Gosnell Filmmakers Quit Kickstarter, Claiming Censorship

National Review ^ | April 1, 2014 2:44 PM | Josh Encinias

[Diago]

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NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE          www.nationalreview.com          

April 1, 2014 2:44 PM

Gosnell Filmmakers Quit Kickstarter, Claiming Censorship

Filmmakers have raised over $195,000 in five days

By Josh Encinias

Makers of a film on abortionist and convicted murderer Kermit Gosnell say the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter singled out their project for special objections. They have ankled the massively popular platform in favor of another crowdfunding site.

Ann and Phelim Media have  raised nearly $200,000 in five days on crowdfunding site Indiegogo for a planned movie about Gosnell, a Philadelphia abortionist who was convicted in 2013 on a host of charges including multiple illegal late-term abortions, hundreds of violations of Pennsylvania’s informed-consent law, and three counts of murder. The movie will chronicle the man described by ABC’s Terry Moran as “the most successful serial killer in the history of the world,” using stories lifted directly from trial documents. It will also describe the scant attention the establishment media gave to Gosnell’s killing spree until very late in the trial.

The filmmakers were going to use Kickstarter until they received an e-mail saying their project might upset “community guidelines.”

Kickstarter had previously helped producers Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleer raise over $200,000 for their documentary FrackNation. But the filmmakers say the crowdfunding company slow-walked their project once it learned about the topic. McAleer and McElhinney say Kickstarter did not respond to multiple e-mails for several days and finally responded with a request that the project video be amended before it could go live.

“We ask that the phrase ‘1000s of babies stabbed to death’ and similar language be modified or removed from the project,” a Kickstarter representative identified as George said in a March 27 e-mail to Ann and Phelim Media. “We understand your convictions and the horror of this person’s crimes, however we are a broad website used by millions of people. Our Community Guidelines outline that we encourage and enforce a culture of respect and consideration, and we ask that that language specifically be modified for those reasons.“

“Unbelievably, Kickstarter tried to censor us,” McAleer tells National Review Online. “They said we could only put the project on the site if we agreed not to upset the sensitivities of their community.”

Kickstarter told McAleer phrases such as “thousands of babies stabbed to death” and “thousands of babies murdered” needed to go “to comply with the spirit of our Community Guidelines.”

In a recent interview with Charlie Rose, Kickstarter CEO Yancey Strickler said, “We viewed Kickstarter as a public trust. This is a place of opportunity for anyone to make their thing happen. And it’s our job to be the stewards of it and to honor it . . . a living breathing cultural institution that’s there to represent the interests of everybody.”

McAleer says the Gosnell project was singled out for these changes. He points to the Kickstarter campaign for a film project about the Swedish-American serial killer Belle Gunness, which he says had “a picture of a dead body on the project page.”

Other controversial Kickstarter projects that McAleer says received funding include:

• 16 projects about stabbing
• 5 projects about incest
• One project with the “C” word in the project description
• 44 projects about rape
• 28 projects with the word F**k or F**king in the title

“Some of these projects were based on true stories, some were works of fiction, but all were allowed onto Kickstarter,” says McAleer.

But Kickstarter has canceled projects it deemed offensive in the past. A project about “cheat codes” that shows men how to hook up with women at bars was canceled after bloggers revolted. Kickstarter wrote an apology for allowing the project. This led Kickstarter to amend their community guidelines by banning all “seduction guides.” 

“The project submission was accepted on Friday exactly how it was submitted for our review and the filmmakers are still welcome to launch the project on Kickstarter at any time,” Kickstarter representative Justin Kazmark told National Review Online. “Kickstarter is a platform open to projects from across the creative spectrum that represent an incredibly diverse array of topics and viewpoints. All projects are subject to the same set of community guidelines.”

— Joshua Encinias is an Agostinelli Fellow at National Review.

Update: This story has been updated to include a response from Kickstarter.

[Diago]

McAleer says the Gosnell project was singled out for these changes. He points to the Kickstarter campaign for a film project about the Swedish-American serial killer Belle Gunness, which he says had “a picture of a dead body on the project page.”

Other controversial Kickstarter projects that McAleer says received funding include:

16 projects about stabbing

5 projects about incest

One project with the “C” word in the project description

44 projects about rape

28 projects with the word F**k or F**king in the title

[gaijin]

This Dr. twisted the head off a baby, like a bottle of soda pop.

When one plopped into a toilet it was trying to SWIM.

