A Morgan City filmmaker is developing a feature film about the first woman ever executed in Louisiana. Ada Leboeuf was hanged in St. Mary Parish in 1929, along with her family physician, Dr. Tom Dreher, in connection with the murder of her husband. Matison LeBlanc learned of her story while attending film school at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, and decided that she wanted to tell her story in her project entitled “Ada and the Doc.” LeBlanc says Leboeuf had maintained her innocence right up until the moment she was executed.
“The trial had no physical evidence. There were 12 white local men on that jury, and they only deliberated for 15 minutes,” LeBlanc said.
For her senior year project, LeBlanc and her team produced a 15-minute short, and to say that it was a huge hit is putting it very mildly.
“We had a premiere in Morgan City that sold out. And that was really the night where we all kind of looked at each other and were like, ‘Wow, like, this thing can happen,'” LeBlanc said.
And that got LeBlanc to move forward with the full-length feature film. The only thing is, it requires money, and it does not grow on trees.
“The short film cost $25,000 to make for just 15 minutes. So our feature-length version is gonna cost anywhere from probably $5 million to $7 million,” LeBlanc said.
LeBlanc is looking to produce “Ada and the Doc” in Louisiana to take advantage of the state’s 40% film tax incentive. Her goal is to begin shooting in the summer of 2026 and begin the festival run, including the Cannes Film Festival, in 2027.
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