By Kristina Garza

In 1982, the remains of 16,433 aborted fetuses were found in a repossessed storage container in Los Angeles. The storage container had been purchased by Malvin Weisberg, who originally housed the storage container at his Woodland Hills home.

Two years later, S. Rickly Christian, former editor of the Saturday Evening Post, and his friend Karen Linamen, went on the road to find and interview Weisberg. They followed him from his business to the hospital where the abortions were performed to his home. Weisberg evaded them.

Christian documented the chase in his book, The Woodland Hills Tragedy. Now, Rocky Top Pictures and Higher Ground Entertainment plan to tell Christian’s story in a dramatic feature film called Chasing Weisberg.

Executive producer of Rocky Top Pictures, and writer and producer of Chasing Weisberg, Nathan Lee Lewis, learned about the Weisberg tragedy when he stumbled upon Christian’s book in a used book store.

He describes the screenplay as “Erin Brockovich meets JFK.”

“It’s a political thriller,” he says. “It covers everything. It’s investigative, there’s mystery, intrigue, tragedy, the chase. It starts when Rick [Christian] goes over to a friend’s house. The friend was in absolutely disarray. He told Rick, ‘You have to look into this.’ One of the containers of remains found in the storage bin had his girlfriend’s name on it. One of the babies was this friend’s child.”

As the audience follows Rick’s chase, Lewis not only deals with the subject of abortion, but asks about the person deeply involved in the abortion business, “Who was Malvin Weisberg? What made him tick? Why did he do this? Who was this man?”

The film follows Rick on a personal journey, as well: “Rick evolves from apathy to deep concern. When he started, he didn’t have a solid understanding of what abortion was. What it means to live in a society that routinely destroys its sons and daughters.”

Lewis insists that the film is not gratuitous: “It’s not about ‘Hey come look at all of these fetuses, isn’t that horrible.’ It’s about Rick as he comes to an understanding. A film has never been made for theatrical release about this subject matter.”

“I want people’s imaginations to fill in the gap. There is a scene where Rick needs to use the restroom, and when he goes into the bathroom, he looks around and sees dust. He turns around and sees dust on the door knob, dust an inch think behind him. He has a panic attack thinking about the dust accumulating, and aborted bodies being incinerated.”

Neither Weisberg nor anyone else involved in the cover-up was ever tried or convicted. Lewis describes the story as “an ongoing incident,” which makes the film relevant today.

During his research for the film, Lewis visited the gravesite at Odd Fellow’s Cemetery in Los Angeles, where the remains of the 16,433 aborted babies found in Weisberg’s storage container were eventually buried. He says recalling that experience is one of the moments of the venture that causes him to get emotional.

He recalls thinking, “There should be someone there all the time. There should be something more. I just thought, 16,433, how many souls are beneath me.

“As I sat there, I wondered, ‘Where have I been all this time?’ And I said, ‘They can’t be forgotten.’
It’s hard for me not to see their faces. I had seen the autopsy photos. I’d seen the faces of the children who were beneath that soil. It was stunning. It was heavy.”

Lewis wants audiences to know that the Weisberg story does not end with the burial of the remains from the storage container.

He says, “It’s still continuing. These babies are just a microcosm. They’re just a microcosm of what’s happening. They’re such a small percentage of the hundreds of thousands, the millions, who are being aborted. That there are so many found at one time, it made people uneasy because it was in their face.

“If I have anything to do with it, I’m going to resurrect this story, I’m going to show it, in dramatic feature film, I’m going to show Inglewood Hospital. Even Weisberg. You don’t get to be involved in this industry and just go to your grave while everyone turns their head. I want every head, every face turned toward this again. I want it to be done in an amazing demonstrative way. I want every theater, every screen in the country, as many people as possible to see it.”

Chasing Weisberg will be produced by Brad Wilson, whose films have won numerous awards and Casey Bond, who recently starred in Moneyball.

Production for Chasing Weisberg is expected to begin in June 2016. Small investment opportunities are still available. If you are interested in an investment opportunity, contact Higher Purpose Entertainment at (818) 308-4135.