Feedback on making a documentary and IRS Documentary Plan: Difference between pages

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(Created page with "==John's email to Dave== On Sun, Apr 9, 2017 at 7:20 PM, John Kelly Hughes <john@creatorsite.com> wrote: Hi Dave, Just watched your video clip. I applaud your action. A li...")
 
(Created page with "{{quoteBox| “At the time, we concentrated single-mindedly on promoting the war effort. We gave next to no consideration to any longer-run consequences. It never occurred to...")
 
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==John's email to Dave==
{{quoteBox|
On Sun, Apr 9, 2017 at 7:20 PM, John Kelly Hughes <john@creatorsite.com> wrote:
“At the time, we concentrated single-mindedly on promoting the war effort. We gave next to no consideration to any longer-run consequences. It never occurred to me at the time that I was helping to develop machinery that would make possible a government that I would come to criticize severely as too large, too intrusive, too destructive of freedom. Yet, that was precisely what I was doing.


Hi Dave,  
--Milton Friedman, Two Lucky People (Univ. of Chicago Press, 1998, p. 123)
}}
#Find people who can help make a documentary
#Create the [[IRS Documentary Story|story arc]].
#Create a way for people who want to help financially to do so.
#Write a script, or maybe a few, as can be seen in the Freakonomics documentary.
##Script One, to educate the audience on a few important things
###The editor will choose clips of attractive people asking questions about the income tax.
###Youtube clips and live interviews will answer questions.
###The audience will be encouraged to share their insights and the documentary with authorities, and current and potential government workers.
##A Script to Provide Some History
###The inventors of a cable grip in 1928, siblings Vivien and Edgar Kellems run a successful business with no interference or worries about any federal tax.
###In 1941, Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, creating fertile ground for manipulation of the citizenry.
###The Federal government leverages the emotional state of the citizens to get their employers to withhold a part of their paychecks
###In 1948, Vivien determines that withholding is unconstitutional and asks to be prosecuted for refusing to do do it.
###Unable to cover the ongoing legal costs of trying to ''get prosecuted'' as her battle threatens to bankrupt her company and the federal government continues declining to prosecute, Vivien abandons her fight.
##A Script Explaining Judicial Review
###In 1916, Frank Brushaber sues Union Pacific Railroad Company for withholding federal income tax from dividends owed him because he owns shares of the company's stock, and the case goes all the way to the Supreme Court.
###Chief Justice White of the Supreme Court refers to an '''erroneous assumption''' about what the 16th Amendment did.
###In 1989, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denies Attorney Lowell H. Becraft, Jr.'s argument that what the assumption asserts is false, calling that argument "frivolous."
###Attorney Becraft is fined $2,500.
###As the case law is now understood, parts of the Constitution of the United States destroy each other, as which Chief Justice White explained when he called the assumption erroneous for that very reason.
#Create a budget.
#Hire a film crew.


Just watched your video clip. I applaud your action.
{{quoteBox|
"Throughout history taxation has ever posed the one great question. It has been the goad which has driven oppressed people to free themselves. From taxation have come the longest and bloodiest wars, including our own Revolution. By undermining the rights of private prop- erty, the foundation of civilized government, it has destroyed one civilization after another, and bids fair to finish the one in which we find ourselves."


A little feedback to consider. Please understand the spirit of this feedback is constructive. As a long time student of marketing, writing, filmmaking and music, these observations are worthy of your consideration, especially if you want to influence those that are not in our choir. Lastly, I am not making a thorough list of issues, simply highlighting a handful that I encountered in the first two minutes.
-- Vivien Kellems, [https://archive.org/stream/toiltaxes00kell/toiltaxes00kell_djvu.txt Toil, taxes, and trouble] (E. P. DUTTON & CO., INC., 1952, p.7)
}}


===Production===
Some helpful questions adapted from [http://www.teachwithmovies.org/documentary-NonFiction-index.html "Teach With Movies"]:


