Documentary film project ends in name calling, defamation suit

Creative differences on an uncompleted documentary have led to a Kansas City woman being sued for defamation after she started a blog in which she calls a filmmaker a “despicable, haughty, typical Hollywood COCKROACH.”

A dead dog pushed the collaboration toward its unhappy ending. The filmmaker, Melissa Kester, and the subject, Mary McGrannahan, discussed a project that would tell the story of McGrannahan’s relationship with an abusive husband. But McGrannahan felt that the footage Kester shot did not pay enough attention to a 15-year-old chocolate lab that her husband allegedly smothered.