On March 8, 2011, it was announced that Summit Entertainment, Participant Media, and Image Nation had acquired the film rights to "The New York Times" article "Deepwater Horizon's Final Hours", written by David Barstow, David S. Rohde, and Stephanie Saul, and published on December 25, 2010, about the 2010 "Deepwater Horizon" explosion and subsequent oil spill. Matthew Sand was set to write the screenplay, while Lorenzo di Bonaventura was in talks to produce the film under his Di Bonaventura Pictures banner. Summit and Participant Media/Imagination would also finance the film. On acquiring the article to develop into a film, the president of Participant Media, Ricky Strauss said,