Salena Zito’s ‘Butler’ Coming to a Theater Near You
Pa.-based reporter's account of Trump assassination attempt snags film deal
Salena Zito sticks out like a sore thumb among Legacy Media journalists.
The Pennsylvania scribe doesn’t stay huddled in her office, removed from her readers. She’s a shoe-leather reporter who meets the very people she covers for a living.
Her reportage reflects that back-and-forth approach. How … refreshing.
The Washington Examiner scribe was feet away from former and future President Donald Trump a year ago in Butler, Pa. when bullets sliced through the summer skies. Trump supporter Corey Comperatore died in the melee, while a bullet clipped the presidential candidate’s ear.
Zito wrote a powerful book based on those July 13, 2024 events called “Butler,” released on the one-year anniversary of the assassination attempt.
Now, she’s teamed with Pensé Productions to bring the book to the big screen.
BREAKING: @ZitoSalena announces they are turning her book ‘Butler’ on the Trump attempted assassination into a movie pic.twitter.com/5jwM9wzpMN
— The Sean Spicer Show (@seanspicershow) July 16, 2025
The Times says the film will cover Zito’s career as well as the events of that fateful day in Butler.
“[Pensé Productions] asked to see an early copy of the book. They were interested,” Zito told talk show host Sean Spicer this week. “This was a really pivotal moment in history.”
The company’s “About” page suggests it’s a snug fit for the material in question.
Pensé Productions believes that a vastly underserved market exists for film and television projects that challenge the Hollywood status quo with storylines that provide a moral to the story without moralizing. Hollywood, and increasingly Silicon Valley, control the content that shapes our culture. Worldviews held by the media and technology elite are shockingly uniform, with traditional concepts of liberty replaced by license, freedom replaced by dependency, and religious principles dismissed.
Zito told Spicer that President Trump, to her knowledge, was unaware of the film project.
It’s not the only Trump-related film heading our way. An upcoming documentary focusing on First Lady Melania Trump could hit theaters by the Fall. The Prime Video feature is directed by Brett Ratner, most famous for the “Rush Hour” film trilogy.
Another project, announced in May, promises a more positive look at the leader’s colorful life and career. That’s in stark contrast to “The Apprentice,” the 2024 commercial dud that relentlessly attacked Trump during his rise to real estate power in the 1980s.