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I initially saw Jean-Xavier de Lestrade’s documentary series The Staircase on the Sundance Channel in 2005. It was the first time I had viewed a longform documentary structured episodically — each episode built over three acts with a cliffhanger compelling you to watch the next installment as soon as you could. Clearly I wasn’t the only one who was fascinated by the documentary, as it went on to become a defining work in the true-crime genre. And that could have been where the story ended.

But many years later, the talented writer-director Antonio Campos (an artist I already admired and a friend) approached me with a pilot he had written, inspired by the original French docuseries. It wasn’t an adaptation, but rather an opportunity to revisit the story in a new context — an opportunity to explore and investigate the evolution of true crime as a genre.

This story first appeared in the Emmy Race Begins issue of TheWrap magazine.

The critical response to HBO Max’s limited series “The Staircase” has been overwhelmingly positive. But Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, the French filmmaker who directed the Peabody award-winning docu-series of the same name on which the new drama is based, is not participating in the applause.

In a recent interview, de Lestrade told Vanity Fair that he felt “betrayed” by the HBO Max adaptation because he believes it questions his integrity and professionalism. The eight-episode drama tells the story of Michael Peterson (Colin Firth), the crime writer who was convicted in 2003 of killing his wife Kathleen (Toni Collette), whom he claims fell to her death on the stairs in their Durham, North Carolina home. (He was retried in 2011 and eventually took an Alford plea.) In addition to chronicling the trial and aftermath, “The Staircase” also features de Lestrade...

The true-crime tale has lately dominated scripted TV, with miniseries-length dissections of infamous incidents coming thick on the ground. Many of these shows have played as flat reenactments that don’t earn the running time they demand, serials that seem to be more interested in checking items off a list to get us to an opinion about “what really happened” than in finding something transformative in a familiar story. So it comes as a surprise that HBO Max’s “The Staircase” does exactly what its title implies, taking the audience beyond the first level and reaching for a second, elevated story.

This show dramatizes the events covered in the French documentary series of the same title — made in 2004 by director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade and available on Netflix. Both projects are about the death of Durham, N.C., woman Kathleen Peterson, possibly at the hands of her husband, Michael. Here, the...

In the scripted version of “The Staircase,” Kathleen Peterson (Toni Collette) slips on a step, falls down, and dies. The blood pouring from the top of her head is soon spread over the walls as she struggles to sit up, creating a convincing scene to the one soon discovered, photographed, and endlessly analyzed by the police. Like her distraught husband Michael (Colin Firth) claims from the start, Kathleen’s death was an accident.

And yet, Kathleen Peterson is murdered. A heated argument turns physical. The hallway again transforms into its inevitable, nightmarish state. Michael is both angry and apologetic, but he’s unquestionably at fault. Like the district attorney and his team claim from the start, Kathleen’s death was a homicide.

With only five of the limited series’ eight episodes screened for critics, there very well may be a third or fourth reenactment of a murder that’s been debated for nearly two decades.

“Back to Life,” a new comedy from the producers of “Fleabag,” has set its cast and entered production. Daisy Haggard co-wrote the series and plays the lead character, Miri Mattheson, an ex-con returning to her seaside hometown after 18 years in prison. Geraldine James (“Sherlock Holmes”) and Richard Durden (“Harlots”) will play Miri’s parents as she readjusts to life on the outside.

They appear alongside a roster of British talent in the series for online network BBC Three, including Adeel Akhtar (“Murdered by My Father”), who plays Miri’s neighbor, and Jamie Michie (“Game of Thrones”), who plays her first love.

All3Media-baked Two Brothers Pictures, the hot British shingle behind shows including “Fleabag” and “Rellik,” is on production duty. Liam Williams (“Pls Like”), Souad Faress (“Bridget Jones’s Baby”), Jo Martin (“Been So Long”), Christine Bottomley (“The End of the F***ing World”) and Frank Feys (“A Perfect Day...

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival has unveiled its 2015 line-up which includes films representing 54 countries, 23 world premieres and 53 U.S. premieres. The U.S. premiere of Niki Caro’s McFarland USA will close out the 30th fest. Based on the 1987 true story and starring Kevin Costner and Maria Bello, the film follows novice runners from McFarland, an economically challenged town in California’s farm-rich Central Valley, as they give their all to build a cross-country team under the direction of Coach Jim White (Costner), a newcomer to their predominantly Latino high school. The unlikely band of runners overcomes the odds to forge not only a championship cross-country team but an enduring legacy as well.

The festival runs from January 27-February 7.

Below is the list of World and U.S. Premiere films followed by the list of titles by sidebar categories.

World Premieres

A Better You, USA

Directed by Matt Walsh

Cast: Brian Huskey,...

A self-acknowledged "showcase for Academy Award frontrunners," the Santa Barbara International Film Festival is often overlooked for the actual films that earn it festival status. An amalgamation of international discoveries and ’merica’s circuit highlights, the Sbiff curates a week of best-of-the-best to pair with their star-praising. The 2015 edition offers another expansive selection, bookended by two films that aren’t on any radars just yet. Sbiff will open with "Desert Dancer," producer Richard Raymond’s directorial debut. Starring Reece Ritchie and Frieda Pinto, the drama follows a group of friends who wave off the harsh political climate of Iran’s 2009 presidential election in favor of forming a dance team, picking up moves from Michael Jackson, Gene Kelly and Rudolf Nureyev thanks to the magic of YouTube. The festival will close with "McFarland, USA," starring Kevin Costner and Maria Bello. Telling the 1987 true story of a Latino high school’s underdog cross-country team,...