On the passing of visionary director Melvin Van Peebles, screen MISSING PERSONS, the long lost ABC pilot directed by his son Mario

September 23rd 2021, On the passing of legendary Renaissance man and filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles, consider “Missing Persons” a pilot for the ABC Television Network directed by his son Mario.

Starring Joe Cortese, Phil Morris, Constance Marie, Jason Beghe, Mike Starr, and Fredric Lehne, it was shot in April, 1992.

CLICK HERE to screen it on YouTube.

Mario, had just helmed the critically acclaimed feature “New Jack City” when he directed this hour which was one of the highest testing pilots in ABC’s lineup for the ’92 season. But it never made it onto the network’s schedule with the same cast and production team; although a version of it, co-created by Peter Lance ran on ABC from 1993-95.

This pilot also featured a series of veteran character actors including Paul Ben-Victor, Beau Starr and Tony Amendola. It includes a cameo from director Deran Sarafian and a small speaking role from ex-NYPD Detective Louis Eppolito, later convicted as one of the “Mafia Cops.” The pilot was line produced by Peter McIntosh with cinematography by Edward Pei, production design by Richard Hoover and a score by Anthony Marinelli. Casting was by Peter Golden. This analogue video, hidden in the vaults for decades, was recently discovered.

CLICK HERE for a pdf of the shooting script visit peterlance.com