Mrs. O’Leary was falsely accused of starting the great Chicago Fire of 1871. The authorities and the media wanted a victim and they targeted her. Decades later it was revealed that she wasn’t to blame. Screenwriter Melissa Birks (MRS. O’LEARY) talks about the similarities of the Victorian era to today’s culture.
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Inspired by the Great Fire of Chicago 1871 following the investigation of Mrs O’Leary, a woman the newspapers blamed for starting the fire that spread all the way to Lincoln Park.
Get to know the writer:
- What is your screenplay about?
My screenplay is about Catherine O’Leary, the Irish milkmaid unjustly accused of starting Chicago’s “Great Fire” of 1871. As she fights to clear her name, she discovers the true culprit of the fire and faces an agonizing choice.
- What genres does your screenplay fall under?
Historical fiction; thriller.
“Mrs. O’Leary” should be made into a movie because it’s about a 19th-century “cancel culture” that 21st-century audiences would recognize. The story transcends region and period. “Mrs. O’Leary” is set 155 years ago, and yet the Chicago world of 1871 isn’t so diffrent from our own — a world where vulnerable people are “othered” due to their homeland or accent and where they can wither under stronger forces that are determined to cast blame for a social problem.
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