Your extruder could be in the movies

A film producer is looking for a 1980s-era HPM extruder for a short "role" in an upcoming documentary/drama. Unusual, yes -- and the full story is even more interesting. The subject of the documentary is the 1985 so-called "Ninja Murders" -- also known as the "Yom Kippur Murders." A plastics company was at the heart of the case -- the victims were Gerald and Vera Woodman, former owners of Manchester Products in Chatsworth, Calif. The husband-wife were gunned down on Sept. 25, 1985, while parking their Mercedes after a dinner marking the end of Yom Kippur. The case also was known in the media as the "Ninja Murders" because a witness thought one of the attackers, who was wearing a black-hooded sweatshirt, was wearing a ninja outfit. Two of the Woodman's sons were arrested and eventually convicted of hiring the two hit men who carried out the crimes. Stewart Woodman was convicted of first-degree murder, and spared a death sentence in exchange for agreeing to testify against Neil Woodman, who was convicted in 1996 and sentenced to 25 years to life. Prosecutors at the time said the brothers expected to collect $506,000 from their mother's insurance policy -- money they needed to prop up Manchester Products, a business that they had taken over from their father. (So for all the Plastics Blog readers who expect some "family-owned business drama" at Thanksgiving this year -- just be thankful that your drama won't rise to the level of the Woodman's.) So where does the HPM extruder come in? Film producer Doug Grant contacted us because he wants to shoot a few seconds of a 1980s-vintage HPM extruder -- the kind that Manchester Products used to make polycarbonate ceiling panels. Grant says the video will be edited in such a way to avoid any company name. So if you can help him out, send me an email or post a comment in the blog. Grant is producing the drama for the Investigation Discovery Channel, which does a lot of crime-related programming. The Woodman's case already has been the subject of a 1993 made-for-TV movie, "Bloodlines: Murder in the Family," which starred Mimi Rogers and Elliott Gould. For more background on the case, check this story from the Tru.TV crime library, or this collection of stories on Neil Woodman's case from the Los Angeles Times.