By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

HBO Doc Films Takes Broomfield’s Tales Of The Grim Sleeper At Toronto

Posted Wednesday, September 10th, 2014 - Comments Off on HBO Doc Films Takes Broomfield’s Tales Of The Grim Sleeper At Toronto
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HBO DOCUMENTARY FILMS TAKES NICK BROOMFIELD’S TALES OF THE GRIM SLEEPER
CRITICAL FAVORITE CLOSES US DEAL FOLLOWING FIRST TORONTO SCREENING
Toronto, ON (September 10, 2014) – Submarine announced today from the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival that HBO Documentary Films is acquiring US rights to veteran Nick Broomfield’s highly acclaimed TALES OF THE GRIM SLEEPER.  The deal was negotiated by Josh Braun and David Koh of Submarine on behalf of Sky Atlantic, who originally commissioned the film.
The probing and emotional film is the only documentary that was invited this year to the highly prestigious Telluride, Toronto and New York Film Festival (Main Slate) and has scored some of the best reviews of Broomfield’s esteemed career.  This film marks Nick Broomfield’s fifth documentary for HBO (others include AILEEN:  LIFE AND DEATH OF A SERIAL KILLER, KURT & COURTNEY, HEIDI FLEISS:  HOLLYWOOD MADAM).  TALES OF THE GRIM SLEEPER will debut on HBO in 2015.
The film was produced by Marc Hoeferlin in association with British Sky Broadcasting, who are handling international sales. Celia Taylor is the executive producer.
When Lonnie Franklin Jr. was arrested in South Central Los Angeles in 2010 as the suspected murderer of a string of young black women, police hailed it as the culmination of 20 years of investigations. Four years later, documentary filmmaker Nick Broomfield visited the alleged killer’s neighborhood to find out if the police had earned their self-given kudos. There, he finds a world of people who suspected for decades that there might be some connection between their odd neighbor and the dozens of women who had gone missing from the street. Franklin’s friends and neighbors offer chilling testimony, asking why it took so long for the authorities to pay attention. In a place where the residents have good reason not to trust the LAPD, few were willing to talk to them – but what would the police have done if they had? Aided by Pam, a charismatic former prostitute and crack addict who knows the streets and the people walking them, Broomfield reveals the journey of a serial killer, giving voice to his victims as he builds a powerful assemblage of testimony conveying a grave injustice that extends well beyond this case.
Celia Taylor, Sky’s Head of Non-scripted Commissioning said:  “I’m delighted that Nick Broomfield’s compelling new film for Sky Atlantic has become the first film that HBO has purchased from us. I can’t wait for audiences on both sides of the Atlantic to see his latest work.”
Nick Broomfield said:  “TALES OF THE GRIM SLEEPER is a very important film to me and everyone involved.  It was important for it to find a good home, and I can’t think of a better one than HBO Documentary Films.  I’m thrilled to continue my relationship with Sheila Nevins and Nancy Abraham and their team who are going to make sure this important and timely film gets seen by the most possible people.”
Nick Broomfield studied Law at Cardiff and Political Science at Essex University before going onto study film at the National Film School.  While at University, he made his first film and was introduced to Joan Churchill by his influential Professor Colin Young.  Together, Joan and Nick made several films – JUVENILE LIAISON, TATTOOED TEARS, SOLDIER GIRLS, LILY TOMLIN, and more recently, AILEEN: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF A SERIAL KILLER. They also have a son together.  Nick was originally influenced by the observational style of Fred Wiseman, and Robert Leacock and Pennebaker, before moving on largely by accident to the more idiosyncratic style for which he is better known.  While making DRIVING ME CRAZY in 1988 a film hopelessly out of control, Nick decided to place himself and the producer of the film in the story, as a way of making sense of the event.  This experiment led to a sense of greater freedom, from the confines of observational cinema, and led to a more investigative and experimental type of filmmaking (i.e. THE LEADER, THE DRIVER AND THE DRIVER’S WIFE, AILEEN WUORNOS, KURT AND COURTNEY, and BIGGIE AND TUPAC). Nick Broomfield is the recipient of the following awards amongst others, Sundance first prize, British Academy Award, Prix Italia, Dupont Peabody Award, Grierson Award, Hague Peace Prize, Amnesty International Doen Award.
About Submarine
Submarine is a boutique sales, distribution and production company based in NYC. Recent titles include SUNSHINE SUPERMAN, TALES OF THE GRIM SLEEPER, KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON, PEGGY GUGGENHEIM:  ART OF THIS CENTURY, DINOSAUR 13, FINDING VIVIAN MAIER, 20 FEET FROM STARDOM, DIRTY WARS, CUTIE & THE BOXER, THE ONE I LOVE, BATTERED BASTARDS OF BASEBALL, IVORY TOWER, THE GREEN PRINCE, THE CASE AGAINST 8, TO BE TAKEI, HAPPY VALLEY, PING PONG SUMMER, WATCHERS OF THE SKY, BLACKFISH, MUSCLE SHOALS, CHASING ICE, WILD STYLE – 30TH ANNIVERSARY REMASTERED, DOWNTOWN 81- 30TH ANNIVERSARY REMASTERED, SEARCHING FOR SUGARMAN.
About Sky
Sky is the UK and Ireland’s leading home entertainment and Communications Company.  Around 40% of all homes have a direct relationship with Sky through its range of TV, broadband and home telephony services.
Sky is the UK’s biggest investor in television content, investing more than £2.5 billion a year in channels such as Sky 1, Sky Atlantic, Sky Living, Sky Arts, Sky Sports, Sky Movies and Sky News.   Around two-thirds of Sky’s content spend is invested in the UK and Sky is the fastest-growing source of investment in original British programmes.  More than 30 million people watch Sky content each week.
Alongside its commitment to offering customers a greater choice of high-quality content, Sky is a leading innovator.  Customers enjoy total control and flexibility over their favourite TV through Sky+, watch TV on the move through Sky Go, and enjoy the best quality TV experience at home through High Definition and 3D.
Sky distributes its content broadly over several platforms, including satellite, cable, IPTV, mobile and WiFi.  NOW TV, Sky’s second consumer brand, builds on the company’s leadership in internet TV.  Sky is also the UK’s fastest-growing home communications company and favourite ‘triple-play’ provider of TV, broadband and home phone.
Sky believes in making a wider contribution to the communities in which it operates by taking positive action on the environment, supporting grassroots sports and increasing access to, and participation in, the arts.  Sky employs 24,000 people, has annual revenues of £7.2 billion and is estimated to support a £5.9 billion contribution to UK GDP.  Sky is listed on the London Stock Exchange (BSY).
About HBO Documentary Films
HBO Documentary films has always been at the forefront of documentary programming, producing and developing some of the most provocative, ground-breaking and award-winning films.  HBO Documentary Films, which focuses on contemporary issues with strong relevance, allows viewers to explore worlds rarely seen.  These films have won dozens of every major programming award including the Academy Award®,  Emmy® Award, the George Foster Peabody Award and the Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award.

 

 

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

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I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

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~ David Simon