Any Update On Autumn Of Terror Movie?

[sbfightfan]

I was recently listening to Rippercast episode #3 and was wondering if anyone had heard any news on "The Autumn Of Terror" movie that was discussed.It sounded like it had great promise.

[looby64]

Not heard about this, but look forward to see it if it comes out, wonder if it's to be based on an ongoing suspect or go down a different way?

[JTRSickert]

The podcast says the movie will feature a variety of suspects but there is no definitive conclusion. It ends, as in real life, as unsolved. I was interested in this film when I heard it on the podcast and hope it still comes out.

However, I think the best format to tell the story of the Whitechapel Murders/Jack the Ripper would be mini-series format. A few years ago, HBO and the BBC had a joint miniseries called Rome about the Roman Empire which was great. The first season ran for a total of 12 episodes. They should do the same thing with the JTR case and try to make it as accurate as possible, whichi I think can be achieved if the story is divided into, say, 12 or 13 parts.

[looby64]

Hi JTRSickert
I agree, the idea of episodes rather than a film would help to put as much accurate facts into this story, sometimes important information is lost in the attempt to fit the film into a required time slot. Look forward to seeing how it pans out.

[JTRSickert]

miniseries format

The way I would structure it would be like this. The story is told from the perspective of both the police officials and the victims (who, in my miniseries idea, do NOT know each other or maybe just have a passing acquaintanceship; it would focus more on the social lives of the victims and the relationships of the people they knew) Jack himself would not be seen except maybe from behind while doing his work or seen by witnesses POV (e.g. Liz Long or Joseph Lawende), which I think would make it scarier. THis is how I would divide the parts by episode:

1. Trafalgar Square riots, 1887--introduction of major characters and environment of Whitechapel---Emma Smith murder.

2. Emma Smith murder aftermath--more character interaction with victims and known associates---murder of Martha Tabram

3. Tabram Investigation---introduction of press attention---Polly Nichols last few days and murder

4. Nichols inquest and investigation---introduction of Inspector Abberline and Donald Swanson---press and police hear rumors of "Leather Apron"---Annie Chapman's murder

5. Police investigation of Chapman's murder---arrest and release of John Pizer---anti-Jewish feelings in East End---more character interactions of police (Warren, Abberline, Swanson, and Reid) and victims (Stride/ Kidney, Eddowes/ John Kelly, and Mary Kelly/ Joseph Barnett)---formation of Whitechapel Vigilance Committee/introduction of George Lusk

5. inquiries into other suspects(Iscenschmidt, Piggot, etc.)---Press criticism of Police Investigation---"Dear Boss" letter arrives at Central News Agency---episode ends with Double Event murders

6. Episode picks up on same night---Met and City Police begin inquiries into double murders---Apron and Goulston street Graffito/ Arnold and Warren's decision to erase message---"Saucy Jacky" postcard arrives and Police print duplicates in newspapers and leaflets---influx of hoax letters---Episode ends with Lusk receiving From Hell letter and kidney

7. Letter and kidney examined with differing conclusions---Introduction of Montague Druitt and his troubles---Abberline and Police continue investigation---Mary Kelly's final days---episode ends night of her murder (including a scene of George Hutchinson's actions; in my miniseries, he would NOT be the murderer).

8.discovery of Kelly's body---Abberline and others appear at crime scene---news of Warren's resignation---statements by Barnett, Hutchinson, etc. and Kelly inquest---episode ends with Druitt's suicide.

9. Dec. 1888---mention is made of Ostrog and, possibly, Kosminski---Druitt's body recovered in the Thames---1889, Abberline turns case over to Henry Moore

10. 1894, Thomas Cutbush affair---Macnaghten writes memorandum---we see via Flashback possible identification of Suspect (Kosminski????) by witness but refuses to identify---miniseries ends with captions showing how Whitechapel murders were never solved.

The End (hope everyone likes it)

[JTRSickert]

Also, mention should be made of murders of Alice McKenzie and Frances Coles in episode 10.

[looby64]

Yes, i like how youv'e done that, (you should write it yourself).
It would definetly keep people interested and give the right amount of information.
I agree with background details of each victim, why they were on the streets, what they did before they had to become prostitutes and so forth.
Great idea.

[sdreid]

Is that Justin's film? The last I heard a few months ago was that he had the script written but was entertaining suggestions.

I would close things pretty quickly after the Kelly murder otherwise it might get somewhat anticlimactic. That is, if you were going for the masses.

[Mike Covell]

I will send this thread to Justin and get his comments, or get him to comment on here.

[Jdombrowski89]

Hello everyone,

I appreciate Mike telling me that this thread was even going on here (I had no idea to be brutally honest ) I had origionally had a thread going on the forum before it crashed. So it's nice to see that the project is still catching people's eyes. As of right now I actually have done 3 version's of the screenplay, with 1 able to be read (I'll post a link at the end of this post for those who wish to read it and offer any insight /questions/comments/concerns about the film itself) The three versions of the screenplay that have been completed are as follows:

1. 5th Rough Draft: around 110 pages and written in a standard format in Microsoft Word. This particular version of the screenplay was reviewed by Donald Souden, From Ripperologist, and recieved an overall positive review. Those wishing to read the review can do so in Issue 104.

