Flying Scoop Television Acquires Film Rights to 'Evil on the Roof of the World' True Story

Flying Scoop Television has optioned the film rights to William Elliott Hazelgrove's narrative nonfiction book Evil on the Roof of the World: A Cycling Trip That Ended in Terror. The book, published by Bloomsbury on November 13, 2025, recounts the tragic true story of Lauren Geoghegan and Jay Austin, two young American idealists who left their stable careers in Washington, D.C. to embark on a global cycling journey that ended in tragedy in the remote mountains of Tajikistan.

In July 2018, Lauren, Jay, and two fellow cyclists were brutally murdered by five ISIS terrorists on a bleak highway in the Pamir Mountains, often called the Roof of the World. Hazelgrove reconstructs their story through their Simply Cycling travel blog, social media posts, interviews with friends and family, and global media coverage, offering a profound exploration of idealism, risk, love, and violence. The book has been praised for its sensitive, deeply researched storytelling, with reviewers comparing it to Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild.

Mark Finklepearl, Partner and Executive Producer at Flying Scoop, described the story as heartbreaking, courageous, and deeply cinematic. He stated that Flying Scoop is honored to partner with William Hazelgrove to bring Lauren and Jay's journey and their legacy to the screen. Finklepearl emphasized that Evil on the Roof of the World is about more than a single act of terror, calling it a meditation on youthful dreaming, unflinching hope, and what happens when that hope collides with the darkest corners of reality.

Nathaniel Starck, Executive Producer and Director at Flying Scoop, added that their goal is to adapt the book with integrity to show both the beauty of Lauren and Jay's journey and the tragedy of their loss. He emphasized that this is more than a true crime story, noting that it's about two people who believed in connection and risk, and what their lives meant to everyone who knew them. Flying Scoop has produced hundreds of hours of television for companies including National Geographic, Discovery, and Fox Nation, with their latest release, The Real Hatfields and McCoys Forever Feuding, achieving streaming success.

William Elliott Hazelgrove is the National Bestselling author of ten novels and twelve nonfiction titles whose books have received starred reviews in Publisher Weekly Kirkus, Booklist, Book of the Month Selections, ALA Editors Choice Awards Junior Library Guild Selections, Literary Guild Selections, History Book Club Selections, History Book Club Bestsellers, Distinguished Book Award and have been optioned for movies. More information about the author can be found at https://www.williamhazelgrove.com.