like The Hollywood Reporter, but he didn't go on the UAP circuit itself. He should have been on George Knapp's show, he should have been talking to James Fox, he should have been engaging with that community directly.

I think Stratton will do that, because he did it for Age of Disclosure and went everywhere else too, and that could bring in support from people saying they're doing a Jay Stratton movie, which helps build momentum. Most people I saw react to Disclosure Day within the UAP topic said it wasn't good and that it didn't really do anything, even though its message throughout was that these things are real.

This one could be different because it's about a real person who has said he saw bodies and craft. They're going to show that, and audiences will learn more about who Stratton actually is. This could be a big thing. It depends on how they do it.

What do you think, could this actually work?