2. Final Draft: Around 200 pages. (Around 3 hours+ screentime if made) More historical accuracy was added onto the already largely doused script which is probably, I would say, 85% accurate besides any form of dialogue here and there which of course we would have no idea what was said,etc. This screenplay is not overall different from the rough draft but is different in the fact that more information has been added about the following:
- More of a backstory added about the Ripper's victims. The only reason that the victims weren't explored more in the 5th Rough Draft is because of how it would have tied in with the storyline. To stop everytime there was a murder, or the double murder, and tell the backstory of the victims was simply something that originally didn't jive with the flow of the storyline, so I cut it completely from the 5th rough draft, and wrote around it. This time I've switched a few things around to where it flows smoothly into the whole plot.
- I've taken a more pro-active approach also in this case and have added a couple more suspects. In some cases in this version I have listed who I think was the Ripper, as far as the story goes, but for who it is, my lips are sealed
- More of a descriptive look at the film. For my screenplays I focus on what I can show the audience. Not tell. A film should be descriptive and focus on the details and in this case I did just this. For an overall into a final draft of the screenplay I went over the books I have in my Ripper library, looked through many books (Scotland Yard Investigates, The Complete Jack The Ripper, etc) and nailed down more information that had been accidentally overlooked when writing the first version of the screenplay.

3. A Mini-Series approach. This version was roughly done last year over a course of 6 months. It currently totals at about 2,000 pages, equaling roughly an hour, hour and a half per episode. Overall there were ten episodes. This version was also slowly worked out into a final draft and was recently sent in for copyright verification as well. It went along somewhat the lines of how JTRSickert said it could be made, but with alot of differences here and there. Mini-Series are something that, if each episode doesn't have alot to bring to the table, could turn out boring. But in the Ripper case, as you all know, we have no shortage of that. But to do a mini series is something that not only is time consuming, but it would have to be high caliber as well. When the Copyright comes back from this, this version will also be viewable on here to those who wish to read it.

Now where does the film stand now in terms of being made? Development Hell. The Final draft of the screenplay has been submitted to plenty of Film Agencies. Now the waiting game begins. For a while I had toyed with the idea of possibly doing this film as a stop-motion film, choosing a unique style to work with here and there, but as of lately I've been proclaiming the best way of course, is live action. If the script doesn't get picked up by any Screenwriting Agencies, then it's on for plan B, which is to finance the film myself and all, do my own budget, actors, etc. For that and other instances of course the Ripper Locations do not exist in todays world, so that was where the idea, mentioned in Rippercast Episode 3, came into play using large scaled models, and digitally incorporating the actors/actresses into them. So therefore the project is still making headway but if there isn't any form of backsets that disturb the flow of getting this done, I would say that by the end of this year we would all have an idea of when, how, where, this would be completed. I know on the episode I said that at certain dates would release certain news about the film, but of course as always with films, this is on a tentative "tba" basis. But for the most part if anyone has any information to suggest, or questions to ask please don't hesitate to ask on here, or to shoot me a PM, and I'll be more than happy to talk.

Here is the link to read the 5th draft. Reviews are welcomed on here please.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/24100704/The-Autumn-of-Terror

And as always the script is copyright to Justin Dombrowski

Regards,
Justin

[JTRSickert]

Jdom.

Good luck with your film. I hope it does get made and I will be the first in line to go see it.

In reference to my own idea for a JTR miniseries, besides Druitt, I might want to have Tumblety as a minor character in maybe the last few episodes as well since he was regarded as a police suspect at the time as well.

[Jdombrowski89]

Thanks JTR,

It's interesting because nowadays we have come up with more suspects than there actually were at the time, which is why in my film I only had really 3 suspects that I focused on which were the following.

1. Chapman
2. Tumblety
3. Druitt (Although his showing in the film, towards the end is rather different)
4. Cohen

I didn't decide to show Ostrog because, most likely he was in prison at the time of the murders and he just doesn't fit. My whole outlook/perspective on the suspect issue is that with this film I figured that taking a look at it from the police perspective was something new and fresh for a Ripper film. Instead of me putting forth theories,etc, I can focus on just presenting a classic mystery film, leaving the ending for the audience to conclude who the real Ripper was.

But most importantly, the new draft of the screenplay, the final version, actually gave me a second thought and I do have it ending with who I think was possibly the Ripper, but it's something you have to watch out for closely because it's hidden real well. But as I've said before, and it would be of great help, if anyone could read the rough draft and present any form of review of the screenplay itself, and PM it to me, It'd be greatly appreciated so this way when I go before a group of individuals when it comes time to present my budget, that there is some form of proof as to why this film should be made.

Best wishes,
Justin

[ghoulstonstreet]

Somewhere on this site I read (last week) that there is a film on it which we can watch. Does anybody know about this and how to access it. I regret not making a note about it at the time. It might have been about JTR or Crippen (not the Executed in Error). Thanks

[Jdombrowski89]

You mean a video of my movie of some sorts? The only video that I can recall is the 3d Animation I did of the Buck's Row area so when I have a production team tackle the models of these areas, that we have an idea of what the area would roughly look like. The 3d animation (Done in Google Sketch) can be viewed here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPC62Gs7xXs

Regards,
Justin

[looby64]

The Autumn Of Terror

Hi Justin, thank you for the opportunity to read your draft, I was engrossed in it from the start and it kept my attention throughout.
How sad was the loss of Abberline and Emmas baby, we don't think about the backgrounds enough when we are reading about JTR.
Thank you again and I wait in anticipation for the film, do you have any actors who you would personally like to play the parts?