A Cheverus graduate wrote the script. Anna Kendrick ensured that she was chosen as the “woman of the hour”.

Left to right: Tony Hale, Anna Kendrick and Daniel Zovatto in “Woman of the Hour.” Photo by Leah Gallo/Netflix

When Anna Kendrick read the script, she knew she wanted to do Woman of the Hour.

Written by Ian McDonald, it is based on the true story of serial killer Rodney Alcala, who – before he was caught – was a participant in “The Dating Game” in 1978. On the show, a “Bachelorette” asked three men blind questions and then pick one for a date.

Only after agreeing to star in the film did Kendrick, a Portland native, learn that McDonald was also a Mainer. He grew up just a town away from her, in Scarborough, and is about the same age. By then they had met as writers and actors and were working toward the same creative vision, although they spent time discovering their shared connections in Maine, including the community theaters and acting camps they both attended.

“Woman of the Hour” debuts on Netflix on October 18 and marks McDonald's first major screenwriting credit. Kendrick has one of the lead roles and is making her debut as a director. Kendrick, whose resume includes a 2010 Oscar nomination for “Up in the Air” and prominent roles in the series “Twilight” and “Pitch Perfect,” said her belief in the script led her to apply to direct. At that point there was no director and Kendrick wanted to make sure the film got made.

“I couldn't believe how emotional the script was. “It's a very well-directed thriller, but I think Ian brought so much beauty and emotion to it,” Kendrick said on a conference call with McDonald in September to promote the film. “It felt really powerful and emotional. I just loved it.”

McDonald, 40, has lived in Los Angeles since about 2013, selling scripts for television and film projects and teaching writing at Loyola Marymount University, but “Woman of the Hour” is his first major film writing. McDonald says he's proud of other things he's written — including screenplays that were sold but never made — but he knows “Woman of the Hour” could be a turning point in his career.

“Nothing else I've done has made a difference professionally like this has in a really big way,” McDonald said, citing his increased profile and credibility as a writer in Hollywood. “At 40 years old, my career is finally where I've wanted to be since I was 15 and making zombie movies in my backyard.”

Ian McDonald, who grew up in Scarborough and attended Cheverus High School in Portland, wrote the screenplay for the film “Woman of the Hour.” Photo courtesy of Julia Max

While the film focuses on Alcala's appearance on “The Dating Game” in 1978, it also shows how he lures victims and potential victims before and after the show. Kendrick plays Cheryl Bradshaw, an aspiring actress who was trying to kickstart her career in this episode – the episode in which Alcala was one of three Bachelors. Alcala, who was convicted of seven murders in the 1970s, is played in the film by Daniel Zovatto, one of the stars of the Showtime fantasy series “Penny Dreadful: City of Angels.”

NO ROAD MAP

McDonald grew up in Scarborough and attended Cheverus High School in Portland, graduating in 2002. His mother, Heidi McDonald, owns a day care center and his father, Michael McDonald, is a retired real estate manager. By the time he got to high school, McDonald spent much of his time playing sports – basketball, baseball and football. He says he played in part because his father was a college athlete. Then, as he thought about playing football in high school, he began to think more about how much he would like to dabble in artistic pursuits.

After talking to his father and mother, he decided to give up sports and pursue art. At some point he wanted to become a comic artist and then started making small films with friends. Since he didn't know anyone from Maine working in Hollywood, he began researching regional filmmakers who were making films where they lived. It gave him hope that he could find filmmakers who were working but didn't live in Hollywood or New York.

As for his interest in writing, McDonald had a role model to follow in Maine: Stephen King.

“It's probably not particularly surprising, but Stephen King had a huge influence on my childhood. “Not just because of the stories he told, but because he showed that you could come from Maine, have no direct connection to film or publishing, and still make a life as a writer,” McDonald said. “For the first few years after moving to Los Angeles, I was very homesick and re-read his books to ease the pain. Specifically “Salem’s Lot” and “Pet Sematary.” Aside from being frightening novels, they are also really beautiful, powerful depictions of Maine.”

After graduating from Cheverus University, McDonald studied film at DeSales University in Pennsylvania. He transferred to Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where he majored in English. Due to the cost of the equipment needed to produce a film, he decided to focus on script writing since all he needed was a laptop. He then earned a master's degree in playwriting from Brown University in Rhode Island and also taught at the Ivy League institution before returning to Los Angeles. Since then he has been writing plays and screenplays. He also taught at Loyola Marymount for about five years before concentrating full-time on writing.

A scene from “Woman of the Hour.” Photo by Leah Gallo/Netflix

WRITING TO SPECIFICATIONS

McDonald says he has always been interested in thrillers and true crime stories. So when he read about Alcala, his crimes and his appearance on a TV show, he thought it would be great material for a script. He wrote it “on spec,” meaning without funding or a guarantee that it would be made, starting about eight years ago and then selling it to various production companies. It took about four years before BoulderLight Pictures, the lead creative company on the project, decided to take it on. The film was shot primarily in Vancouver, Canada about two years ago and screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2023.

Both Kendrick and McDonald say there were some challenges writing a script and making a film based on terrible things that happened to real people. There were parts of the story where no court documents, records or witness statements existed, so the filmmakers said they tried to “get to the emotional truth” of the story through the fabricated fictions.

Alcala was still alive when McDonald began his research and writing. He died in prison in 2021 at the age of 77, having been sentenced to death in 1980.

Alcala's story, including the fact that he was able to appear undetected on a nationally televised TV show in the midst of his killing spree, has been written about and was the subject of a television movie on the Investigation Network in 2017. But his story never was. “The film was told on a large scale before McDonald's script for 'Woman of the Hour,'” said Tracy Rosenblum, vice president of development and production at BoulderLight Pictures and producer of the film.

Rosenblum said that while the story itself was shocking and fascinating, McDonald's script enhanced it in powerful and insightful ways.

“I think the fact that he approached it from the perspective of the women and other people who have interacted with Rodney over the years was a new way to tell the story that still felt very authentic,” said Rosenblum. “The script illuminates not only who this one person was, but also what systems and social norms allowed him to be successful at the time.”

The film is emotional, respectful of the victims and also entertaining, says Rosenblum – a combination that is difficult to achieve. Rosenblum said she found McDonald to be cooperative but also confident in his work.

“He’s a very smart guy, and he’s also just a lovely, sweet person,” Rosenblum said. “I'm really happy that this film is coming to the world and that other people can see his talent. I can’t wait to see what he does next.”

Ian McDonald, who grew up in Scarborough, is a screenwriter who now lives in the Los Angeles area. Photo courtesy of Julia Max

As for possible future projects, McDonald said he is trying to adapt Stephen King's short story “Mrs. Todd's Shortcut.” He would also like to have one of his scripts shot in Maine. He did write a crime novel for Amazon that was set in Maine, but it was never filmed.

Even though his career in Hollywood has taken off, he says he still needs to return to Maine regularly to “detox” from the pace and drama of life in Los Angeles. He lives with his wife Julia Max in a quieter part of the Los Angeles area, in the San Fernando Valley.

“Maine is a state that is good for the soul, and the quiet allows me to hear my own thoughts in a way that is more difficult in Los Angeles,” McDonald said.

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