ABC News Studios Partners With Imagine Documentaries and Vermilion Films To Present ‘Leave No Trace’

Peabody and Emmy®-winning and Oscar®-nominated director Irene Taylor (“Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements,” “Beware the Slenderman”) of Vermilion Films, Imagine Documentaries and ABC News Studios investigate the downfall of an American institution in the powerful and timely documentary, “Leave No Trace.” The film draws on financial records, court documents and scores of interviews to dissect a centurylong cover-up by The Boy Scouts of America (BSA). The organization concealed that pedophiles were in its ranks, but the disclosure of secret “perversion files” in litigation eventually led to disgrace and bankruptcy. Producing alongside Taylor is Sara Bernstein and Justin Wilkes for Imagine Documentaries, Emily Singer Chapman and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nigel Jaquiss. Brian Grazer and Ron Howard serve as executive producers. Following its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 9, “Leave No Trace” streams on Hulu and is in theaters in New York and Los Angeles beginning Thursday, June 16.

The film looks at the sexual abuse, told through firsthand accounts of survivors still trying to cope with their trauma today, even as they crusade for justice in a high-stakes court case. Interviews and taped depositions with former BSA leadership, including a highly placed insider, reveal how financial considerations factored into BSA executives putting the interests of adults and the organization ahead of keeping boys safe. The film explores the connection between declining membership—the scouts’ financial lifeblood—and policies that failed to protect boys from their abusers. And the film reveals that BSA leadership prioritized banning gay scouts and leaders over reporting pedophiles to authorities.

“Leave No Trace” shows the BSA’s extraordinary position in America: presidents, CEOs and leaders in every community have supported scouting for more than a century, building an institution of extraordinary influence and wealth. Yet, from its earliest days, BSA kept meticulous records of pedophile scout leaders—the “perversion files.” In spite of the damning information the files contained, they were kept confidential at headquarters, while some abusers moved from troop to troop without public warning.

The organization filed for bankruptcy in February 2020. Since then, more than 82,000 men have come forward with claims of abuse. The proposed reorganization plan for the BSA would include the largest sexual abuse settlement in history, even dwarfing payouts from the U.S. Catholic Church.

“Leave No Trace” is a presentation of ABC News Studios and an Imagine Documentaries and Vermilion Films production.

Directed by Irene Taylor
Produced by Irene Taylor, Sara Bernstein, Justin Wilkes, Nigel Jaquiss, Emily Singer Chapman
Executive Producers: Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Irene Taylor
Supervising Producer: Lisa Diamond
Editors: Don Kleszy, Jody McVeigh-Schultz
Directors of Photography: Peter Hutchens, Nick Midwig
Music by Mark Orton

About Imagine Documentaries
Imagine Documentaries was formed in 2018 by Imagine Entertainment Chairmen Brian Grazer and Ron Howard with a focus on developing and producing premium feature documentaries and non-scripted television. Based out of New York, Imagine Docs is run by Academy Award-nominated and Emmy, Peabody and Producer’s Guild Award-winning producers Justin Wilkes and Sara Bernstein. The division expands on Imagine’s rich history in the documentary space which includes the hit documentary series “Mars” and “Breakthrough” (National Geographic) as well as the Ron Howard-directed films Jay- Z’s “Made in America,” “The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years” (2017 Grammy winner for Best Music Film), “Pavarotti,” and the Sundance 2020 documentary feature “Rebuilding Paradise” (National Geographic Films).  Recent releases include Ron Howard’s documentary feature “We Feed People” profiling chef Jose Andres and the humanitarian efforts of World Central Kitchen (National Geographic Films); Amy Poehler’s documentary feature directing debut, “Lucy and Desi”, on the personal and professional partnership between Lucille Ball and husband Desi Arnaz;  the Rory Kennedy directed feature documentary, “Downfall,” investigating Boeing’s 737-Max airplane crashes (Netflix); “Julia,” the definitive documentary on Julia Child, directed by Julie Cohen and Betsy West (Sony Pictures Classic); “Paper & Glue,” directed by legendary French artist JR (MSNBC);  the Tribeca Film Festival Best Documentary Short award winner “Coded: The Hidden Love of J.C. Leyendecker” (MTV Films); Joe Berlinger’s “Crime Scene” anthology series, “The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel” and “The Times Square Killer,” which both reached the top #5 globally on Netflix; “Gossip,” a limited series chronicling Cindy  Adams’ four-decade career at the New York Post as the “reigning queen of gossip” (Showtime); “Who Are You Charlie Brown?”, the definitive feature documentary on Charles Schulz (AppleTV+); “Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel” (Netflix); and “Supervillain: The Making of Tekashi 6ix9ine” (Showtime); “We Are The Brooklyn Saints” (Netflix); “On Pointe” (Disney+); “The Day Sports Stood Still” (HBO); Dads (Apple+); “D Wade: Life Unexpected” (ESPN Films); and “Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band” (Magnolia Pictures).

Upcoming projects include “The Supermodels,” a docuseries featuring the iconic careers of Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington (AppleTV+); the docuseries “Light & Magic” (Disney+) about the start of George Lucas’ special effects company Industrial Light and Magic; the Martin Scorsese-directed documentary on New York’s 1970’s music scene and the New York Dolls; and “Black and Blues: The Colorful Ballad of Louis Armstrong” (AppleTV+).

About Vermilion Films
Vermilion Films is led by Peabody and Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated director and producer Irene Taylor.  Vermilion documentaries have shown theatrically, at film festivals and on television worldwide. Vermilion’s most recent film, Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements (2019) was nominated for Best Documentary, in the 2020 Prime Time Emmy Awards, and nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.

 

Vermilion’s other credits include “Hear and Now” ( Peabody Award, Sundance Audience Award, HBO), the HBO feature documentary “Beware the Slenderman” (Critics’ Choice Award and Emmy nominee) and several short films: “The Final Inch,” (Academy award and multiple Emmy award nominee, IDA’s Pare Lorentz Award), “Saving Pelican 895” (Emmy winner, best score), “One Last Hug: Three Days at Grief Camp” (Prime Time Emmy winner for Best Children’s Programming).  Irene also created the New York Times Op-Doc Between Sound and Silence, as well as “Open Your Eyes.”

Vermilion is based in Portland Oregon.

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