This is really nice and all, but...

[The OP]

This is something I've been wondering, but it's a question I wanted to ask anonymously to people with a level of separation from the issue and if you read on I think you will understand why.

Ok, so I live in a city that's not heavily populated as it was once was and functions more like a small town. A local guy here, who is still young only in his 30s, has been diagnosed with cancer. Unfortunately early treatments have not been effective, the cancer has spread, and he's due to start clinical treatment soon. Naturally, his friends and everybody in town is rooting for him. One of his dreams has been to release a children's book, and an independent filmmaker has decided that his dream of getting the book released mixed with his health struggles would make a good film and created a kickstarter for it. So far, so good. I don't really know the guy myself, but a lot of my friends are behind this and I figure he must be a decent guy to have so much support. So, what's the problem right? Well, no problem per se, just something that gave me pause and I wondered if it's natural for me to puzzle over this or if I'm just a dick.

One of my friends just posted on Facebook something like "still $11,000 short of goal, just figure out if all my friends donated $30 etc. etc." and I'm like "wait a minute...11,000 short? what is the goal?" So I go to the kickstarter page and they have raised almost $25,000 dollars, the goal being 35,000. Now, we live in a community that has been hit hard by tough economic times. A lot of people are sick and starving, and I'm starting to wonder exactly how the hell much money does it cost to produce an independent film? It's great to see people pull together for a cause, but it doesn't seem right to me that this is the only guy people care about and not only that, the money is not to help pay for his medical treatment or going to cancer research or something like that, it's to make a film.

Thoughts?

[mjolnir]

An independent documentary?

Yeah, he's stealing from you guys or he just doesn't know what he's doing.

An independent film based on the events?

Shit, he'd still be stealing from you in that case, in my opinion. A film like that could easily be made for less than that.

I mean, I could be way off mark, it could be he wants to make this the very best he possibly can. Make this borderline Art House level quality. His heart in the right place, but his brain out in space type deal. But my gut tells me something's fishy about that.

[Red Impact]

So the kickstarter isn't for the guy to self publish his book, but for another guy who thought it' be a good story to film a documentary about it?

I mean, yeah, films cost a ton of money... but it just seems like the kickstarter is for the wrong thing.

[The OP]

Yeah, not having any idea what the actual amount was that they were attempting to raise, I initially assumed that it was to help him publish his book. That I would think they could do easily with the amount they raised, and afford to print more copies than would ever sell (and that's not meant as a knock on the guy's project, but to stress the amount of books you could print with that much).

Something does seem fishy, I agree. I'm not gonna say anything about it, because I don't wanna be the one jerk who has to say something. This really makes me wonder if anybody else in town is thinking along similar lines but doesn't say anything for the same reason I don't though. Maybe it's insecure of me, but I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks something seems off.

[The OP]

I looked a little more closely at the page and it seems that the money is partly being used to buy equipment to make the film. In other words, the director will be using some of the money to buy himself new cameras and editing equipment.

Times like this make me really glad I post on a board like this where I don't know people in real life. It's frustrating to feel like there's something weird going on but feeling like you can't say anything. You might be wondering why I don't just forget about it, but people are constantly posting about this and I tend to check Facebook messages often as they sometimes overlap with business, even though they are messages from friends. This story even made the front page of the local paper. Just to be clear, it explicitly states on the kickstarter page that this money will only be going toward the movie, and will not be used to pay for the author's book or for his health care.

[Red Impact]

Does your paper accept letters to the editor, and if so, can you do so anonymously or under a pseudonym? If you really are feeling like you need to say something, I'd try to find some way to voice the concern. Even if it's just an anonymous comment on the Kickstarter page.

[Glitch]

I do see this as legitimate reason to complain. Wouldn't a director have his own equipment or a place to rent it?

[Urethra Franklin]

Well, to be fair, people are donating money out of their volition and it's their prerogative.

That being said (and obviously, I don't know the specifics), but it sounds to me like the filmmaker here is exploiting this gentleman rather than "telling his story."

Also, if the subject in question is still sick, and it seems that he is, couldn't this money be best suited elsewhere? Why not help the guy get his book published or, more pressingly, use this money to help offset the cost of treatment?

I think you're right to raise a couple of flags about this situation.

[The OP]

After gathering my own thoughts and reading the feedback on the situation from this thread, I think I will go with writing an anonymous letter to the newspaper. I wrote a rough draft and at the end I suggest that they used however much of the money it takes to publish the book and then return the rest to the original donors. The reason I say that is, it'd be one thing if an established filmmaker (or at least someone with their own equipment) wanted to take on this project, but this shouldn't be somebody's big chance to get new cameras, enter film festivals, and jump start a film career.