Ex-Chronicle reporter signs deal to make Camp Fire book into film
Former San Francisco Chronicle reporter Lizzie Johnson is partnering with Jamie Lee Curtis’ Comet Pictures and Blumhouse Productions to develop Johnson’s 2021 book, “Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire,” into a film, Curtis and Johnson announced.
Johnson, who worked for The Chronicle from 2015 to 2021 and is now a reporter at the Washington Post, was acclaimed for her deeply reported, richly felt and beautifully written wildfire coverage. Her book was inspired by her on-the-ground work for The Chronicle, but to write it, Johnson went parttime so she could do additional research and interviews in Paradise.
A Chronicle book review called “Paradise” “epic, tragic, terrifying,” adding, “The scenes of Paradise’s destruction are so surreally horrific that at times you’re afraid to turn the book’s pages for fear of what will happen next.”
In an interview with Deadline, which originally reported the news of the deal, Curtis said she was moved by hearing an interview with Johnson by Scott Simon on NPR; Curtis then read the book. (Johnson has also appeared multiple times on “This American Life,” including in a 2020 episode, “Boulder v. Hill,” recorded from a firefighter camp at the Creek Fire.)
“While I’m incredibly excited for this film, it’s also bittersweet,” Johnson told The Chronicle. “I wish that we didn’t have a reason to make it. I wish that 85 people hadn’t died and that the 19,000 structures that burned in the Camp Fire were still standing. That fire was awful and devastating, and it still lives on in the memories of tens of thousands of people.
“For them, those flames will never go cold,” Johnson went on. “As a daily news reporter, I know how quickly our attention moves on to the next climate disaster, the next breaking news. I can only hope that this film will help people remember Paradise — both as it was and hopefully what it can still be.”
Johnson isn’t the first Chronicle reporter to have a story optioned by Hollywood. Last year, Universal Television bought the rights to Jason Fagone’s “The Jessica Simulation: Love and loss in the age of A.I.”
Johnson plans to serve as executive producer on the film.