Clockwork Films to adapt nonfiction Guantanamo Bay book into TV drama

The series centres on John Ryan as he becomes embedded in Camp Justice

Australian production company Clockwork Films (Players Ball, Crying Wolf) has optioned the rights to John Ryan’s recently published nonfiction book, America’s Trial: Torture and the 9/11 Case on Guantanamo Bay, for adaptation into a TV series.

Clockwork Films envisage the project, titled Welcome to Camp Justice, as a darkly comic prestige drama, pitched as M*A*S*H meets The Newsroom. No commissioning broadcaster or platform has been announced as of yet.

Released last week by Skyhorse Publishing, America’s Trial… is based on over fifty trips which legal affairs journalist Ryan made to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba.

The book presents an inside look at the prosecution of five detainees accused of planning the 9/11 terrorist atrocities in the US.

The TV series will centre on Ryan as he becomes embedded in Camp Justice, a temporary legal installation which accommodates one of the “most expensive and dysfunctional court cases in history.”

Naomi Harvey, executive producer, Clockwork Films, said: “This isn’t just a legal story, it’s a deeply personal one. Through John’s eyes, the book restores humanity to one of America’s most notorious true crime cases.

“It reminds us that behind the red tape and redactions are real lives of victims, families, even perpetrators all trapped in limbo, while a secretive court system is allowed to continue behind closed doors. It’s time to bring some transparency.”