# You need a good sound man. I couldn’t endure the whole video with the wind garbling in the right channel. The mic used had no windscreen, and if it did, it’s not a professional version. You need a good shotgun mic with windscreen, or you need to wire each interviewee with a pro-level wireless lapel mic with windscreen. On the topic of sound, you need someone to write, produce and properly edit the soundtrack. Even Hollywood doesn’t get it right half of the time.
#State the title of the film and the year it was released.  Then briefly describe what the film is about.
# You would be wise to get a good script writer that understands storytelling. Every second you face the possibility of losing your audience, hook me in every scene and I’ll continue to watch. I’m not talking about special effects. Intelligible content that is focused, compelling, and transforms is the way to make lasting change in the viewer.
#*2017 - A Broken IRS. This film is about the difficulties citizens of the United States have in understanding and obeying the tax laws because of problems in the IRS and in the courts.
#Identify the people, places, events, or aspects of people, society, or nature that are the focus of this film.  Describe and clarify the significance of each.
#*Chief Justice White of the Supreme Court used the term "erroneous assumption" in 1916 to describe a particular understanding of the 16th amendment. Larry Becraft's argument that the assumption is erroneous was deemed frivolous by the ninth circuit court of appeals.  Lawyer and CPA Robert G. Beard Jr. writes about this on page 38 of his book, "The U.S. Individual Income Tax is Incompatible with a Free Society" (2013).  Peter Hendrickson has educated thousands of people who have collected refunds from the IRS by filing their returns with IRS agents who understood the law well enough to follow it. The law reflects testimony by legislative draftsman F. Morse Hubbard who had worked for the Treasury department in which he describes the income tax as a tax on certain activities and privileges.  A large portion of the citizenry does not engage in the certain activities or use the privilege, but they are deceived into believing the law says they still have to pay taxes.  IRS makes it look like a very large number of people have claimed religious exemption.  Highly educated people believe that the Tax Court is a sham and that there is no justice in the area of taxation. Many people who understand Hendrickson's and obey the law and inform the IRS that they have no liability for the tax are victimized by the agency anyway.
#List six facts described in the film that impressed you and explain how each fact relates to the film’s premise or theme.
##The ninth circuit court of appeals ruled that something the Supreme Court said seventy-three years before was both frivolous and absurd.
##A man who wrote legislation for the Treasury Department testified in 1978 that the income tax was a tax on certain activities and privilege.
##A senate hearing was planned in which government lawyers were going to answer several questions, among which were questions about how various circuit courts of appeals held contradictory views of the income tax, and that therefore the law could not be enforced because the courts could not understand it.
##The senate hearing was postponed and then canceled under false pretenses.
##People working for the IRS don't examine or follow the law, but instead do what they are told.
## IRS has [https://www.irs.gov/irm/part25/irm_25-025-010r-cont01.html an internal list] of frivolous positions which is different from [http://www.irs.gov/irb/2010-17_IRB/ar13.html the official list] that the law requires the secretary of the treasury to publish.
#What aspects of the film show something most haven't seen before?
##Judicial Review makes the law pointless because judges make up whatever they want when they get a chance to rule on a case. This can be appealed, but the appellate court can ignore the law just as easily as the lower court does, and the Supreme Court can too, or it can just decline to hear a case, allowing a possibly incorrect appellate court ruling to stand and provide a precedent for further error.


===Content===
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/04/05/the-irs-took-millions-from-innocent-people-because-of-how-they-managed-their-bank-accounts-inspector-general-finds/?utm_term=.dee5b7615717 An article in the Washington Post] describes some misbehavior (find "those new guidelines are not being faithfully followed" near the botton) of the IRS that may be useful.


Acronyms are great, and especially good when they reinforce the focus. Your’s — Cooperative Humanity’s Ongoing Social Efforts is a big umbrella, and not specific enough, which will damage your campaign.  
{{quoteBox|
We are of opinion, however, that the confusion is not inherent, but rather arises from ''the conclusion that the Sixteenth Amendment provides for'' a hitherto unknown power of taxation, that is, ''a power to levy an income tax which although direct should not be subject to the regulation of apportionment'' applicable to all other direct taxes. And the far-reaching effect of this ''erroneous assumption'' ...


I’m sure I’m not telling you anything you don’t know, and you may have already considered this. Cooperative Humanity’s Ongoing Social Efforts, feels more like a foundation, a mothership of many projects. It is too general to be a documentary title. Your title needs to be stout, to make a statement that gets attention, creates interest, and compels one to take action.
-- [https://casetext.com/case/frank-brushaber-v-union-pacific-railroad-company#p239 Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad Co., 240 U.S. 1, 12-19, 36 S.Ct. 236, 239-42, 60 L.Ed. 493 (1916)]
 
}}
If I may suggest, consider the late Peter Drucker’s wisdom when he said, You’re not selling a product; you’re selling an experience. The experience of a cooperative humanity in their ongoing efforts is larger than epic, right? What part of that ongoing effort are we talking about?
 
I love Drucker because he always cuts to the essence with clarity. I’m not a fan of the dark sides of corporations. However, the way they build culture unifies employees with the values of the corporate mission. A documentary needs to chunk down the essential elements in a way that illustrates values that people identify with strongly. For this, and many other components of your story, outlining the arc of the story is crucial.
 
