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A popular story about a lesbian bar in Massachusetts has gone so viral that Hollywood studios are now considering potential adaptations for the article, according to an industry report.
On September 22, the Boston Globe published the piece in question, titled “A Western Mass. lesbian bar required KN-95 masks. When it changed the rules, all hell broke loose.” The article, written by Annalisa Quinn, quickly became a hot topic on social media feeds and sparked online discussions and think pieces on all corners of the internet — and the buzzy conversation has apparently made its way over to film and TV executives.
According to a new report from The Hollywood Reporter, talent agency UTA “has been fielding inquiries about potential adaptations for the article — both in the scripted space and the documentary sphere.” UTA represents the Globe.
A spokesperson for the newspaper told THR: “This story has certainly resonated with a wide range of audiences nationally and internationally. It is now one of the most-read stories we’ve published, and has already garnered many thousands of subscriptions.”
The Independent has reached out to the Globe and UTA for comment.
The article follows a lesbian establishment, Last Ditch Bar, in Greenfield, Massachusetts, that faced chaos after lifting its mask mandate.
Bartenders announced in an Instagram post issued to the “immunocompromised disabled divas” in August that patrons no longer had to wear KN95 masks on Saturday nights.
The decision was met with backlash and accused of being “complicit in a mass disabling event.”
Quinn’s article was praised online for its relaying of the dramatic saga, which was complete with zinger one-liner quotes from scorned customers as well as sympathetic details about the bar owner who is in a mountain of debt because of the crisis.
It quickly became one of the most read stories in the newspaper’s history, with a leaked staffer memo reporting that more than a thousand new subscribers flocked to the Globe in less than a day after the story was published.
The viral article’s success is notable considering the stark contrast in subject matter of other monumental articles in the Globe’s history that have been adapted.
In the early 2000s, the newspaper published a Pulitzer Prize-winning series of bombshell articles that exposed the systemic cover-up of abuse within the Catholic Church. The journalism inspired the 2015 Academy Award-winning film Spotlight.
Years later, the paper’s investigative reporting on the crimes and death of former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez also led to the podcast Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez. The podcast eventually led to scripted FX series American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez, which was executive produced by Ryan Murphy.
