Now I try to steer clear of unsubstantiated rumors, and when I mean "unsubstantiated", I don't mean things that I've been able to clear with some 1st hand accounts....if I put up everything that has been relayed in confidence, or has been sent without screenshots & the like....well, then this site wouldn't be trustworthy.
There are a couple of stories that I just haven't been able to come up with some sort of appropriate backing on. One thing I'd been looking for more word on was Ken "Whit" Whitman's flagrant theft of IP in his attempt to keep the folks with the Traveller Kickstarter "on the hook" just a little bit longer. If you've read/written enough about Ken "Whit" Whitman's dubious Kickstarter claims like I have, you start to see a pattern. 1st comes some announcement that "real" results are "just around the corner". If backers can just hold on for a few more <insert false time-frame here>, 'Ol Kenny will come through. The time span comes and goes, Ken "Whit" Whitman places the blame for the delay onto someone else, often exaggerating the scope of the blame-game (as in something unrelated to the actual project is causing the delay), tossing up some shoddy "proof" that things are progressing before asking folks to "hold on" for <insert new BS time-frame here>, and there will be some results.Rinse & Repeat ad nasuem.
I had heard that there was a Traveller Kickstarter Update on January 16th that included a "Pitch to the Networks", but said pitch was yanked hard by the people who Ken "Whit" Whitman stole the footage from. Now I cannot confirm the specific verbage of the KS update, but I did get a link to the footage. Yanked, not yanked.....I cannot confirm, but you can see the title of the update itself and the video below. The original, from what I've heard, was deleted from YouTube, so you'll have to download this yourself:
https://ksr-video.imgix.net/assets/005/201/303/c578b77d5b0fcb16fa83404f5765e226_h264_high.mp4
For the record, this video is being linked for commentary and informative purposes ONLY. We do not condone the illegal usage of 20th Century Fox's IP, much less the butchering of a great TV Show and Movie. The "original" portions of this video, well at least the CGI work, was stolen (i.e. Not paid for), and I'm sure well get to hear from that artist soon enough.
A second "thing" I had heard regarding Ken "Whit" Whitman is regarding his attempt to go beyond his KoDT:LAS license and tape some sort of "audiobook" of KoDT material without permission. I'm still working on that one, but there is at least some level of confirmation from Ken "Whit" Whitman himself:
"I spent 15k on hiring employees and infastructure to do KODT audio books only for you to say no"
Now I doubt highly that Ken "Whit" Whitman had permission to do any sort of audio book, because if he did it'd be in his contract (not that he follows that anyway). I doubt I'll be able to get the D-Team to chime in here, but if you know one of the actors, please ask them to drop NAD a line.......
You have to admit - that took a lot of balls. lol
ReplyDeleteAnd in answer to the matter of the KODT audio books. NO - Ken never had permission. It was something he wanted to do midway through KODTLAS to 'raise money' for the project. But things were going so badly by that point and he was failing to come through on any of his promises we told him it was something we wouldn't even discuss until KODTLAS was finished. Only THEN would we talk about future projects. But honesty, after all the problems at that point it was clear to me at least that we would never, under any circumstances, work with this guy again.
ReplyDeleteHere's the text of the update:
ReplyDelete"Hey everyone, we are very close to having our Traveller TV Show picked up. Or not. But we are in the final weeks of negotiations. I can't promise that it will get picked up, but I can promise that we have a predominate executive producer pitching it to showtime, hobo, amazon, netflix AND we have a predominate director who is currently up for an academy award interested in the property.
"Once again, the entertainment business is a HARD industry to crack. But we are doing our best thanks to you!!! Within the next few weeks we will be announcing a show, which means only the backers will ever see the pilot. OR we will be releasing the pilot and turning over the DVDS to FarFuture for distribution. Once again, thank you for all your help.
"Below is a 1 minute promo that the EP marketing team came up with to get the companies interested in picking up the show. Yes, they used a lot of graphics from other shows, but this was never meant to be seen by anyone but high end executives who have to be spoon fead simple concepts."
(The video went here, until it was yanked by YouTube)
"Looking forward to giving you good news soon."
I joked that Whitman coined a new word, "predominate". Did he mean a PREDOMINANT executive producer, or one who is prior to being DOMINATED by Ken's bafflegab and snow-jobs? "Predominate" means the state before you were snowed in by Ken Whitman. I wish I were in that virginal state again.
DeleteI'm curious if anyone checked to see if Ken was in the Feb 5th episode of Vampire Diaries as he claimed he'd be.
ReplyDeleteWould be here if it was true
Deletehttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt1405406/fullcredits
or Episode 2, Series 7 "Things We Lost in the Fire":
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5123362/?ref_=ttep_ep2
He has one TV credit as an actor and that is in "Brothers Barbarian."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1926439/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_1
IMdb has a full list of all of the actors/extras over the course of the entire series. So, in that episode no and nowhere else. Nothing. There was a casting call for series 7 that took place in Atlanta but there is no evidence that Ken/Whit was accepted or even participated. I think his claims were false.
http://www.auditionsfree.com/2016/new-call-vampire-diaries-atlanta-georgia/
Well, 2 things:
DeleteIMDB doesn't list EVERY background extra who might be in a film or TV episode. They generally only index people who are listed in the credits - including guest credits and closing credits. Background extras aren't required to be credited. Also, you can be involved with the filming of a production and not wind up on screen. It happens.
That being said, I agree with you that he's probably lying. Remember that in that same update he claimed to have also done work on "Marvels POWERS" (sic). Powers isn't even a Marvel property. He can't even lie right.
Darn. I was kind of hoping we'd get a .gif of him as a vampire snack.
DeleteDamn those stupid 'high end' executives who have to be 'spoon fed' canned footage from other tv show.
ReplyDeleteCan someone who backed the Spinward Traveller kickstarter please confirm if this video is still somewhere on the page? https://ksr-video.imgix.net/assets/005/201/303/c578b77d5b0fcb16fa83404f5765e226_h264_high.mp4
ReplyDeleteNope! On Kickstarter there is a gray box where the video used to be, with the text "This content has been removed by Kickstarter due to a DMCA violation."
DeleteI complained to Kickstarter that this video was copycatting licensed TV shows and movies, but I was probably not the ONLY one.
Thank you for letting me know. Yes, I also made a copyright violation complaint since I'm the artist/musician who created the Beowulf CGI scenes and theme song which have not been paid for.
ReplyDelete