About
I am a journalist, author, and television producer currently living in Brooklyn. I normally write longform narrative and investigative features.
I am especially drawn to deception: how people deceive each other—and themselves.
My first book, MAGIC IS DEAD: My Journey Into the World's Most Secretive Society of Magicians, is now available from Dey Street Books, and was named an Amazon Top 10 Best Book of the Month for Memoir and a Best Book of the Year (So Far).
My second book, INSIDE THE CARTEL: How An Undercover FBI Agent Smuggled Cocaine, Laundered Cash, and Dismantled a Colombian Narco Empire, will be published by Dey Street Books in 2025.
I am the co-creator and executive producer of truTV’s BIG TRICK ENERGY, and I was the consulting producer on EXHIBIT A, an investigative documentary series produced by A24, which is now streaming on Netflix.
My Playboy feature “A Veteran in Crisis” won 3rd Place for the 2019 L.A. Press Club Investigative Reporting Award.
My VICE Sports feature "Breaking Kayfabe: An Inside Look at WWE's Unlikely Business Empire" was shortlisted for the 2016 Associated Press Sports Editors Explanatory Award.
My writing has been optioned for film and television by NBCUniversal, Broadway Video, AGBO, Midnight Radio, Black Label Media, and Lionsgate.
I have written for a variety of publications, including:
The New Yorker
The New York Times
New York Magazine
Esquire
The Verge
The Washington Post Magazine
Playboy
WIRED
Bloomberg Businessweek
Town & Country
Longreads
Vice
I also speak regularly at universities both about writing and entrepreneurship.
For my full CV, or just to say hi, you can e-mail me: frisch.ian@gmail.com
My non-fiction literary agent is Larry Weissman: larry@brooklynliterary.com
My fiction literary agent is Jenny Simpson: jenny@paperliterary.com
My media rights agent is Josie Freedman at CAA: josie.freedman@caa.com
My non-scripted film and television agent is Arielle Lever at CAA: arielle.lever@caa.com
My podcast agent is Lola Bellier at CAA: lola.bellier@caa.com
My publicist is Heidi Richter at HarperCollins: heidi.richter@harpercollins.com