‘Prosecuting Casey Anthony’ writer: ‘It’s a terrible story’ - Hal

‘Prosecuting Casey Anthony’ writer: ‘It’s a terrible story’
posted by halboedeker on January, 18 2013 11:30 AM

I’ve watched a lot of Casey Anthony coverage over the years. So I was genuinely surprised at how much I liked “Prosecuting Casey Anthony,” which premieres at 8 p.m. Saturday on Lifetime.

A good docudrama forces you to think about the events portrayed, and that is certainly true of the Anthony film.

Through the years, I’ve found that you learn the most about TV productions from the writers. Television is a writers’ medium. So I turned to screenwriter Alison Cross to explain how she approached the project. I’ve provided links to my review and my interview with her.

But I wanted to share another comment from Cross, a veteran TV writer. She adapted prosecutor Jeff Ashton’s book “Imperfect Justice.” She explains how she tackled the story:

“I’ve worked on many legal movies and shows, like ‘Philly’ and ‘Raising the Bar.’ I’m very familiar with courtrooms and the back and forth and the nature of our justice system: Two sides tell competing narratives. The trial is the battle of the narratives and the jury decides which narrative they believe.”I learned how very different these two narratives were. You have what the defense said about an accident, molestation, damaged psyches, other people’s involvement. Then you have the prosecution’s version of a coldblooded killer who wanted to go out and party.

“Those two stories don’t share a lot of common points, except there’s a dead child. It’s a terrible story. Jeff said he felt the jury didn’t want to believe that a mother could do this to a child. At the same time, you see the American public was very willing to believe a mother could do this to her child.

“This was such a mega-event of news that even jury selection was difficult. The jurors they picked were, by nature, skeptics: Prove-it-to-me people who hadn’t been swept along by the coverage. Lawyers are supposed to prove the case, not the media. The media laid an uphill path for the prosecution.”

What do you think? Will you be watching the movie?

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2013/01/prosecuting-casey-anthony-writer-its-a-terrible-story.html