PALEY CENTER FOR MEDIA, THE: THE STORIES YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE ARE TRUE: INVESTIGATING OUR OBSESSION WITH TRUE CRIME {LONG VERSION}
Summary
One in a series of evenings and special screenings presented at The Paley Center for Media in New York. This evening explores the rising popularity of true-crime stories in film, television and other mediums.
Host Diane Lewis (executive vice-president of programming, The Paley Center for Media) offers opening remarks and welcomes Edward Skyler (head of Global Public Affairs, Citi; former Deputy Mayor for Operations for the City of New York) to the stage.
Skyler moderates the following panelists: Rene Balcer (executive producer/writer/showrunner, "Law & Order" franchise), Tamron Hall (journalist and television host, "Deadline: Crime"), Erin Lee Carr (documentary film director, "Mommy Dead and Dearest" and "Thought Crimes: The Case of the Cannibal Cop"), Marc Smerling (screenwriter and producer, ""The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst," "Capturing the Friedmans") and Kahane Cooperman (executive producer, "Cold Blooded: The Clutter Family Murders").
The panelists touch on such topics as: Cooperman's decision to create an in-depth documentary about the 1959 murders of the Clutter family, also examined in Truman Capote's seminal 1966 non-fiction novel "In Cold Blood"; building trust with the two older Clutter daughters, who have never publicly discussed the tragedy before now; Capote's decision to humanize the two killers, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, and the accusations of exploitation leveled at the book; the importance of maintaining journalistic boundaries when interacting with criminals, including Carr's odd "friendship" with Gilberto Valle, "the Cannibal Cop"; the first criminal trial of Lyle and Erik Menendez as the first case covered "gavel-to-gavel" by television cameras; Hall's long career and "passion" for cases ignored by the mainstream media, usually involving people of color and the poor, such as the 1998 murder of 11-year-old Ryan Harris and the two young boys falsely accused of the crime; the strong themes of fear and empathy involved in portraying true-crime stories; why Hall strives to focus on the human victims of crime, unlike Capote; how any average person might become involved in a crime because of "one wrong turn"; Smerling's struggle to "do the right thing" after hearing Robert Durst's infamous taped confession during production of "The Jinx"; the careful process of "humanizing monsters" and understanding what causes a person to commit crimes without excusing their actions; using mental compartmentalization to acknowledge a killer's humanity without ignoring their crimes, including Hall's disturbing trip to a geriatric prison wing; Balcer's interest in the extremely high statistics of child molestation among Death Row inmates; news portrayals of killers and the debate about using their names versus focusing solely on the victims; why Carr does not think of herself as a journalist; her interest in the "why" behind Gypsy Rose Blancharde's 2015 murder of her mother Dee Dee, as explored in Carr's film "Mommy Dead and Dearest," with parallels to the Menendez story and the claims that the brothers were motivated to murder their parents out of mere greed; Balcer's writing of a 1991 "Law & Order" episode, "The Serpent's Tooth," very loosely based on the then-ongoing Menendez case; Cooperman's first foray into true crime with "Cold Blooded" and her discomfort at the similarities between the Clutters and her own family; their methods of handling the mental and emotional challenges of exploring true-crime stories, including indulging in food and spending time with dogs; Hall's decision to create a charitable fund in honor of her sister Renate, whose 2004 murder is still unsolved; and Smerling's interest in the positive aspects of true-crime stories, including closure for victims' relatives.
Questions from the audience then lead to a discussion of the following topics, among others: discovering evidence that changes the narrative of one's project, including Smerling's belief that Durst had committed three murders and his belief in the innocence of Arnold and Jesse Friedman, whose child molestation accusations are explored in Smerling's 2003 film; Carr's struggle to reconcile the "two people" within Gypsy Rose Blancharde, one of whom conspired to commit murder; and the challenge of creating reenactments of crime scenes, including Cooperman's decision to portray an "abstract" version of the Clutter killings and Hall's interest in portraying the brutal honesty of certain crimes without being exploitative or "cheesy."
Clips from the panelists' works are interspersed throughout the program, including: "Cold Blooded: The Clutter Family Murders" (2017); "Law & Order: True Crime: The Menendez Murders" (2017); "Deadline: Crime" (2013-2017); "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst" (2015); and "Mommy Dead and Dearest" (2017).
Details
- NETWORK: N/A
- DATE: November 30, 1999 6:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:25:40
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 131251
- GENRE: Seminars
- SUBJECT HEADING: N/A
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Diane Lewis … Host
- Edward Skyler … Moderator
- Rene Balcer … Panelist
- Tamron Hall … Panelist
- Erin Lee Carr … Panelist
- Marc Smerling … Panelist
- Kahane Cooperman … Panelist
- Dee Dee Blancharde
- Gypsy Rose Blancharde
- Truman Capote
- Robert Durst
- Arnold Friedman
- Jesse Friedman
- Renate Hall
- Ryan Harris
- Dick Hickock
- Erik Menendez
- Lyle Menendez
- Perry Smith
- Gilberto Valle