While we've been quite clear that we don't let Ken "Whit" Whitman post comments here on Not Another Dime anymore, but when he decided to pen a comment directed at us....well I decided that we had to allow it for a couple of reasons that I'll explain.
In researching Ken "Whit" Whitman's history we've uncovered a simple enough pattern where Ken "Whit" Whitman regularly attacks other people with threats of lawsuits. This habit has been mentioned by others several times (example 1, example 2, & example 3).
Since NAD doesn't use post breaks, you won't see the comments unless you specifically click on the post title. Ken "Whit" Whitman's comment: ""using camera equipment purchased from Kickstarter funds (instead of renting it)" What you state is not fact and therefore Lible. Keep up the great reporting, you only make my court case easier :-)"
Now I did make sure that this is actually Ken "Whit" Whitman's G+ account, (crowd-funding appeals going back years) because several times he's claimed after the fact that words posted online weren't his. Since we've been deleting his comments to NAD, you'll either have to believe us, or assume this is a lie. We're good either way.
Now I'm not a lawyer, but I'd say that Ken "Whit" Whitman's comment is within a stone's-throw of violating Georgia Code § 51-5-4, which I find amusing as hell because this is the very code that he has been trying to accuse others of violating. Of course this is still the wrong code because both codes (he erroneously used Georgia Code § 16-11-40) refer to slander, not "liable" as he's referred to it.
The fun part is that Ken "Whit" Whitman's comment is pretty much Defamation Per Se, but even if he were extremely explicit with his illegal threat we wouldn't have cause for action because it was communicated to NAD about NAD, and only became a public comment because we allowed it.
Now if Ken "Whit" Whitman were to continue making spoken or printed false comments, specifically stating that others were going to be sued for lible/slander, that in and of itself is against the Georgia Code. A quick check of Georgia Code § 9-15-14 might have a bit of a chilling effect (Litigation costs and attorney's fees assessed for frivolous actions and defenses).
You know, the best defense against a libel or slander charge is, and always has been, the truth. Let's take a look at what we have available.....
First and foremost is this comment from Jolly Blackburn: "Exactly right about the camera equipment. When Ken pitched the project his budget indicated he'd be leasing the equipment from a local chiropractor in Kentucky - high end Red cameras. That guy and equipment were used to shoot the KODTLAS kickstarter teaser/video. Nice guy. Imagine my surprise when we showed up at the KODTLAS shoot and Ken has purchased a new computer and all the lights/cameras and other equipment. The kicker? Ken didn't have any money to pay the crew, most of the actors or even my wife. Yet he was tooling around in a new car (he claims it was a dealer loaner now but at the time he told everyone it was his)."
Most of those people wouldn't get paid until 7 to 8 months later with Pencil Dice money. (which Ken admitted).
Anyway, it was disappointing. In my mind that money was supposed to go toward production. Not a start up business."
Now as one of the principles for Kenzer & Company, this particular licensing deal, AND the creator of the underlying characters/series who was present for most everything dealing with this project....well let's just say that somebody is not being truthful. In all fairness we should try to figure out who this is.
On January 16, 2014 we got this KoDT:LAS Kickstarter update: "d20 Entertainment has received a donation from a local production studio to help with the cost of filming the Knights of the Dinner Table: Live Action Series. Without the cost of renting high-end movie equipment, we bring you a full- length movie at a more reasonable Kickstart Goal."
OK, so according to Ken "Whit" Whitman the camera equipment being used to shoot KoDT:LAS is being donated, saving some cash because he doesn't have to rent "high-end movie equipment". Mr. Blackburn stated that the equipment was being rented..as of the initial pitch which would have been before the Kickstarter. Sounds great, shaving off funds from a production is probably helpful in many ways.
Last year Ken "Whit" Whitman, when defending himself about purchasing a "new" Cadillac, which was covered here, claims to have spent $6,200 on equipment rental. Instead of pouring through 1,200 comments on Kickstarter, you can reference this post, which is important for the next point as well. So it seems that the equipment that was supposed to be rented was going to be donated, but ended up having to be rented? I guess changes in production happen. This brings us back to a he-said vs. he-said of Jolly Blackburn vs. Ken "Whit" Whitman.......
