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Reporting in New York Magazine Has Been Adapted Into Must-see Television and Movies for Decades

New York Magazine’s March 1–14, 2021, cover. Photo: Eric Liebowitz/Netflix

New York Magazine obsessively chronicles the ideas, people, and cultural events that are forever reshaping our world. From Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Taxi (1978) to Hustlers (2019), Inventing Anna (2022), and The Watcher (2022), New York’s award-winning journalism has been adapted for the big and small screen by some of the most influential names in Hollywood. Now produced in collaboration with Vox Media Studios, New York’s projects range across genres and formats, including series, documentaries, and feature films.

In the coming months, our storytelling will continue to entertain audiences across print, digital, film, and TV. New York Magazine adaptations currently in production with Vox Media Studios include “The Great 21st-Century Treasure Hunt” at Netflix and “Sex Diaries” at HBO. In addition, “The Many Lives of Crypto’s Most Notorious Couple” is in development at Hulu and “Who Killed Tulum?” and “The Stolen Kids of Sarah Lawrence” are in development at Amazon.

Many of these stories have also been featured in Reread, our newsletter series that resurrects classic features from our archives and pairs them with a new introductory essay by city editor Christopher Bonanos. You can sign up for the first edition, focused on our tales of scammers, grifters, and hustlers, here, and the second edition, covering 53 years of the city’s real-estate madness, here.

Read more about some of our favorites below.

The Watcher
“The Watcher” (New York Magazine, 2018)
Ominous letters. Strange neighbors. Sinister threats. The chilling true story of a dream home turned nightmare is captured by Reeves Wiedeman in “The Watcher” and brought to life in a limited series now streaming on Netflix: The Watcher, starring Naomi Watts.

Photo: Netflix

Inventing Anna
“Maybe She Had So Much Money She Just Lost Track of It” (New York Magazine, 2018) 
Audacious entrepreneur or con artist? Jessica Pressler’s Maybe She Had So Much Money She Just Lost Track of It” reveals how Anna Delvey convinced New York’s elite she was a German heiress. Her story gets unraveled in the series Inventing Anna, starring Julia Garner and streaming on Netflix.

Photo: Aaron Epstein/Netflix

Worst Roommate Ever
“Worst Roommate Ever” (New York Magazine, 2018)
Worst Roommate Ever,” by William Brennan, was adapted into an anthology series on Netflix with the same title. Now streaming, these terrifying true stories unveil some of the worst cohabitation experiences one could ever imagine.

Hustlers
“The Hustlers at Scores” (New York Magazine, 2015)
A struggling stripper and her mentor team up to turn the tables on Wall Street clientele in “The Hustlers at Scores,” by Jessica Pressler. The story was adapted into a feature film starring Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu, and more. Hustlers is currently streaming on Hulu, Vudu, and Google Play.

Photo: Courtesy of STXfilms

Bad Education
“The Bad Superintendent” (New York Magazine, 2004)
Robert Kolker teaches us a lesson in “The Bad Superintendent,” which was adapted into the crime-drama movie Bad Education, with Hugh Jackman. The film can currently be watched on HBO.

Photo-Illustration: Vulture, HBO and Getty Images

American Gangster
“The Return of Superfly” (New York Magazine, 2000)
Heroin kingpin Frank Lucas shares his story in “The Return of Superfly,” by Mark Jacobson, and then on the big screen in American Gangster, with Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. American Gangster can be found on YouTube or Apple TV.

Saturday Night Fever
“Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night” (New York Magazine, 1976)
Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night,” by Nik Cohn, tells the (admittedly fanciful) story of a group of young Brooklyn discogoers in the 1970s. The story is “Stayin’ Alive” through the beloved movie adaptation and cultural phenomenon Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta. You can currently watch Saturday Night Fever on Hulu Premium, HBO Max, and Roku Channel.

Taxi
“Night-Shifting for the Hip Fleet” (New York Magazine, 1975)
Night-Shifting for the Hip Fleet,” by Mark Jacobson, covers the culture around the drivers of a New York City emblem: the taxicab. These stories were later brought to life in Taxi, which won 18 Emmys, currently on Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Paramount+.

New York Stories Adapted Into Must-see TV and Movies