Susan Lacy is equally enthusiastic about the new creative partnership with HBO. “It has been my honour to be part of the PBS and WNET family for so many years, and to have had the opportunity to amass a body of work which I hope demonstrates the depth of our unique cultural history and the value of quality documentaries in contributing to understanding our world,” commented Lacy. “I have had the great privilege of working with some of the most talented filmmakers in the field, as well as the extraordinary individuals who have allowed us to tell their stories. I am now thrilled to become part of the HBO family. To work with the amazing Sheila Nevins and her team is the dream of most documentary filmmakers, and to be able to focus solely on producing and directing documentary films at a place which is creating some of the best television in history is an opportunity I couldn’t resist.”
HBO has a new series of documentary films beginning withValentine Road on October 7, 2013 @ 9 p.m. E.T./P.T. which explores the murder at a middle-school and its aftermath.
Feb. 12, 2008, started like any other day at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard, a California beach town northwest of Los Angeles. Eighth-grade students filed into computer lab to do an assignment on the topic of tolerance but before the class was over, 15-year-old Lawrence “Larry” King lay fighting for his life, shot twice in the back of the head at point-blank range by classmate Brandon McInerney. Two days later, on Valentine’s Day, Larry died; the victim of the crime grabbed national headlines and dramatically changed the lives of the students, teachers and community.
Valentine Road is directed and produced by first-time filmmaker Marta Cunningham and produced by Alpert (HBO’s Autism: The Musical) and Eddie Schmidt (HBO’s Twist of Faith); the documentary which airs during National Bullying Prevention Month features interviews with students Marina and Mariah, who witnessed the murder; Brandon’s mother, brothers and girlfriend; defence attorneys Robyn Bramson and Scott Wippert; prosecutor Maeve Fox; Oxnard homicide detective Jeff Kay; teachers who knew both Larry and Brandon; and jurors from Brandon’s trial.