Ripped from the Headlines: Contemporary Practices in the Adaptation of Journalism as Screen Fiction

Abstract

ABSTRACT The relationship between journalism and the film industry has been widely discussed, but the process of adapting journalism for the screen has not previously been analysed in detail. This article traces the intensification of Hollywood films adapted from longform journalism in US newspapers and magazines between 2010 and 2019 and examines how journalism has come to be traded and processed as a form of intellectual property. The corporatisation of journalism adaptation is investigated through the consideration of two companies which specialise in adapting journalism for film and TV. The article proceeds to analyse two films in detail: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019), adapted from Tom Junod’s article “Can You Say … Hero?” and Hustlers (2019), adapted from “The Hustlers at Scores” by Jessica Pressler. The journalists whose work was adapted participated in promotional activities for both films and were represented on-screen, in fictionalised form. As such, this article also considers how journalists may function as authorial presences in the adaptation of their work. Finally, the article considers how Neighbourhood and Hustlers negotiate the relationship between fiction and nonfiction, seeking territory between the truth status and authority asserted in journalism and the dramatic invention of film.