From a business standpoint, it’s rarely much of a mystery why this ripped-from-the-headlines true-crime miniseries or that one exists. The subjects are already household names. The topics at hand, typically scammers or serial killers, spark seemingly endless fascination. Make it polished enough, and it could go all the way to the Emmys. You can practically hear the studio exec arguing that not making this show would be leaving money and prestige on the table.
If the bottom-line calculus is clear, however, the creative impetus isn’t always. Just as often as not, what results from this impulse to lightly fictionalize a recent news story is an overly straightforward telling of the same facts we’ve been barraged with already. Maybe there’s a version of the Natalia Grace saga that could cast a new light on an already extensively covered case, or simply add enough panache to make it feel worth revisiting again.
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