LOS ANGELES — Michel Shane, producer of Catch Me if You Can and I, Robot is putting his storytelling skills to use on a very personal project, following the loss of his young daughter. Shane is working to produce a documentary about the dangers of the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, CA. Also known as “Blood Alley,” the stretch of road is where his 13-year-old daughter Emily was killed by a speeding motorist, back in April of 2010.
Emily was walking alongside the Pacific Coast Highway to meet her dad following a slumber party with friends. A speeding motorist swerved off the road and struck her, killing her. Shane hopes to bring attention to the problem through storytelling.
“Documentaries have created movements, and in creating the documentary, we will identify workable solutions,” he explains. “I’m hoping Emily’s story and the stories of other who have died on Pacific Coast Highway will establish the template for every community cursed with a deadly stretch of highway.”
Shane has launched a Kickstarter campaign, (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1253740183/pch-probably-cause-harm) to raise the money to make the film.
“I’ve tried the traditional routes to address the safety issues on the highway, and nothing has happened,” he notes. “Until a person experiences the excruciating pain of losing someone they love more than life, most think as I did: ‘It won’t happen to us.’ By sharing the story of this highway and the lives it has taken through the most powerful medium I know, we can begin to address every Blood Alley in the country.”