And whilst we are on the subject of nicotine, I would be remiss to let this opportunity pass.
I'm sure you ALL know or know of Aaron Beibert, who did the (now globally infamous) film "
A Billion Lives".
He is now in process with his new film,
"You don't know nicotine".
I am totally in support of this great man, one amazing advocate for the vape industry and to us vapers.
If you so feel, here's a bit to peruse on his new project:
The First to Know
I've been working on a couple really special projects and I wanted you to hear about this one directly from me.
Watching what's happened since A Billion Lives came out has been very difficult. It seems truth doesn't matter anymore.
I've spent the past year talking to people who smoke cigarettes, those who use nicotine for various reasons, and researchers from around the world.
Their answers keep leading to more questions.
Why do so many people want to use nicotine, even from unhealthy forms like cigarettes? Are there benefits of nicotine? What are the risks?
Why is there so much propaganda and money being funneled into lying about it?
Sadly, after A Billion Lives came out it seemed that many folks were okay with a billion smokers dying.
But what if "clean nicotine" products (not from smoking) extended your non-smoking grandma's life? What if there's a surprising reason so many people (up to 90%) with schizophrenia use nicotine?
When I found out that nicotine is being used to treat Parkinson's and other neurological disorders, a switch flipped in my head. My family has lost loved ones who suffered from brain diseases.
What if nicotine could have helped?
Despite a lot of evidence showing benefits to clean nicotine, I've heard terrible stories about the great lengths some are taking to cover up the evidence and to demonize ways people take nicotine.
Some of it will make you sick.
I'm fired up and ready to announce that we've begun another movie. This time it's about nicotine.
We've already been filming for months. Barring any massive new developments, our goal is to wrap it up by the end of summer 2019 and have it ready for film festivals in winter (Sundance, Berlin, True/False, SXSW, etc.).
If you'd like to follow the
You Don't Know Nicotine project on Facebook,
click here. This will be the beginning of another amazing movement, so don't hesitate to say "hi" and let people know you were an early part of it. All the activity lets visiting journalists know how much the topic matters.
Also, we'll be using the hashtag #YouDontKnowNicotine for online posts that need attention from the community. Feel free to use it in comments of ignorant or misleading articles on social media. We need to cut off misinformation at the source.
Looking back, we learned a lot from our experience with A Billion Lives:
1) We need to collaborate earlier, with more people, especially in Hollywood
2) We need a bigger/earlier publicity budget
3) We need to get it out faster
4) We need to make it easily accessible to the public without compromising credibility or losing my team's personal investments
We're excited to announce
The Film Collaborative in LA will be working with us to tackle some of these big issues. Not only are they well connected in the movie world (many of their films premiere at big film festivals like Sundance, SXSW, etc.), but they've agreed to be our fiscal sponsor, which means the funds people give towards this effort can be tax-deductible because TFC is a non-profit entity.
If we raise enough money through crowdfunding to make this a wide release (we have a million dollar production/publicity budget, which is similar to most known documentaries), we can reach tens of millions of people.
To do that, we're planning a Kickstarter campaign in the new year. However, I wanted to give you a chance to reduce our costs (Kickstarter takes a %) and join a very elite group of early crowdfund supporters with special perks.
$99+ Launch Supporters
As a Launch Supporter, you'll get your name in the film credits (optional), a ticket to the big Milwaukee premiere (sold out last time), and your name on the website "Wall of Supporters" (optional). We'll also put your face in an exclusive mosaic movie poster similar to the one we created for A Billion Lives. You'll get a digital file of the artwork to print or share.
$499+ Launch Captains
As a Launch Captain, you'll get everything the Launch Supporters get (above), but you'll also get an exclusive Launch Captain t-shirt, a signed copy of the A Billion Lives Collector's Edition Blu-ray, and a license to publicly show A Billion Lives to your group (shop, church, school, or wherever).
$4,900+ Launch Leaders
You'll get all the perks above and will be invited to join the team for a tour of our movie studio, a sneak peek of the new movie, and a meal with the crew. You'll also get red carpet tickets for the Milwaukee Premiere and a special VIP badge with gift bag.
$9,900+ Launch VIPs
You'll get all the perks above, but you will arrive by limo with other VIPs to the red carpet and will have access to the green room area. If you cover travel costs, I will also come to your home, work, church, school, etc. at a mutually agreed time and host a private screening of
A Billion Lives or
You Don't Know Nicotine with a personal meet n' greet afterwards.
$49,900+ Launch Stars
In addition to all the Launch VIP perks, I'll also bring cinematographer Jimi Jake Shaw with me for the day to shoot a mini-documentary about you and your story. You'll also get my personal mobile number to chat about project updates.
You can see our
project page on The Film Collaborative website, with a link to contribute at the bottom. Please let me know when you decide to support this pre-launch effort or if you have any questions.
I'd also love for you to reply with any ideas, comments, or concerns before we go public with this. I don't want to miss anything.
Talk soon,
Aaron
Director
You Don't Know Nicotine