HBO in Production on New Ronan Farrow Documentary Tracking Sprawling Criminal Case in Johnson City, Tennessee

Directed And Produced By Fenton Bailey And Randy Barbato, Produced By Ronan Farrow

HBO Documentary Films, World of Wonder, and Ronan Production Group are currently in production on a documentary that follows years of immersive reporting by Pulitzer Prize-winning and Emmy®-nominated journalist Ronan Farrow. The film chronicles a maze of revelations about Sean Williams of Johnson City, TN, a serial predator, tracing both his decades-long evasion of justice and an ensuing scandal over claims of corruption and systemic law enforcement failures. The film, directed and produced by Emmy®-winning filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato (HBO’s “Small Town News,” “Carrie Fisher: Wishful Drinking”) and produced by Ronan Farrow (HBO’s “Surveilled,” “Catch and Kill: The Podcast Tapes”), will debut on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max.

The documentary will feature exclusive access to the subjects at the heart of the story, including Kat Dahl, a determined federal prosecutor who was dismissed after investigating the case. Seeking accountability on behalf of the women and children Williams allegedly targeted and wider exposure for the story, Dahl reached out to Farrow, who went on to publish the first in-depth national reporting on the Williams case in The New Yorker earlier this year. Together with the film team, he continues to chronicle the story as it unfolds and through the accounts of survivors, their attorneys, families, community members, and Sean Williams himself, the convicted perpetrator at the center of the ongoing case.

Ronan Farrow, producer, quote:

“The details of this story at times defy belief. I’m so grateful to the sources in Johnson City who have helped to bring it to light. In the wake of radical reductions to the federal government’s oversight mechanisms for corruption, this community’s questions about police accountability are more urgent than ever.”

Credits: Produced by Ronan Production Group and World of Wonder; produced by Ronan Farrow and Unjin Lee; directed and produced by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato.