Dear Ms. Tate, I hope this email finds you well. By way of

Dear Ms. Tate,

I hope this email finds you well. By way of introduction, my

name is Daniel Farrands. I am the writer and director of the

(perhaps confusingly titled) "The Haunting of Sharon Tate."

I know that you have commented on the film and your feelings

about our take on this story. If I may take a moment of your time,

I would like to talk about the project -- what is is about, what is

isn't about, and what I hope you will come to understand about my

approach to this incredibly difficult and tragic story.

I was born in 1969 -- September 1969, to be exact -- and my

mother was pregnant with me at the same time that your amazing

sister Sharon was about to give birth to her first child.

I remember as a young boy growing up in the suburbs of

Providence, RI the profound impact Sharon's death had on my

mother, and of course on the world. It was something my mother

understood and related to on a very real and visceral level, given

the fact that she was also 8 months pregnant when this horrible

tragedy occurred.

We moved to Southern California in the mid-1970s and I

remember even then that the deaths of Sharon and her friends were

still very much in the zeitgeist, and the fear that the murders had

invoked in the people of Los Angeles (followed soon after by the

Hillside Stranglers and Richard Ramirez) was still quite palpable.

My family experienced a number of troubling and terrifying

incidents of our own when I was growing up, and those incidents

in turn, I suppose, led to my interest in the horror genre when I

became a teenager. In some ways, I think the fear of what I saw

play out on screen in horror films helped me deal with the real-life

horrors that were happening in our own lives.

The story of Sharon's death has haunted me for most of my life. I

remember the hardcover jacket of "Helter Skelter" sitting on a

shelf in our home back east, and how I would literally run away

from it as fast as my little legs would take me.

About ten years ago, I remember seeing a documentary about the

murders and how incredibly disturbed and frightened I was by it,

which brought back some of the memories of the things that that

had occurred within my own family during my childhood.

I have been a filmmaker for most of my life. I love what I do for a

living and I feel blessed each and every day that I am able to

express myself artistically and to be able to give voice to my

feelings, my memories and my interpretation of the stories that

have inspired or affected me in a deeply personal way.

The one element of Sharon's story that I could not stop thinking of

over the years was WHAT IF.

WHAT IF she had been able to escape that night ... WHAT IF

she'd been able to fight back ... to seize control of that nightmarish

situation?

This idea continued to germinate in my mind for many years, until

finally it dawned on me.

There was a wonderful film from the 80s (filmed at my high

school, in fact) from the great Francis Ford Coppolla. It was

called PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED, and it was a beautiful story

of a woman (Kathleen Turner) who attends her high school

reunion and is transported back to her high school years and

allowed to relive those days and perhaps choose a different road, a

different destiny, for herself.

This is when I latched onto the idea to make this film. It is NOT

the story of the despicable souls who committed these senseless

crimes. It is NOT a story intending to glorify the cult leader or a

slasher film intended to make light of this horrible true story.

It is, in a sense, my own way of retelling the story in a way that it

EMPOWERS your sister, by giving her and her friends a fighting

chance ... something that we all wish could have happened in real

life.

I wanted to give them a chance to do it again, through the art of

storytelling, but with a different outcome. A chance for Sharon

and her friends to be able to stand up against their killers, to face

up to them and ultimately defeat evil. I wanted to give her a voice,

and a strength, and to portray her as the strong, smart and resilient

woman that she was.

One of my favorite quotes of your sister's (one which I keep on my

desk today) is the one in which she said, "I guess I live in a fairy

tale world, looking at everything through rose-colored glasses. I

probably always will."

This is the Sharon I have attempted to portray in my film. Not a

victim, but rather a SURVIVOR. A warrior. A woman who, if

she had the chance to do it all over again, armed with the

knowledge that she unfortunately did not have in 1969, might have

been saved. This movie is how I wish the true story had ended.

I truly wish I could turn back time and make it happen this way ...

for you, for your family, and for Sharon and her son. This film is

my prayer for Sharon, for you and, for everyone who has lived

with the suffering and loss of this unspeakable crime.

I just wanted to reach out personally and let you know that this is

my intention behind my film. I know it may not change your

opinion, and I can understand if it does not.

I obviously can't begin to understand the depth of your loss, and I

can completely understand your concerns, criticisms and

judgments. I just want you to know that I approached this film as

a labor of love, and as a love letter to the enduring legacy of your

beautiful sister and her friends. They are not forgotten.

I thank you for your time and I wish you all the very best.

Warmest regards,

Daniel Farrands