Fans of Dateline will surely recognize the name Pam Hupp. What was an unbelievable episode of the series turned into its own podcast full of twists and turns so unfathomable, it's hard to believe it all actually happened.
Now, NBC News Studios and Blumhouse Television are bringing this story to our TV screens with a scripted series. This is the first project to come out of the partnership announced between the two companies earlier this year. Blumhouse Television will develop and produce the original new series.
The story begins with the murder of Betsy Faria in 2011, which resulted in the arrest and conviction of her husband, Russ Faria, despite his insistence that he was innocent. Unfortunately, even after his conviction, things were far from over. Hupp set off the most bizarre series of events, all stemming from a truly shocking, diabolical plan. Dateline NBC was even made a character in Hupp's story. The resulting podcast, "The Thing About Pam," reported by Keith Morrison, is still a top podcast in the iTunes store.
"We have covered this story from all angles, including as an unwitting participant. 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,” said Liz Cole, president of NBC News Studios and Executive Producer of Dateline.
“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,” said Marci Wiseman and Jeremy Gold, co-presidents of Blumhouse Television.
“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," they said.
The upcoming series will be executive produced by Liz Cole for NBC News Studios. Jason Blum, Marci Wiseman, and Jeremy Gold will executive produce for Blumhouse Television. David Corvo is the senior executive producer of Dateline.