Great films.

It must be exciting working with such a great cast. A lot of them have made some funny shows. (Eastbound and Down, Workaholics) Do you go to work every day expecting to laugh?

Kelsey is really the reason I decided to work on Leo’s case. I had hired her as a researcher back in 2018 because I had just published my last book, Beneath a Ruthless Sun, and I had several projects on the backburner that I wanted to explore, and I needed a lot of help. There was a television series proposal, a civil rights multi-media project, a new book idea that I was working on, and Leo’s case, which had just come to me through Judge Cupp. Kelsey was looking at them all one day, and I remember asking her which project I should prioritize. “There’s an innocent man in prison,” Kelsey said. “That one.”

It was really hard to argue with that, so I decided to commit to an investigation into Leo’s conviction. Kelsey started as a researcher, and we dug into Leo’s case as a possible feature story. But after we met and interviewed Leo, Kelsey thought he was such a great storyteller that we should do a podcast about his case instead. Neither of us had any experience, but we picked up some equipment, and Kelsey taught herself how to be an audio recordist. She also knew Leo’s case inside out. She became “the keeper of the facts” and our relationship has been a co-partnership from very early on. She tolerated all of my trips down investigative rabbit holes, and we both believed in the story we were trying to tell. It seemed like we were always on the same page. For me, it’s been so inspiring to see her “arc” in this project, going from nervous researcher in the beginning, to confronting former State Attorney Jerry Hill after Leo’s parole hearing, to sitting next to Jeremy Scott in prison and getting him to talk about things we’ve never heard him talk about before. Kelsey is someone I trusted implicitly, and her value to this project can’t be understated. I often say that she is the conscience of Bone Valley. Everything is so much better because of her contributions. We went through some incredibly difficult challenges over the four years we worked together on this story. But the obstacles and setbacks never deterred her. I wasn’t just fortunate to have Kelsey at my side. It was an honor, and I’ll always be grateful to have worked with her.

-GK

​

When I came to this project, I was fresh out of college. At that time, I was looking for, basically, anything that would help me pay my rent in Brooklyn. I think Gilbert says it in the first episode, but at that point neither of us really knew what we were getting into or how long we’d be working together. At the very beginning, there was some anxiety on my part. Working as a research assistant to a Pulitzer Prize winning author was a bit intimidating. But it didn’t take long for either of us to really become invested in this project and in Leo’s case and, with that, we really fell into a rhythm of investigating this case together. Gilbert has been absolutely incredible to work with. He has always championed my role in this work. He’s always given me permission to really claim ownership of my contributions. And, he’s supported me every step of the way. He doesn’t have the ego you might expect for someone who has won such a prestigious award! So anytime I came to him with ideas for an interview approach or edits on a script, he’s always really listened to my thoughts and feedback. While this was my first real job outside of college, I did have a sense that that’s not always the way these things go. I feel very lucky to have been able to work on this alongside him. This project has been a massive learning experience for me, in so many ways, and it was with his guidance and mentorship and patience that I was able to see it through to the end.

-KD

Hey. Sorry I missed this question. Yes. There are. One of my favorite low budget classics is Napoleon Dynamite. Just a quirky classic and going back to old films there's The Rocky Horror show. And then with quirky British comedies there's Monty Python and the Holy Grail which is pure gold comedy wise but was shot on 220 K

I don't know about everyone else but with me it was the first time I'd auditioned and gotten the role right away. Usually there's a callback or two. But with this I videoed my audition on the Sunday. Emailed it that night and by noon Tuesday got told I had the role. We shot on Wednesday and Thursday. Was super fast.

Ha ha ha... I can't stand pickles!

Our research process was… reading every single thing we could get our hands on, talking to every single person we could find, turning over every leaf and going down every rabbit hole. This is probably the reason we ended up focusing so heavily on the cab driver murder and essentially solving that case; we just couldn’t not go down that road. To be honest, I’m not sure that these are good habits because I know it’s not always possible to report on and research a story in this way! There are certainly restrictions with time and resources and money that can prohibit what we were able to devote to this story. With Covid and the way the production of Bone Valley played out, we were actually quite lucky for the additional time it gave us to pursue some of these leads. But even now, there are parts of this story we don’t feel are “finished” – there are still people we’d like to talk to and things we’d like to investigate further. So I suppose my advice is – make friends with the uncertainty. It’ll always be there.

