There’s this incredible bit of reporting in a Los Angeles Times article this week. I guess that’s no surprise, given the quality of writers over there. Still, this story really knocked my socks off. It’s about Joe Francis, the founder of the Girls Gone Wild franchise. The story opens with a scene in which the enraged soft-porn king grabs the reporter, forces her face-down on the hood of a car and re-enacts his arrest in Panama City. The reporter, Claire Hoffman, thinks he might break her arm, that’s how hard he’s holding her. What really works for this top-notch piece of writing is that Hoffman has an incredible sense of pacing and narrative, and even though the day she spends with Francis is kind of horrific, she paints a very fair picture of the guy. It’s also a great subject, one that Hoffman writes into the heart of. Really, everyone should read this.
Man Gone Wild
1 min read