I’m going to challenge you. I’d like you to tell me the story of your documentary in six words. Focus on the essence of the experience. Here are some examples, and it’s likely that none adequately detail your story, because I don’t know what your story is.
 
    99% SUFFER BUT NOT THE ELITE
    CORPORATE PIMPS — PEOPLE GETTING SCREWED
    TAXES — ANOTHER WAY TO SUBJUGATE 
    PANCAKE BREAKFAST AND A SURPRISE GUEST
 
Don’t get me wrong. I love acronyms, but one can learn a great deal by studying the marketing experts, propaganda masters, and team builders. You likely know there are specific strategies used to influence an audience; make constant use of them.
 
If I may also suggest, have at least three conversations with experienced documentary filmmakers. Ask them each how they produce a successful documentary, and have them include what they consider the most important elements.
 
Here are some links to review on using film as a change agent:
    http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/video/articles/2743.aspx
    http://www.teachwithmovies.org/whats-new.htm
 
# It would be good to state the focus, very specifically.
# Before assembling your kickstarter page, a detailed arc would be described.
# I would take the page down until your outline is done, script is written, interviewee list is confirmed, and a whole lot more.
 
===Documentary Films For Study===
 
*The Corporation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHrhqtY2khc
 
*Peter Joseph’s, Zeitgeist Trilogy:
**Part 1 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwaqAIBDlRs
**Part 2 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbvCxMfcKv4
**Part 3 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsVwj_QEnHc
**Peter’s website — http://thezeitgeistmovement.com/
 
*Jacques Fresco (Peter Joseph and Jacques worked together in the past, but had a falling out)
**https://www.thevenusproject.com/
**https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb5ivvcTvRQ
 
==Dave's Reply==
You asked me for some things:
# Well, CHOSE isn't the name of the documentary.  It's the name of the idea that produced it, which will, I suspect, be, as you pointed out, "a foundation, a mothership of many projects".  I like the idea of finding an acronym for the first of those projects, which is a documentary that tells the story of
# (A six-word version of the story the documentary tells:) A broken IRS perverts human cooperation.
 
You would also like to see my skills improve through interviews of people, watching documentaries, and reading some links about "using film as a change agent."  Those items are now on my todo list. I have seen at least one of the Zeitgeist movies (the first, I think, and part of the second, which I abandoned - or was that the third?  Not sure - I may have watched all three).  I never liked Jacques and TVP, but that's beside the point because he did reach a lot of people with his media.
 
Lastly, you may not have noticed that the current KS project is only asking for $500. This is because I strongly suspected that, as you put it, "Before assembling [my] kickstarter page..." there's a lot of work to do that I am not qualified to do.  Who is?  I don't know.  I'm looking.  I suspect that your ability to influence how the world works is much stronger than you think, and I might be how you discover it.  As I spend time reviewing Peter Joseph's Zeitgeist, Freakonomics (another friend's recommendation for the same reason) and reading those links, can I also forward what you've written to me here to the five other people who are very interested in helping?  They are: Bob McNeil (in Texas), Don Eminizer (in PA), Ernest Dempsey (in Pakistan), Matt (I don't know his last name but he lives in northern CA), and Ryan Newby (who live in Temecula, just a bit south of me).  I can add you to the group email too, if you want.
 
There's another friend (Pari Kazeminy) who is very interested in the project, but I haven't thought of a way for her to contribute much beyond making a video asking the questions.

Revision as of 14:10, 24 April 2017

“At the time, we concentrated single-mindedly on promoting the war effort. We gave next to no consideration to any longer-run consequences. It never occurred to me at the time that I was helping to develop machinery that would make possible a government that I would come to criticize severely as too large, too intrusive, too destructive of freedom. Yet, that was precisely what I was doing.”

--Milton Friedman, Two Lucky People (Univ. of Chicago Press, 1998, p. 123)