The whole story was almost completely ignored by the US MSM.

[Star Traveler]

That’s a problem for ANYONE on ANY SITE on the Internet. You are ALWAYS CENSORED no matter what site you’re on. That’s just the way it goes.

Every site is owned by someone (or a company) and that someone or company is the one who determines WHAT CAN BE SAID on their site. That’s simply the right of private property. If you had a website and forum, you would want to control it, too.

[MNDude]

I hope they make it a movie, although I can’t see I would go see it.

[Diago]

Today we are launching the biggest ever crowd funding campaign to make a TV movie about the serial killer, abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell.

Dr. Kermit Gosnell is the most prolific serial killer in American History, but almost no one knows who he is. 

The Grand Jury investigating Kermit Gosnell's horrific crimes said this:

          This case is about a doctor who killed babies ... What we mean is that he regularly and illegally delivered live, viable, babies in the third trimester of pregnancy – and then murdered these newborns by severing their spinal cords with scissors .... Over the years, many people came to know that something was going on here. But no one put a stop to it.   (Report of the Grand Jury)

Gosnell is serving several life sentences but the media basically ignored his crimes and his trial. They ignored the facts that emerged from the trial, like the fact that the babies he murdered suffered terribly. Here is what a neonatologist told the Grand Jury:

          The neonatologist testified... If a baby moves, it is alive. Equally troubling, it feels a “tremendous amount of pain” when its spinal cord is severed. So, the fact that Baby Boy A. continued to move after his spinal cord was cut with scissors means that he did not die instantly. Maybe the cord was not completely severed. In any case, his few moments of life were spent in excruciating pain.   (Report of the Grand Jury) 

The mainstream media or Hollywood don't think this is a story. Even though Gosnell killed more people than Gary Ridgeway, John Wayne Gacey, The Zodiac Killer and Ted Bundy combined. In a 30 year killing spree, it is thought he killed 1000s of babies. And that wasn't a national story?

"Reserved for media" - empty seats at Gosnell trial

But Jodi Arias who was on trial at the same time as Gosnell, for killing her boyfriend, just one person, was national news.

Hollywood think the Jodi Arias story is so important they have already made a movie about her which has been shown multiple times on TV. 

The censorship of the Gosnell story ends now. 

We are raising funds for this movie through a revolutionary website called Indiegogo.

Indiegogo enables “crowdfunding” for important projects.But here’s the catch. We've set the budget. But if we fail to raise our target budget, Indiegogo will return all the funds, we will received nothing and the film will never be made.

Indiegogo allows us to bypass the Hollywood studios and the usual funding sources for movies.

Hollywood never would fund a movie such as this.

We funded our last film FrackNation using crowdfunding.

So far, the biggest “crowd funded” film of all-time is the Veronica Mars movie, a teen detective story that asked for $2.1m and raised $5.7m, we think the Gosnell movie is more important, we think you do too. So we are asking for $2.1m and we are hoping to break the record and make history. 

With your help we're going to hire the best screenwriter, director and actors to make sure that the story of Kermit Gosnell gets into every home in America. 

Please pledge right now. 

We tell a lot about ourselves by the stories we choose to tell and the ones we want to cover up or ignore. Please help us tell this important story.  It's a frightening testament to the power of the media that very few people even know about Kermit Gosnell: America’s Most Prolific Serial Killer.

This is your chance to bypass the media “information gatekeepers” to get tens of millions of Americans thinking about what happened in Philadelphia. 

Please send a message that we don't have to wait for someone else to tell the stories that matter, we can do it ourselves.

Please pledge right now and then please then get 10 friends to pledge. 

Thank you so much for helping us make history.

Ann 

Phelim 

Magdalena

ABOUT US

At the LA premiere of our last movie FrackNation

We’re known mostly for our award-winning documentary films such as FrackNation, Mine Your Own Business, Not Evil Just Wrong, and The Search for Tristan's Mum

FrackNation was very well received by the critics. Here are just some of the positive reviews we received:

The New York Times said FrackNation was "meticulously researched....provocative"

Variety - the show business bible - said the FrackNation was a "briskly paced...mischievous pic" 

In January 2013, "FrackNation" had its TV premiere on Mark Cuban's TV channel AXS TV. It has been since broadcast also on PBS Colorado and Canadian Sun News Network.

"FrackNation" has been also screened all across US, Canada, Australia, Poland and the UK, the film had a special screening at the Houses of Parliament in London, at the European Parliament in Brussels.

