Of Dolls & Murder filmmaker awarded McKnight's Media Artist fellowship!

Read all about Susan Marks and the other fellows of the  McKnight's Media Artist fellowship here! 
(Love how they mention John Waters!)

Also, a recent (wonderful!) article/review about Of Dolls & Murder here.

Happy Memorial Day!

In this 1949 article about Frances Glessner Lee, George Oswald calls her a passionate crusade for justice and a tireless lobbyist for reform of the coroner system. He writes, "Many innocent Americans owe Mrs. Lee their freedom, and countless criminals their just convictions."

For this and many other reasons we honor Frances Glessner Lee every Memorial Day.

Inside the not-so-missing Nutshell

These Nutshell photos really speak for themselves.

More Missing Nutshell photos

Thanks to the iphone, I was able to carefully stick my hand into this Nutshell Study of Unexplained Death and snap a few photos. Otherwise these views are too far back to view properly. Impressive miniature carpentry, no? Especially when you consider the scale is 1:12.

More about the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death.

Documentary Film Shoot at the Rocks

 Our documentary shoot at The Rocks exceeded all our expectations. Frances Glessner Lee's great-grandchildren hung out with us, sharing incredible insights about "Fanny." And you could not find better, more down to earth people than this family. We felt so lucky. And we also cannot say enough great things about The Rocks and the staff there. More photos coming soon of the unfinished Nutshell.

If want to know more about Frances Glessner Lee, go here!

Missing Nutshell

 Frances Glessner Lee's "missing" Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death

Our shoot was amazing. We met so many wonderful people with great insights into Frances Glessner Lee's life. And ya know how new discoveries is a theme of this documentary? As of last week, there were more new discovery about her life. And a mystery was solved! Something we've been wondering about for about 7 years. It was a huge thrill to see finally get to see the missing Nutshells. And see several unfinished Nutshells.

Documentary Film - Frances Glessner Lee

We are so excited to be interviewing the family of Frances Glessner Lee! And yes, we have 2 new documentary films in the works and several related narrative projects. (screenplays and VOD series)  The more we uncovered about Frances and the Nutshells, the more endless possibilities to produce and write more projects!

And yes, we hear rumblings that other people are "stealing our ideas" and running with them, but so far, nothing has materialized. Plus, we have an incredible inside track to some very private info sources that the general public would have no way of knowing about. So, we feel great about all the research we've amassed (exclusively) and the trust we've built.

Switching gears - numerous people have asked me about our library/education version of Of Dolls & Murder. Not sure why people aren't seeing it on our website, but here it is!

And yes, we can work with your institution to invoice or whatever you need for your internal protocol for purchasing.

A little info about Of Dolls & Murder :


Before forensics, DNA, and CSI we had dollhouses – an unimaginable collection of miniature crime scenes, known as the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death. Created in the 1930s and 1940s by a crime-fighting grandmother, Frances Glessner Lee created the Nutshells to help homicide detectives hone their investigative skills. These surreal dollhouses reveal a dystopic and disturbing slice of domestic life with doll corpses representing actual murder victims, or perhaps something that just looks like murder. Despite all the advances in forensics, the Nutshells are still used today to train detectives. Documentary film, Of Dolls and Murder, explores the dioramas, the woman who created them, and their relationship to modern day forensics. From the iconic CSI television show to the Body Farm and criminally minded college students, legendary filmmaker and true crime aficionado, John Waters narrates the tiny world of big time murder.

The DVD includes extended version of Of Dolls & Murder as well as extra features!

Frances Glessner Lee Documentary

Considering there are so many Frances Glessner Lee film and television projects in development - we are thrilled to have the family exclusive! Filming with family members in a few days. We cannot wait!

We've recently unearthed so much new information about Frances! (And I know you other writers doing projects on Frances would just kill to know what we know,  but you're going to have to wait...)

As always, thank you, Of Dolls & Murder, fans for your on-going support! We are lucky to have such passionate, smart and funny fans!

Frances Glessner Lee - our hero!