It's no secret that tragedy often leads to TV and movie deals. Whether it's the Titanic (the center of the Oscar-giving universe) or baby Jessica in a well (the subject of two made-for-TV movies) there's someone somewhere in Hollywood waiting to adapt the next big news story. The most recent subject for cinema: Jaycee Dugard.
Jaycee was the girl abducted at the age of 11 and held captive for 18 years. Her captors, Nancy and Phillip Garrido, kept her close at all times and privatized their property, forcing her to live in tents and different structures. Phillip had two children with Jaycee: Angel and Starlit.
You would expect one of the major networks, or even one of the cable channels, to be the first to do a movie on the subject matter. Both you and I would be wrong. Low-budget horror director Shane Ryan, who previous credits are “Amateur Porn Star Killer,” and “Romance Road Killers,” announced that next month he begins production on “Abducted Girl, American Sex Slave.” Ryan wants to focus on the relationship between Dugard and Phillip Garrido, the man who abducted, raped, and held her captive. The family has responded calling this, “exploitive, hurtful and breathtakingly unkind.”