Talked to Death

Logline

Crazy, charismatic, and darkly prophetic, Alan Berg was a hugely popular Jewish talk radio star who heralded a new age of “confrontation” as entertainment, but his murder in 1984 by the white nationalist group The Order was a warning shot about the dangers of America’s divisive politics.

Phase of Support: Development

Josh Zeman

Josh Zeman - Director

Josh Zeman is one of the leading voices in documentary storytelling. His critically-acclaimed film Cropsey is considered one of the top true crime documentaries of the past decade. In 2017, Zeman executive produced and directed The Killing Season for A&E, which was executive produced by Academy Award-winning director Alex Gibney. Zeman also directed Murder Mountain, a 6-part docu-series for Netflix that’s been called “a must-watch” by The Daily Beast. In 2021, Zeman executive produced and directed The Sons of Sam, which was the #1 most-watched show on Netflix worldwide during the week it was released. Zeman also directed The Loneliest Whale, a cinematic quest to find the 52 Hertz Whale, whom scientists believe has spent its entire life in solitude. The film, which was executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and Adrian Grenier and theatrically released by Bleecker Street, has been called “a modern-day Moby Dick” by the LA Times.

Allyson Luchak

Allyson Luchak - Producer

AMPAS Oscar© member Allyson Luchak is a two-time Emmy, Peabody, and DuPont award-winning producer and executive producer. Her credits include programming for HBO, HBO Max, Netflix Originals, CNN Films, PBS, Arte, Vice, and Canal+, and her films have premiered at festivals around the world. Most recently, she developed and executive produced the upcoming series Sex Diaries for HBO and produced 15 Minutes of Shame alongside Executive Producer Monica Lewinsky for HBO Max. Her feature documentary, This is Not a Movie, premiered at TIFF 2019 and was released theatrically in October 2020. Her 8-part series, Trial 4, premiered on Netflix in 2020. Earlier work includes the award-winning series The Staircase, which The New York Times described as “a masterpiece” and is now the basis for a dramatic series on HBO Max starring Colin Firth and Toni Collette, the Impact Partners documentary City of Joy, and Enlighten Us for CNN Films.

Zachary Mortensen

Zachary Mortensen - Executive Producer

Zachary Mortensen moved from Colorado to NYC in the early ‘90s and landed in the East Village where he’s lived ever since. Zach is the co-founder of Ghost Robot, a New York City-based creative studio. With Ghost Robot, he has produced many award-winning feature films, documentaries, short films, and hundreds and hundreds of music videos, and commercials. Zach is the writer and creator of the critically acclaimed sci-fi comic series The Gatecrashers, which was named to The Village Voice‘s Best Comics and Graphic Novels of 2014. The Gatecrashers is currently in development for a live-action TV series with a studio, and he is currently developing a middle-grade sci-fi universe with Kinetic Energy Entertainment called Space Hoppers.

Project logline and bios courtesy of the grantees.