I mean, after a while you have to just shake your head and wonder, "Is this guy for real?"
A recent update, or three, to the Girl Downtown GoFundMe page has Ken "Whit" Whitman's online fingerprints all over it. Ken "Whit" Whitman has been noted to threaten lawsuits and general legal action in the past, and we already know he doesn't seem to understand the difference between libel (or "liable" as he keep puting it) and slander.
Before this post goes any further, we should point out some statements of fact, which is the #1 defense against an undue charge of slander or libel ("liable"). We'll just mark these simple statements of fact in this particular fashion from here on out (links will be underlined and in a different color).
- The Girl Downtown GoFundMe page was using a graphic that was intellectual property belonging to the AMC show The Walking Dead.
- The Girl Downtown GoFundMe page did not (as the time of this post) list the Director or Writer.
- The Girl Downtown IMDB page listed "Whit Whitman", a known alias for Ken Whitman, as both Writer and Director.
- Ken "Whit" Whitman has claimed this film is a graduation gift to his daughter and he has solicited funds to assist putting this project together.
- Ken "Whit" Whitman has, as the time of this post, utterly failed to bring any of his six Kickstarter projects to completion.
The GoFundMe page now has a new header, not one stolen from The Walking Dead, and one contribution as of the time of this post. I find it interesting that Jolly Blackburn donated $5, but he probably has his reasons. The biggest surprise was this gem posted to the site:
"!!! LEGAL NOTICE !!!
WARNING ANYONE POSTING ANY COMMENTS ABOUT THE PRODUCTION, CAST OR CREW OF THIS STUDENT FILM WILL BE DELETED AND BLOCKED, MULTIPLE NEGATIVE COMMNTS WILL BE SERVED LEGAL NOTICE FOR HEARING OF CHARGES OF BUT NOT LIMITED TO "SLANDER, DEFAMATION OF CHARACTER AND LIABLE IN THE COURTS OF DEKALB COUN TY GEORGIA FOR VOILATIONS OF CRIMINAL CODE
O.C.G.A. § 16-11-40 - Criminal Defamation
See Georgia Law Below
GIRL DOWNTOWN
See the thing about using a social media site, even if it is a crowdfunding social media site is that you really can't hide and be in the public eye at the same time. Inevitably people that you've scammed....or at least people that have a deep-seated opinion that they've been scammed by you....regardless of the absence of any lawsuits or judgments, will comment and interact. People who have put forth funds in consideration for explicitly communicated rewards will undoubtedly consider themselves scammed. This writer definitely feels like he/she has been scammed....I don't need some legal proceeding to validate my opinion.
Working on a new project without finishing previous similar projects that have been crowdfunded, will ruffle more than a few feathers. Trying to claim this is a "student project" is problematic since you've already claimed ownership of this project and have posed as a professional a couple of times over.
Oh, and one more thing Kenny....er Ken "Whit" Whitman, generally speaking you have to prove that the defamation actually caused you harm. Since your funding in the first...what?...two weeks? had been zero dollars on GoFundMe and this recent "defamation" has actually earned you money, there is actually a positive net effect. We highly doubt that the DeKalb County Prosecutor will give a rat's ass about trying to enforce an alleged misdemeanor that actually served to benefit the wronged party.
In case you don't quite understand it.....we basically mean, "good luck with that".
This "student film" is not being written, funded or directed by students. Ken Whit Whitman seems to be manipulating everything closely.
ReplyDelete"Student Film" is also a means to get around SAG Prevailing Wage/Union Scale requirements. As KWW was on Walking Dead, I'm pretty sure he had to become a dues paying member of SAG and agree to their requirements. One of the provisions is that ALL members of Cast (whether SAG or not) be paid Scale unless it is a SAG Low-Budget (Percent of Scale wage) or a Student Film (Not covered under SAG agreements). At least that's how it was a few years back when I was a member of IATSE.
DeleteIn short (too late I know): If one member of the Cast/Crew is Union - ALL Cast must be paid Prevailing Wage according to SAG Agreements unless there is specific dispensation.
It looks like Jolly contributed for one reason -it's the only way to comment on the campaign.
ReplyDeleteIt's really important that people know that this is Ken Whitman's project.
DeleteI like how Spinward Traveler has a 2023 date listed on Ken's IMDB page. Mocking one's backers is so professional...
ReplyDeleteWhile there is still no Director listed on GoFundMe, the writer is now mentioned: "Screen Play Written by Wit (sic) Whitman"
ReplyDeleteIs Ken's spelling so bad that he can't write his own name (er, alias) properly, or is this an attempt to confuse people? "Clearly, this can't be our man. This Wit Whitman fellow has to be completely unrelated to the Whit Whitman we're looking for." Either way, this is ridiculous.
Kenny, the incompetent idiot that he is, has linked to the older version of that law. Here is the current version:
ReplyDelete"Universal Citation: GA Code § 16-11-40 (2015)
Repealed by Ga. L. 2015, p. 385, § 3-1/HB 252, effective July 1, 2015."
Kenny can't even threaten people correctly. Which is no surprise, because he cant do anything right except steal people's money.
http://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2015/title-16/chapter-11/article-2/section-16-11-40/
By using his second project update to threaten potential supporters, Ken "Whit" Whitman may be hurting his own project. What does threatening "criminal defamation" have to do with crowd funding and filmmaking? Seems he is not making good business decisions either.
ReplyDeleteThe imdb page for _Girl Downtown_ has gone away.
ReplyDelete