...BUT we know that Ken "Whit" Whitman has the camera equipment because he's been using it for his new production "company", or is it this production "company"? It is easy to get confused between Atlanta Actors Marketing and the Whit Whitman Film Group, but we do have footage of Ken "Whit" Whitman's equipment, courtesy of Tenkar's Tavern.
So the equipment has to have come from somewhere, right?
According to Ken "Whit" Whitman, he only made $20-$25,000 in 2015 because he put $20K into KoDT:LAS, and he claims to be quite poor, actually below the Federal Poverty level:
"Im afraid you saying it does not make this statement true. You have seen my financials? My tax returns for 2014 are $10,500 and for 2015 are $8,900. Now tell me how I overpaid myself good sir."
Aside from the conflicting statements as to how much money he made in 2015, Ken "Whit" Whitman states he is living below the poverty level but he still was able to get a "new" car and purchase all of this high-end camera equipment? But according to him the equipment was leased/rented, not purchased. This equipment specifically the computer used for editing digital film doesn't look like the equipment (well at least the HUGE monitor) he still has listed on his Air BnB rental....heck I don't even have a 4K TV (it's listed on the rental). This is just comparing the pics from Air BnB and Tenkar's Tavern.
So, if Ken "Whit" Whitman is impoverished that means he couldn't have purchased the camera/editing equipment, right? But how does he have the equipment? He must have rented it....numerous times now, but with what money? He's already claimed to have spent more money than he's made in the last two years just on one of his Kickstarter projects (KoDT:LAS). Last time I checked, none of the six outstanding Kickstarter projects has been fulfilled.
How could he afford any car, much less a cruise? We'll have to leave this cruise for another time, but we've covered the car.
...the math just doesn't add up. According to the information provided by Ken "Whit" Whitman himself, there is no legitimate explanation to how he has this camera equipment that has shown up time and time again, starting with the KoDT:LAS filming and most recently the Girl Downtown project.
Now I can't speak for all of the contributors here, but where I come from....it it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it is pretty safe to say that you've got a duck. Every shred of information that comes from outside of Ken "Whit" Whitman's claim to have rented this camera equipment belies that claim....the only thing that makes sense is that Ken "Whit" Whitman used KoDT:LAS funds to purchase camera equipment that he has used on subsequent projects.
Just a head's up Kenny.....in a civil court we'd only have to show a "preponderance of the evidence" and while I'm not a lawyer, between these pictures and the fact that your math never seems to add up, I think we'd meet the legal requirements. Of course if you'd like to open you books to prove me/us wrong.......just hand them over to Kenzer & Company.
Just to add - Ken made no secret of the fact that he had purchased all the camera/computer equipment (including dollies, lights, scores of memory cards, etc) while at the shoot. Any number of crew/cast members can vouch for that. In fact whenever he pulled out a new piece of equipment he made it a point to say that *I* made it possible for him to purchase it. (meaning by allowing him to do the kickstarter).
ReplyDeleteAlso when it was suggested to Ken he sell the equipment purchased with Kickstarter funds in order to refund backers or (gasp) actually use it to finish fulfillments, Ken told me personally via PM, "Jolly that equipment is long gone. I had to pawn it".
Which of course isn't true - pictures of him using the same equipment has turned up time and time again on his film related projects.
The plain truth of the matter is all that equipment was purchased with KODTLAS funding. The curious thing is that equipment was used on Traveller and the C&C film projects. So you would THINK those projects would have substantially less production costs and would have greatly benefited. (i.e. he wold have actually FINISHED them).
But the reality there are people who (last i heard) have still not been paid. The effects guy, the composer for KODTLAS, the guy who did the card art for Dice Deck. Not to mention a former AD who is owed a few k. And those guys are only the ones I know about.
When it comes to Ken's integrity just remember. This is the guy who claimed all Hard cover books has shipped to backes for months while backers kept posting they hadn't received their books and were ignored. And what happened? We learned Ken sold those books (which were already paid for by backers) to a couple of online retailers (pocketing the cash). He has never given an explanation for that. And why would he? What could he possibly say? You want proof of the type of guy, Ken is there's your example.
