TNT dips their toes into original documentary programming with Rich & Shameless, a true crime anthology series airing this summer. TNT will be offering a sneak peak of what’s in store for the seven-part documentary film series with the early release of The Crime Against Pam & Tommy on February 19, 2022.
Rich & Shameless showrunner/producer Tom Lindley and Jenny Popplewell, director of The Crime Against Pam & Tommy as well as the Pharma Bro film, discussed TNT’s documentary series – and, more specifically, the Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee film – during the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour.
The Crime Against Pam & Tommy examines the events surrounding their stolen sex tape and the impact its unauthorized release had on actress/model Pamela Anderson and Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee. Interviews with individuals with first-hand knowledge of the theft, including the daughter of low-budget porn king Milton Ingley, provide new insight into Anderson and Lee’s battle to keep their private life private.
Milton Ingley has passed away but his daughter Helen retained boxes of evidence of his involvement in the tape’s release. Helen participated in the documentary, speaking out about her father’s part in the distribution of the stolen tape.
In addition to Helen Ingley, the film features an exclusive interview with Cort St. George, the internet entrepreneur involved in publicizing the tape.
“I guess as a filmmaker I respected their bravery in coming forward and was willing to give them some time to correct those wrongs and set the record straight, especially on Pamela’s behalf because I think she got a raw deal,” said Popplewell, explaining the inclusion of these individuals in the film. “I think it’s useful that they come forward and explain what they did because no one seemed to listen to Pamela’s version of events. I think it’s useful that that’s been set straight.
I think that they are a tale of their time and they’ve come forward now with a new perspective. And these are kind of crisis-of-conscience confessions of their hand in something they’re not too proud about now.”
Director Jenny Popplewell notes the tape was stolen in a very different era. It’s likely the reaction would be dramatically different if the theft happened now. “This happened in the ’90s and a lot of people treated celebrities, treated privacy, treated women differently,” said Popplewell.
Producer Tom Lindley revealed some of the people interviewed for the Rich & Shameless documentary series have been justifiably concerned about discussing their involvement in the various scandals, including the Pam and Tommy tape theft.
“I think we had to start with a degree of sensitivity towards the people who were talking, primarily,” said Lindley. “These are people who in a lot of cases behaved extremely badly. And the people we’ve interviewed and who’ve come forward to talk have often been very nervous and worried about that. I think our key requirement has been to respect that sensitivity and try and tell their stories primarily.”
TNT’s The Crime Against Pam & Tommy comes hot on the heels of Hulu’s Pam & Tommy miniseries starring Lily James and Sebastian Stan. Neither Pamela Anderson nor Tommy Lee was involved in the making of the Hulu series or in this TNT documentary film.
“We reached out to Pamela Anderson right at the start and to Tommy and asked them if they would like to be involved. We heard back through their representatives that, no, it’s just a period of their time that they’re not interested in looking at again,” said Popplewell. “But there were people that we invited into the film who were very close to Pam and Tommy, who had been their best friends during that era, and were able to speak on their behalf. They’re championing their story. They’re making sure that people understand that they had absolutely no part in this and they tried for years to stop this tape getting out.”
Popplewell continued: “Until I worked on this, I had absolutely no idea to the lengths they went to and to the lengths that the people in this film went to, to ensure that it was seen by the public. I don’t know if this could happen today, but it’s quite an extraordinary tale of a domino effect where this tape goes from one hand to the next and each person comes up with a new plan as to how to get this out there despite legal battles from Pam and Tommy.
Pam has given interviews for many years and stated that she has never seen the tape, that she didn’t release it, that she didn’t make any money from its release. And I still think that we didn’t really listen and we didn’t really acknowledge what she was saying. When I look back at archive of interviews in 2015, 2017…it’s still kind of a joke. People are still laughing at her, or with her, or she’s laughing with them, and I think that’s been quite a key part of this film is to turn that dial up and say, ‘It wasn’t a laughing matter. We needed to take her seriously.’
This was revenge porn before we knew it was revenge porn. And I think that’s what this [film] is going to do. It’s going to settle that truth for her and maybe it won’t be brought up again in interviews to be laughed at.”
Tom Lindley agreed and added, “Just to sort of carry on from there, I think what Jenny described there is what we wanted to do with all of the films. I think every story we’re telling we want to leave the audience taking them on a journey where it upends their perspectives about what they thought the story was. Because I think several of the films cover subjects where you thought it was considered innocuous or fun, or it didn’t matter, and everyone was having a good time, and actually there is a far darker world to some of that. I think that’s our aim here with all of the films.”
