Posted on 03/17/2003 9:21:09 AM PST by areafiftyone
SALT LAKE CITY - Hollywood loves a gripping saga, especially one with a happy — and astonishing — ending like the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping. So it's no surprise that in the five days since the kidnapped teen returned home, the family's spokesman has fielded more than 3,000 media calls and received nearly 100 film, book or made-for-TV-movie proposals.
The potential audience for a real-life drama is enormous, if hits to the Smart family Web site are any indication. In the first hours after Elizabeth was found alive and returned home Wednesday, more than 3 million people had visited the site.
Her story, outlined by investigators, is a screenwriter's dream: Kidnapped at knifepoint — allegedly by homeless drifter Brian David Mitchell — Elizabeth lived with the self-proclaimed prophet and his wife Wanda Barzee for nine months.
Family members say she was so brainwashed she didn't try to escape, even when she had the chance.
Sharp-eyed witnesses recognized Mitchell and called police Wednesday. The suspects were arrested, Elizabeth was returned home, and people across the country rejoiced.
Mitchell and Barzee remained in jail Sunday awaiting charges, which could come as early as Monday.
Chris Thomas, a spokesman for parents Ed and Lois Smart, said they will begin to review production offers in the next few weeks.
"It's something that they're going to deal with soon. They're trying to figure this all out — it comes down to let someone else tell the story, or tell it themselves," Thomas said.
USA, ABC, NBC, CBS and Lifetime are all reportedly interested in obtaining rights to the story.
"It really covers the broad spectrum. I haven't looked at all of them, and I don't want to disclose specific names and studios or other entities, but we've been contacted by some really big names," said Thomas.
Rumors that John Walsh, host of the television show "America's Most Wanted," has been pushing Ed Smart for a production deal are false, said Thomas. Walsh has interviewed the father for his show and the two became close after Elizabeth's disappearance.
"It came up in a discussion between Ed and John, when Ed was asking John for advice on a number of things. John said, 'I'm not even going to go there. I've read rumors that I've got the inside source on this. I do have a production company and if you're interested you can talk to me, but I'm not pitching you. That would be a really tacky thing to do in my capacity,'" Thomas said.
Thomas said the family has not begun to consider a price, because they haven't decided yet whether to go along with any production, movie or book.
"Right now, their main focus is on Elizabeth and books and movies and exterior things are secondary," he said. "The family is being very calculated in every action, and weighing the pros and cons of everything with the predominant priority being Elizabeth's well-being."
Some of the reasons for the bashing:
~Whites
~Christians
~Moderately wealthy and about to get wealthier
~Large family (don't dismiss this one)
~Beautiful children
~Close-knit family
~Wonderful parents: Lois is a saint and a grand lady
~High morals/values
The above enumeration, among others, may account for he hatred, envy and jealousy toward the Smarts, Elizabeth and the Mormon church. SHAME ON THEM!!
Rejoice! She was lost and has been found.
Next time, smoke crack AFTER posting.
I have considered that myself, but keep running into dead ends with that theory. First, the Smarts would have to be darn sure that would NEVER be found out, or they face criminal charges. Secondly, it doesn't explain Emmanuel's role. Is he just going to take the fall? One possible scanario I think of is that what you suggest is true, but she was supposed to be returned a few months back(she is remarkably found, describing her "abductor" as as nothing like Emmanuel), and Emmanuel decided he was going to keep her. So, the Smart's double-cross him, realizing he must be more weird than they thought, hoping a jury will not believe him. But, that is still a huge risk to take. With no real physical evidence that he was in their house that night, its all the word of the sister vs a detailed plot revealed by the accused. I just think that's all too far fetched.
The Senate approved without dissent Tuesday a bipartisan bill that would create a national system to help locate abducted children whose kidnappers may have crossed state lines.
The bill, which sailed through the Senate legislative process in a week, would spend up to $25 million to help states, cities and communities nationwide set up Amber alert systems, which distribute alerts when a child has been abducted.
Similar legislation is being offered in the House by Rep. Martin Frost, D-Texas, and Rep. Jennifer Dunn, R-Wash. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., has filed separate legislation that would provide $99.5 million for the program. Seventeen states already have Amber alerts. They have been credited with helping in the highly publicized rescues of several children this summer, including two teenagers found in a remote stretch of California desert and an infant snatched from a store parking lot in Texas.
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House speeds up ‘Amber Alert’ bill
THE HOUSE on Thursday paid new attention to a bill Thursday (March 13, 2003) sponsored by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., chairman of the Judiciary Committee, that would raise penalties for certain crimes against children and boost funding for child abuse and abduction prevention.
Included in the bill is a provision that would bring statutes in 38 states, generally known as “Amber Alert” laws, under federal coordination. The Bush administration has already directed $10 million to hire a national coordinator, train workers and upgrade equipment, and the Justice Department has requested an additional $2.5 million to train law enforcement officers.
Proponents of the systems, which distribute bulletins about missing children quickly through radio and television broadcasts and electronic highway signs, urged Sensenbrenner to break the Amber Alert provisions out of his bill and allow them to pass by themselves, as the Senate already has done.
The overall bill includes other provisions involving mandatory sentencing and wiretapping that have drawn opposition that could hamper its passage. Rep. Martin Frost, D-Texas, has introduced free-standing legislation. But Sensenbrenner, who as chairman of the Judiciary Committee essentially controls the committee’s calendar, has refused.
“There is more to this issue than the Amber Alert,” he said Thursday on NBC’s “Today” show.
House leaders in response put Sensenbrenner’s bill onto a faster legislative track with the goal of bringing it to the House floor next week.
Red
Although I don't gamble, what do you want to bet the part about the mom inviting this nut into their home with their children present is glossed over in any "official" books/movies.
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