Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer

Development and crowdfunding

The film was announced in 2014, less than a year after Gosnell was tried and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The filmmakers sought to raise funds for the production of the film through crowdfunding, but encountered resistance from Kickstarter, which the filmmakers said censored the project from their website.^[12][13] According to email exchanges released by McAleer, Kickstarter requested that the phrases "'1000s of babies stabbed to death" and '1000s of babies murdered'...be removed or modified to comply with the spirit of our Community Guidelines."^[14][15] Kickstarter's CEO denied that they censored the project and said the filmmakers blew an editorial exchange out of proportion.^[16]

The filmmakers switched to Indiegogo and launched their crowdfunding effort on March 28, 2014, with a goal of $2.1 million, which was reached less than two weeks later on April 9, 2014.^[17] It quickly became the highest-funded film on Indiegogo, and is currently one of the highest-funded crowdfunding projects of all time.^[18]

Casting

The film was originally intended to be a made for TV movie, but the filmmakers later decided to make it into a feature film.^[19] John Sullivan was announced as the executive producer of the film in December 2014.^[19] Nick Searcy was announced as the director of the film in March 2015.^[20] Searcy said in a statement, "I am both excited and humbled by the opportunity to have a part in bringing this important American story to the screen. It is a story that many in Hollywood were unwilling to tell, and I am grateful to Ann, Phelim and Magdalena for having the courage to tell it."^[20] He also said, "There are three aspects to this story that are fascinating. What happened; why it was allowed to happen; and why no one wanted to talk about it after it happened."^[20] Searcy later wrote in a September 2018 op-ed that he knew taking on a controversial project would cause him to be shunned by some in Hollywood but agreed to direct after reading the script.^[21] Searcy says he sought to make a film that "would inform and benefit people on both sides of this issue, no matter how passionate" and that would treat the politics of the case "objectively in an honest and compelling film."^[21]

Earl Billings was cast to play Kermit Gosnell, and Dean Cain was cast as Detective James Wood, one of the detectives who investigated Gosnell.

Musician John Ondrasik, also known by his stage name Five for Fighting, recorded a song entitled "The Song of Innocents" for the end credits of the film.^[22]

Distribution difficulties

Filming was completed in October 2015,^[23] and release was expected in 2016,^[24][25] but a distribution deal was not secured until June 2018.^[9] Searcy wrote in an op-ed that difficulty finding a distributor was due to a lack of willingness to tell the story in Hollywood:

"The film has a gritty 'just the facts, ma’am' style, is well acted, with powerful, moving performances by Dean Cain, Sarah Jane Morris, and Michael Beach, among many others, and moves like a bullet train. So why has it taken three years to be released? I realize, looking back, that I was quite naïve about how this film would be received. I truly believed that if we did it the right way, even the so-called Hollywood Left would appreciate our fairness in telling the story, see its value, and, furthermore, share our goals in getting this important story before the public.

"Sadly, I was wrong. As I said, this town runs on fear — the fear not only of failure but, more insidiously, of being shunned because of your political opinions. I was gratified by the talented people in this industry, many of them who differed with me politically, who did believe in our script and were willing to come on board. But many people, some of them good friends of mine, declined to work on this film, not because of its quality but because of the fear of reprisal or even ostracism by the groupthink herd in Hollywood. More than once, I was asked questions like 'Are you crazy?' or 'Are you sure you want to do this?'

"This film had to go around Hollywood to make its way to the audience. That is a long and difficult road right now — but the trail has been blazed. Movies such as the recent hit I Can Only Imagine have forged it, and found their audiences. While it might just be a rocky wagon trail now, I can see a day when it is a mighty freeway, bringing films with all viewpoints to the audiences who want to see them."^[21]

The film faced additional delays when, days before a distribution was set to be announced in June 2017, the Philadelphia judge who presided over Gosnell's trial, Jeffrey Minehart, filed a defamation lawsuit against the filmmakers for $50,000, stating the book and film portrayed Minehart "'as a villain in their story of the righteous versus the wicked' when in fact he's a "former prosecutor with an impeccable reputation for honesty, integrity and fairness.'"^[26] The lawsuit was settled out of court and the filmmakers were allowed to resume negotiations with distributors.^[27]

Marketing

A Washington Times article reported that the filmmakers were anticipating a lack of interest from the "left-leaning media" and that they would instead utilize social media, word-of-mouth, and reaching out to non-media influencers to garner support for the film.^[29] Executive producer John Sullivan said their marketing budget would focus on women 35 and older living within 15 miles of a theater showing the film.^[29] Sullivan said they were "not naive" about the increased public conversation about Roe v. Wade sparked by the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court and that they would "embrace it in a way and have a discussion about it."^[29]