The cherry on top is this guy now thinks HE'S the victim. He's called backers' "whiners". And he laws down threat of of lawsuit suppressive fire like someone using a sawed off shotgun.
All during the months where backer were complaining one of Ken's favorite come backs was, "Sorry my business model doesn't work for you."
No Ken, it doesn't.
I don't believe Ken Whitman ever did any work on Traveller after he collected our money. He just kept showing the same 1:30 minutes of introductory footage (and irritating, tinny theme music) done by others. During the campaign, there was a little bit of communication with backers, but after reaching the basic goal, he started selling the "stretch goals." (as in "We can make this a really good show that will be taken by TV producers")
ReplyDeleteThe few resin ships that were delivered were of extremely low quality (broken, covered with flashing) and yet he was still selling more ships for $50-$150.00 each. I don't know if he used KODT cameras or what all, but he sure didn't work on the project. I blame myself for not knowing this. That's his "business model," I guess.
Actually I saw a bit more than 1:30 of Spinward Traveler at GenCon 2015. It was probably about 15 or 20 minutes but I was not very impressed. The friend I went with who had actually backed it, really did not like it.
ReplyDeleteIn my account, I meant the actually somewhat finished work which included the intro (and theme music) and the parts made by the third party CGI artists (Beowulf against green planet, Beowulf against blue planet, end credits animation and Beowulf firing ventral laser turret. I did get the raw footage download. In my opinion, the raw footage was not fit to be posted on youtube as a home-made fan film. I was pretty bummed but he kept feeding us the same clip as a preview of how awesome the finished work would be. True, the download of raw footage was about 20 minutes, but we were promised so much more.
DeleteOh yeah. I think all the backers have gotten a raw deal that's for sure.
DeleteKWW is pissing up a rope with his legal threats (unless you live in Georgia). What he threatens is called SLAPP - Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. Basically, abusing the legal process in order to quell speech. There are a number of states that have strong Anti-SLAPP statutes for individuals (Georgia isn't one of them; Texas... he doesn't want to mess with Texas!)
ReplyDeleteNext there are two legal requirements called Jurisdiction and Venue: Venue is where the offense is alleged to have occurred and Jurisdiction is whether the court in question has the legal right to hear the case. My Texas VPN is the endpoint of my online presence as far as legal process is concerned (unless you can dig deeper and find out otherwise) - so any 'online offense' that I engage in will occur in that Venue - Dallas, TX. Now, Georgia Laws have no authority in Texas - two different States, two different sets of laws. As I would be the one accused (Defendant), the Law is very clear that the Venue would be where the alleged offense originated - in this case Dallas, TX.
Now for the question of Jurisdiction: Does a Georgia Court have authority over a (virtual) citizen of Texas, (virtually) in Texas, engaging in activity that is lawful in Texas? Short answer: No. Unless you can prove that I am actually in Georgia committing the alleged offenses, then Georgia has no Jurisdiction. In order to resolve this question of Law then, KWW would have to go to Federal Court - as they are the ones that interpret disputes of Law between the States. The Georgia Statute that KWW keeps brandishing is not reflected in Federal Law, so he would have to come up with some other Cause of Action to bring through the Federal Court System (which would have both Jurisdiction and Venue in this hypothetical case).
Even if it makes it that far, KWW now has to prove Libel - the printing of defamatory material without basis in fact for the sole purpose of besmirching a persons reputation. That's a tough sell even in the best of cases. But this does open up the opportunity for DISCOVERY - the legal process of gathering evidence against your opponent. Failure to comply with Discovery requests can be interpreted as Contempt of Court and Subversion of the Legal Process - and I am sure that there are things that KWW does NOT want aired during the Discovery Process. Basically, all the questions that have been put forward to KWW by his Backers and by the participants and owners of this Blog: KWW would be compelled to answer them in a timely fashion. That would be part of the Defense Preparation to demonstrate Truth (the absolute Defense to Libel), and it would open up the possibility of Direct, Actionable Evidence being uncovered that could potentially result in specific Fraud Allegations against KWW being proven.
TLDR Version: KWW wants to avoid Court more than a Vampire wants to avoid Holy Ground.
(Note: Before engaging in activity dependent upon the views expressed here, that could land you in Court, consul with your own, trusted, Attorney or Legal Representative.)