NBC News and Blumhouse Television are teaming up on a scripted series project based on a true-crime story Dateline has covered numerous times in recent years.
The indie studio and recently launched NBC News Studios will develop a limited series based on the case of Pam Hupp, who is serving a life sentence for a 2016 murder in Missouri and is a suspect in an unsolved 2011 case. The project is the first to come under a deal that NBC News Studios — the news division’s premium content arm, which replaced the former Peacock Productions — and Blumhouse struck earlier this year.
Hupp was connected to the 2011 murder of Betsy Faria, for which her husband, Russ Faria, was initially convicted before having that verdict overturned. Hupp later pleaded guilty in the 2016 killing of Louis Gumpenberger. Dateline has covered the case a number of times and in 2019 launched a popular podcast, The Thing About Pam, that recounts the full saga.
“We have covered this story from all angles, including as an unwitting participant,” said Liz Cole, president of NBC News Studios and executive producer of Dateline. “Having been at the forefront of the true-crime genre for so long, we know better than anyone that truth is often stranger than fiction, and with the twists and turns in this case, we saw a real opportunity to present it in a scripted format. We are so fortunate and pleased to be co-producing it with the brilliant storytellers at Blumhouse Television.”
Added Blumhouse TV co-presidents Marci Wiseman and Jeremy Gold, “We’ve delved into true-crime before with unscripted. We’re not just looking for monsters under the bed, but also the things that keep us up at night, so the chance to mine the incredibly rich trove of material from the Dateline archives to develop is a really unique and exciting opportunity for us. When we first came across The Thing About Pam, like thousands of others who’ve seen the Dateline episode and listened to the podcast, we were riveted. So when NBC presented this to us we jumped at making this our first scripted project with them.”
Cole, Blumhouse chief Jason Blum, Wiseman and Gold will executive produce the project. David Corvo is the senior executive producer of Dateline.
Blumhouse TV’s productions includes HBO’s The Jinx, The Normal Heart and Sharp Objects, Showtime’s The Loudest Voice and the upcoming Good Lord Bird and Hulu’s Into the Dark anthology. The company is also developing an interview show with former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson.
Watch a teaser for the Blumhouse-NBC News Studios collaboration below.
