Having tried and failed to make a true crime documentary, filmmaker Charlie Shackleton tells the story of what might have been.

In this wholly original, self-aware cinematic work, the true crime boom is put under the microscope as filmmaker Charlie Shackleton tells the story of his abandoned documentary about the infamous Zodiac Killer, describing beat-by-beat how he imagined it playing out. Over vacant Bay Area landscapes, stylised re-enactments and clips from recent true crime hits, his wry voiceover conjures the unrealised project in real time, offering an object lesson in creative frustration—and a hilarious critique of a genre at saturation point.

About The Team

Catherine Bray, Anthony Ing and Charlie Shackleton founded the London-based production outfit Loop in 2016. Since then, they have made award-winning film and television for the BBC, Channel 4 and The Guardian, and shown work at festivals including Sundance, Berlin and SXSW. Their most recent project, Shackleton’s feature documentary Zodiac Killer Project, premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and won the NEXT Innovator Award. It was theatrically released by Music Box Films. Upcoming projects include A House in Order, co-produced with Sixteen Films and co-written by Ing and Pulitzer Prize finalist Diane Johnson (The Shining).