{"id":19241,"date":"2023-01-25T08:50:53","date_gmt":"2023-01-25T13:50:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2023-01-26T16:44:36","modified_gmt":"2023-01-26T21:44:36","slug":"the-story-of-the-freeway-killer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/the-story-of-the-freeway-killer\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story of The Freeway Killer"},"content":{"rendered":"

From 1979 to 1980, William George Bonin terrorized southern California as he went on a killing spree, causing the deaths of at least 14 young men and boys. In The Freeway Killer: Lost Murder Tapes<\/em>, Arrow Media continues to prove its dedication to compelling true-crime storytelling as it offers a new perspective on the killer. Nick Metcalfe, executive producer at the company, talks to TV Real Weekly<\/em> about the making of the new documentary and producing shows that stand out in such a competitive genre.<\/p>\n

The Freeway Killer<\/em> comes as part of Arrow Media\u2019s Mind of a Monster<\/em> series of feature-length documentaries about those who have committed brutal acts. Though Metcalfe has extensive experience in the true-crime genre, such as on American Monster<\/em>, this is the first time he has delved into this particular franchise, which features a longer format.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get the time to unpeel the onion, as it were, and go in and in,\u201d Metcalfe says. \u201cHaving the material and telling effectively several different stories in those two hours, the story of what was happening at the time, the story of the victims and their families, where we\u2019ve been able to tell it, the story of the police investigation and the story of Bonin himself.\u201d The longer episode length lends itself to \u201ccomplicated, complex storytelling,\u201d Metcalfe says. \u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the most important parts of making a true-crime series stand out in an overripe genre is to present something unique, Metcalfe says. \u201cIt\u2019s not just enough to tell a story well. Sometimes we can find another angle; you find somebody who\u2019s not spoken before, a piece of footage, a piece of audio tape, something. Maybe there\u2019s other evidence that\u2019s come to light. It requires something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Freeway Killer<\/em>\u2019s unique selling point is that it features tapes in which Bonin himself talks about his crimes in extraordinary detail. \u201cThey were pretty much unheard,\u201d Metcalfe says. \u201cThey had been released to a small community of specialists, clinical psychiatrists mostly. We came by the material, and it helped to tell the story; it gave you an amazing insight into the mind of the perpetrator.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not easy to listen to those tapes,\u201d Metcalfe adds. \u201cBut that itself is an important thing. We aren\u2019t just playing graphic material to try to shock people. The very nature of what Bonin was saying gave you an insight into his state of mind. I\u2019m not a clinical psychologist, but when he could talk so coolly about what he did to his victims, I think they use words like \u2018affectless.\u2019 He just does not feel emotion when he talks about this. It\u2019s horrifying. It\u2019s very uncomfortable to listen to. He was not uncomfortable. That itself tells you something about him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Something that is vital to Arrow Media when producing programs such as these is to contact anybody who might be affected. \u201cWe do not want anybody to turn on a show and then suddenly find something that could be deeply disturbing or shocking to them,\u201d Metcalfe says. \u201cWe will go to extraordinary lengths to find people, usually the victim\u2019s family, relatives and so on.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this particular case, the crimes happened more than 40 years ago, and victims\u2019 families were difficult to find. \u201cBut wherever possible, we do find the families,\u201d he notes. \u201cAnd we don\u2019t just find them and let them know we\u2019re making the show. We invite them to take part.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brenda Axtell, the sister of one of Bonin\u2019s suspected victims, Tommy Lundgren, takes part in The Freeway Killer<\/em>, recalling the phone call her family made to the police department and how they had to deal with the aftermath, reminding viewers that these are real human stories about real people who have gone through the unimaginable, Metcalfe says.<\/p>\n

No matter who takes part or what unique angle the program might have, though, it ultimately all rests on the storytelling, and that\u2019s what Arrow Media takes pride in the most, whether in the true-crime genre or any other.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe important thing is that we do take telling the story very seriously,\u201d Metcalfe says. \u201cWe pride ourselves on our ability to tell a story in an engaging and compelling way and to make new elements really stand out, and that\u2019s how we introduce the story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Viewers can get a taste of Arrow Media\u2019s storytelling in The Freeway Killer: Lost Murder Tapes<\/em> on Investigation Discovery and discovery+ on January 28 in the U.K.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nick Metcalfe, executive producer at Arrow Media, talks about the making of The Freeway Killer: Lost Murder Tapes and producing shows that stand out in the competitive true-crime genre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1412,"featured_media":19242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,69],"tags":[84,82,629,215,3273,6922],"class_list":["post-19241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-profiles","category-top-stories","tag-arrow-media","tag-discovery","tag-id","tag-investigation-discovery","tag-nick-metcalfe","tag-the-freeway-killer-lost-murder-tapes","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Story of The Freeway Killer - TVREAL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/the-story-of-the-freeway-killer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Story of The Freeway Killer - TVREAL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nick Metcalfe, executive producer at Arrow Media, talks about the making of The Freeway Killer: Lost Murder Tapes and producing shows that stand out in the competitive true-crime genre.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/the-story-of-the-freeway-killer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVREAL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-25T13:50:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-26T21:44:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/07\/ArrowMedia-TheFreewayKiller-123.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"396\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jamie Stalcup\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jamie Stalcup\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/the-story-of-the-freeway-killer\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/the-story-of-the-freeway-killer\/\",\"name\":\"The Story of The Freeway Killer - TVREAL\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-25T13:50:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-26T21:44:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/0da12602224807cc7b179b8405018deb\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/the-story-of-the-freeway-killer\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/the-story-of-the-freeway-killer\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/the-story-of-the-freeway-killer\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Story of The Freeway Killer\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/\",\"name\":\"TVREAL\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/0da12602224807cc7b179b8405018deb\",\"name\":\"Jamie Stalcup\",\"description\":\"Jamie Stalcup is the executive editor of World Screen. 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