When “catching a predator” was broadcast as part of “Dateline NBC” from 2004 to 2007, it drew the type of praise that rarely met early reality -TV. It was not only reality -TV, it was a socially good, a way to reveal men who would sexually be exchanged for minor teens, a way to get evidence to judge men who showed undeniable intention to commit statutory rape. This is the kind of show that even Jon Stewart, famous critical of exploitative TV, said: “I approve” when I welcomed the series host, Chris Hansen, at “The Daily Show.”
The show ended partly because of legal confusion related to the death of one of the alleged predators it had captured in one of its sticks. Almost 20 years later, it has created an entire universe of unauthorized spinoffs, some still involve Chris Hansen himself.
Now there is a documentary about “capturing a predator” and its aftermath: “Predators”, directed by David Osit, who stopped at the IndieWire studio at SundancePresented by Dropbox.
He never tried to make a documentary about “catching a predator”, of which he became a fan while he was in college.
“I didn’t think it could be much of an interesting documentary,” Osit said. “I saw the show before I was interested in filmmaking. And then I heard about how the show ended and some crazy stories around it, but at first I didn’t think a film If the series can be interesting other than just like Salacious true crime. And then one day I online met some raw pictures that were collected through the Law on Freedom Information, Raw Hearing Scenes that were not edited for TV that showed that the guys who were captured and talked about in their entirety. And when I looked at the raw pictures, I felt really bad for these guys because you have room to think about them as people. But then I would look at a chat log and then feel disgusted by them again. And then I heard a phone call between them and a locomotive and be equipped again. So I continued to have this emotional ping pong in my head and in my heart. “
When looking at clips from “To Catch a Predator” again, it’s hard not to believe that this was the 21st century US form of public executions. You look at a life end as entertainment – not literally end, but very figuratively. Who would hire these men again? How would their families survive? Many would be prosecuted and serve in prison time, in what was a unique collaboration between TV news and law enforcement.
“It’s really the gallows,” Osit said. “It’s the Stockades. We rejoice about our society, and not just here in America, in the pain of other people, as Susan Sontag wrote a fantastic book about it. What is interesting to me, and I internalized in making the film, is that we all have a double reservoir of empathy and cruelty. We know both of these things, everyone is. And a show like this dropped in both of them and used it as feed. “
By having 18-year-old actors, who look younger than 18, dress and act provocatively, was it not an aspect to “catch a predator” of the show that exploits the victims and the victim’s pain as well?
“For me,” exploitative “was always one of the red flag words I wanted to avoid,” the Olympics said. “I wanted to do the opposite of what I felt this show did, which was flat the world for good and evil, right and wrong, bad and good. And I wanted to give everyone at least the chance to say: ‘Why are you here? Why are you doing this work? ‘And the answers surprised me. People come to this work (take up the mantle from Hansen himself) from different places. I have never met anyone who thinks they are evil or what they do as wrong. Even people we do not agree or we choose for the office, even if we disagree with them, they believe in what they do. What if I dug deeper and did the audience do not already have their senses that compensate for them? Because that was what this kind of show actually did, and so much true criminal entertainment: they flatten the world and say you are the good guys to watch this program, the evil are in the program, and then it ends and you Can pat yourself on the back to be one of the good guys. ”
Watch IndieWire’s full video interview with Osit above.
Dropbox is proud to collaborate with IndieWire and Sundance Film Festival. In 2025, 68% of feature films premiered at the Sundance Film Festival Dropbox in its film production. Dropbox helps filmmakers and creative teams find, organize and secure all files that are important for all projects.