[a fool in paradise]

Our Community Guidelines outline that we encourage and enforce a culture of respect and consideration

No respect for the murdered infants, heard screaming as he killed them...

[a fool in paradise]

I don’t have time to go do the research, but a quick google search of site:kickstarter.com and the phrase “serial killer” retuned “About 18,400 results (0.35 seconds)”

I’d think that at least some of those serial killer projects are “offensive” by some community standards. Perhaps it’s the abortion angle. Perhaps not.

[Diago]

Ann and Phelim Media posted an announcement 6 hours ago

Dear Friend,

It’s day 5 of our fundraising effort and we have now reached one of our milestones, we raised over $250,000! We are so grateful for all the wonderful messages of support and good wishes from so many of you.

We still have a long way to go. For those of you who have not yet donated please do and for those who have please donate again and get your friends to donate.
Gosnell movie will not be made without you.

The New York Times bestselling thriller writer Brad Thor, publicly donated $1,000 yesterday and asked for people to match him on the next $900. Michelle Malkin has donated and hosted a tweetfest to help our fundraising effort, using the hashtag #gosnellmovie

And last night on Megyn Kelly’s Fox News show, Kirsten Powers told the story about how Kickstarter tried to censor our film campaign, they didn’t want us to use the words “murdered 1000s of babies” because they said it would go against their “community guidelines”: http://foxnewsinsider.com/2014/04/01/kickstarter-tells-gosnell-documentary-filmmakers-remove-references-stabbing-babies

There is a lot happening, here’s what we would love for you to do to make this campaign a success.

Please pledge here: www.gosnellmovie.com

Get 10 others to pledge. The power of ten could fund this project immediately.

Follow us on Facebook and on Twitter to hear the latest updates on our crowdfunding.

Also, Ann and Phelim will be on The Hugh Hewitt Show today, tune in if you can at 6:40p ET / 3:40p PT.

Together we can make sure this film gets made, without you it simply never will.

Pledge here: www.gosnellmovie.com

Thank you all,

Phelim

Ann

Magdalena

P.S Here are just some of the stories so far about our crowdfunding campaign

Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/2546539#.Uzl1KKXwSPc.twitter

The Blaze TV with Glenn Beck: http://www.video.theblaze.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=31742515&topic_id=24584158&v=3&tcid=tw_video_31742515

LifeNews: http://www.lifenews.com/2014/03/31/gosnell-movie-americas-biggest-serial-killer-will-tell-story-of-abortionist-who-killed-babies-born-alive/

Weekly Standard: http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/gosnell-movie-americas-biggest-serial-killer_786268.html?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

Daily Caller: http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/31/filmmakers-look-to-make-movie-about-kermit-gosnell/

National Review: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/374723/gosnell-filmmakers-quit-kickstarter-claiming-censorship-josh-encinias

[a fool in paradise]

Every site is owned by someone (or a company) and that someone or company is the one who determines WHAT CAN BE SAID on their site. That’s simply the right of private property. If you had a website and forum, you would want to control it, too.

Then the Hollywood libtards and academic historians had better shut the #@&! up about the so-called "Hollywood Blacklist" of known Communists. The studios continued to employ them (albeit under pseudonyms so that the boycotting audiences would be unaware).

There exists a blacklist today that will not be written about in school textbooks or decried in the mainstream media.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Diago.

[Bratch]

That’s because the same people responsible for today’s “Blacklist” are the ones writing the schoolbooks.

[SunkenCiv]

Indiegogo page

[LearsFool]

Some use their site to promote good and censor evil. Some use their site to promote evil and censor good.

Now we know which category Kickstarter is in.

[Star Traveler]

That’s true ... but some people “don’t have a clue” — and they think that simply the “act of censorship” is evil in and of itself. And that idea has been shown to be absolutely ridiculous.

[LearsFool]

You make a good point.

While good people nobly (they think) retreat to the First Amendment and allow any and all speech, the wicked have no compunction about inconsistency and unfairness in censorship, so long as their wickedness is given free rein and the good people are made to shut up.

[jacknhoo]

In other words, we’re fine with your movie, as long as it avoids the truth.

[DLfromthedesert]

They are currently on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show.

[Diago]

I flipped it on. Great project, great interview.

[skr]

Thank you. Have invested.

[ifinnegan]

Thank you Captain Beside-the-Point-Obvious.