  1. Find people who can help make a documentary
  2. Create the story arc.
  3. Create a way for people who want to help financially to do so.
  4. Write a script, or maybe a few, as can be seen in the Freakonomics documentary.
    1. Script One, to educate the audience on a few important things
      1. The editor will choose clips of attractive people asking questions about the income tax.
      2. Youtube clips and live interviews will answer questions.
      3. The audience will be encouraged to share their insights and the documentary with authorities, and current and potential government workers.
    2. A Script to Provide Some History
      1. The inventors of a cable grip in 1928, siblings Vivien and Edgar Kellems run a successful business with no interference or worries about any federal tax.
      2. In 1941, Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, creating fertile ground for manipulation of the citizenry.
      3. The Federal government leverages the emotional state of the citizens to get their employers to withhold a part of their paychecks
      4. In 1948, Vivien determines that withholding is unconstitutional and asks to be prosecuted for refusing to do do it.
      5. Unable to cover the ongoing legal costs of trying to get prosecuted as her battle threatens to bankrupt her company and the federal government continues declining to prosecute, Vivien abandons her fight.
    3. A Script Explaining Judicial Review
      1. In 1916, Frank Brushaber sues Union Pacific Railroad Company for withholding federal income tax from dividends owed him because he owns shares of the company's stock, and the case goes all the way to the Supreme Court.
      2. Chief Justice White of the Supreme Court refers to an erroneous assumption about what the 16th Amendment did.
      3. In 1989, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denies Attorney Lowell H. Becraft, Jr.'s argument that what the assumption asserts is false, calling that argument "frivolous."
      4. Attorney Becraft is fined $2,500.
      5. As the case law is now understood, parts of the Constitution of the United States destroy each other, as which Chief Justice White explained when he called the assumption erroneous for that very reason.
  5. Create a budget.
  6. Hire a film crew.

"Throughout history taxation has ever posed the one great question. It has been the goad which has driven oppressed people to free themselves. From taxation have come the longest and bloodiest wars, including our own Revolution. By undermining the rights of private prop- erty, the foundation of civilized government, it has destroyed one civilization after another, and bids fair to finish the one in which we find ourselves."

-- Vivien Kellems, Toil, taxes, and trouble (E. P. DUTTON & CO., INC., 1952, p.7)

Some helpful questions adapted from "Teach With Movies":

  1. State the title of the film and the year it was released. Then briefly describe what the film is about.
    • 2017 - A Broken IRS. This film is about the difficulties citizens of the United States have in understanding and obeying the tax laws because of problems in the IRS and in the courts.
  2. Identify the people, places, events, or aspects of people, society, or nature that are the focus of this film. Describe and clarify the significance of each.
    • Chief Justice White of the Supreme Court used the term "erroneous assumption" in 1916 to describe a particular understanding of the 16th amendment. Larry Becraft's argument that the assumption is erroneous was deemed frivolous by the ninth circuit court of appeals. Lawyer and CPA Robert G. Beard Jr. writes about this on page 38 of his book, "The U.S. Individual Income Tax is Incompatible with a Free Society" (2013). Peter Hendrickson has educated thousands of people who have collected refunds from the IRS by filing their returns with IRS agents who understood the law well enough to follow it. The law reflects testimony by legislative draftsman F. Morse Hubbard who had worked for the Treasury department in which he describes the income tax as a tax on certain activities and privileges. A large portion of the citizenry does not engage in the certain activities or use the privilege, but they are deceived into believing the law says they still have to pay taxes. IRS makes it look like a very large number of people have claimed religious exemption. Highly educated people believe that the Tax Court is a sham and that there is no justice in the area of taxation. Many people who understand Hendrickson's and obey the law and inform the IRS that they have no liability for the tax are victimized by the agency anyway.
  3. List six facts described in the film that impressed you and explain how each fact relates to the film’s premise or theme.
    1. The ninth circuit court of appeals ruled that something the Supreme Court said seventy-three years before was both frivolous and absurd.
    2. A man who wrote legislation for the Treasury Department testified in 1978 that the income tax was a tax on certain activities and privilege.
    3. A senate hearing was planned in which government lawyers were going to answer several questions, among which were questions about how various circuit courts of appeals held contradictory views of the income tax, and that therefore the law could not be enforced because the courts could not understand it.
    4. The senate hearing was postponed and then canceled under false pretenses.
    5. People working for the IRS don't examine or follow the law, but instead do what they are told.
    6. IRS has an internal list of frivolous positions which is different from the official list that the law requires the secretary of the treasury to publish.
  4. What aspects of the film show something most haven't seen before?
    1. Judicial Review makes the law pointless because judges make up whatever they want when they get a chance to rule on a case. This can be appealed, but the appellate court can ignore the law just as easily as the lower court does, and the Supreme Court can too, or it can just decline to hear a case, allowing a possibly incorrect appellate court ruling to stand and provide a precedent for further error.

An article in the Washington Post describes some misbehavior (find "those new guidelines are not being faithfully followed" near the botton) of the IRS that may be useful.

We are of opinion, however, that the confusion is not inherent, but rather arises from the conclusion that the Sixteenth Amendment provides for a hitherto unknown power of taxation, that is, a power to levy an income tax which although direct should not be subject to the regulation of apportionment applicable to all other direct taxes. And the far-reaching effect of this erroneous assumption ...

-- Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad Co., 240 U.S. 1, 12-19, 36 S.Ct. 236, 239-42, 60 L.Ed. 493 (1916)