Good News Gary

Full-Length Feature | Comedy

A hard-charging investigative reporter loses his career and is forced into the one job he despises most, covering good news, only to discover that learning how to see what’s right with the world might finally fix what’s wrong with him.

Gary was once a feared investigative reporter, the kind who made CEOs sweat and city officials lose sleep. Then he got sloppy and torched his reputation. No station will touch him. Perfect timing, because his daughter has just been accepted into a prestigious university and the tuition bill is due.

Desperate, Gary takes the only job he can get, reporting good news stories. Instead of exposing corruption, he’s covering cow pie tic-tac-toe, kids selling lemonade, and pet adoption fairs. To Gary, it’s fluff, not journalism. But he swallows his pride for his daughter’s future.

The station’s smarmy news director, eager to replace Gary with his co-anchor lover, subtly feeds story angles designed to push him off-brand. Gary takes the bait, turning feel-good fluff into quasi-investigations, and his on-air clashes go viral. It’s only a matter of time before he flames out again.

Then something shifts. Gary begins to see these small community stories truly matter. Ratings climb. For the first time, “good news” feels, well, good.

But while covering another positive story, Gary stumbles onto financial misconduct. In a split-second decision, he exposes it live on air. The twist: the money trail leads straight back to the station’s own general manager.

Gary is fired again. At home, his daughter challenges him to figure out whether he’s fighting for the truth or just chasing the thrill of being right.

The network president has always believed in Gary and the importance of good news. After the dust settles, he gives Gary another shot – to manage the station. Gary accepts, but with a twist – they lead with good news, not bury it at the end of each newscast.

Gary reframes what “good news” really means and how sharing that with the world brings us all a little closer together. In doing so, he rediscovers the journalist in him, and the father, he wants to be.

Balancing newsroom satire with emotional authenticity, Good News Gary is a character-driven comedy about finding the good in the world and the radical idea that focusing on the that might actually be good for business.