-K.D.

Did you ever run around the house with a pickle in your mouth?

Thank you so much. Totally agree with your assessment of Leo! He inspires me constantly.
As for TikTok, I’ve given some thought to trying to publicize Bone Valley and Leo’s case on the platform, but unfortunately we just don’t have much in terms of visual content. Filming and photography within the prison is heavily restricted. I have seen a few TikTok reviews of Bone Valley though, which I have LOVED. So I absolutely encourage anyone on the platform to share their thoughts on the story and the case. And if you’re interested in seeing what we do have in terms of visual content, it can be found here on Lava for Good’s website.

-K.D.

You’re right that Jeremy didn’t finish school. I don't have much to say about his handwriting. But, in theory, he’s had plenty of time in prison to work on it.

-K.D.

What was the casting experience like for Righteous Gemstones?

I’m so happy to hear that someone local has been listening. I don’t have much to recommend at the moment – other than signing and sharing the petition we’ve been directing everyone to. But I would encourage you (and everyone, really) to pay attention to local elections! They matter. The position of State Attorney is an elected position. So far, publicity for this story and for Leo’s case has mostly been through word of mouth, which we definitely believe in the power of. Talking about Bone Valley and Leo’s case with friends, family, and coworkers can make a difference. Hopefully, with that this’ll eventually become unavoidable for folks in power to confront.

-K.D.

Ah hard question. I was excited about working with Danny McBride David Gordon Greene, Walton Goggins - But I think I was Especially excited to be working with John Goodman as he's such a legend and I've been watching him in films since I was little.

Are there any really low budget films you like a lot and recommend watching?

Who were you most excited to work with on The Righteous Gemstones?

In the writing and telling of this story, we held off on mentioning Jeremy Scott from the beginning. We wanted the story to unfold over time, in the way it has in the three decades since Leo’s conviction. But, when Gilbert and I started researching the case in 2018, Jeremy Scott’s role was already pretty clearly laid out – his fingerprints had been identified and he’d confessed. So we were aware of him from the start, and that’s a big reason the case was so intriguing. There was a man who’d claimed innocence for over three decades, and another who’d confessed in a Polk County courtroom the year prior. And yet, the State of Florida found ways to discredit them both. Really getting to the bottom of who these two men are, and their roles in this case was what really drew me in. And of course, once we met Leo, and I saw the depth of his frustration and desperation to have his story told and to have this narrative corrected – that was the moment I knew we were really on to something, and we needed to really dig in to figure out what went wrong in this case.

-K.D.

Yes basically when the film makes back money the investors are reimbursed first then the actors and director, crew etc

Neither Kelsey nor I are trained investigative journalists. Kelsey has a background in oral history work, and I come from the world of book publishing, where I write narrative nonfiction. So I can just tell you that finding a subject or cases that really anger you, or inspire you to find out everything you can about them is the best place to come from. Figuring out exactly what you want to investigate should help you figure out where to go–whether it’s a newspaper, a podcast, television, etc.

- G.K.

Thank you. All my books have taken about 5 years to complete. I had originally thought I’d write something like a longform article on Leo’s case, but the more I dug in, the more obsessed I became with this story. It became very obvious to me that the State knew it didn’t have a case against Leo, so it resorted to distortion and misrepresentation of evidence, from the trial, all the way to Leo’s parole hearings. This is because the State does not have the truth on its side. I am just as confident that the State of Florida has convicted an innocent man in Leo Schofield, and that Jeremy Scott is Michelle Schofield’s true killer, as I am about the innocence of the recently exonerated Groveland Four. These kinds of injustices inspire me to correct the State’s false narratives, and knowing that there’s an innocent man in prison has a way of increasing a writer’s productivity.

-G.K.

How did your working relationship start and evolve over the course of this project?

Amazing!

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Is deferred conditional to if the film makes back more than its budget?

I don't know if I'm allowed to reveal that yet as for the first year or so what we make goes back to the distributors. So I haven't seen anything yet. However with the ratings we've been getting I'm hoping that we'll have some coming our way by early next year (we'll have been selling for a year then)

Of course. I know what you're going through.