An axe murder lured Lesli Linka Glatter back to Texas. The Emmy nominated director behind shows like Mad Men, Homeland, Freaks and Geeks, and Gilmore Girls grew up in Dallas, but she left home for New York as a teenager to pursue her original passion of dance. Glatter’s father worked for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, and her mother was a founding chair of SMU’s dance department. Following in her mother’s footsteps, Glatter danced and choreographed in Europe, Japan, and New York before she realized her true calling and switched to directing. Her first film, Tales of Meeting and Parting, received an Oscar nomination for Short Film (Live Action).
“Nobody’s path is the same in the film business,” Glatter says. “Everyone has a different story.”
Years later, Glatter’s agent sent story “Love and Death in Silicon Prairie” by Jim Atkinson and John Bloom. The true account of Candy Montgomery, a suburban housewife in Wylie who brutally murdered her friend Betty Gore, was a tale she had to tell—and it brought her back to her home state for an extended stay.
