Re: H.K. Edgerton
On Wed, May 31, 2017, Mindspring (siegels1@mindspring.com) wrote:
Good day sir,
Is this you?
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshpenchina
Mr. Edgerton asked me to discuss your project ideas.
Can you give me a call on 813-727-3920
Lunelle McCallister
*************************************************
On Fri, Jun 2, 2017, Josh Penchina (josh.penchina@vice.com) wrote:
Hi Lunelle,
It was a pleasure speaking with you earlier today. I hope you’ve had a safe drive home. I just wanted to follow up to let you know I’ve sent you a copy of one of
our episodes from last season. Please let me know if you have any questions accessing the file.Thanks!
-JOSH
*************************************************
From: Josh Penchina (josh.penchina@vice.com)
Date: 6/5/2017
To: Mindspring (siegels1@mindspring.com)
Subject: Re: HK EdgertonHi Lunelle!
I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I just wanted to check in to make sure you got the episode I sent last week. Here’s another link just in case:
http://qlnk.io/ql/59314efce4b0d511d02f619e
Viceland9799
Would you want to set up a time to chat again tomorrow? Or would it be OK if I reached out to H.K. again tomorrow to begin discussing schedule?
Thanks so much for all your help!
Cheers,
JOSH
*************************************************
On Mon, Jun 5, 2017, Mindspring (siegels1@mindspring.com) wrote:
I am on the road again today and tomorrow and had a hectic weekend. I did browse at some of the shorts on the web site.
*************************************************
From: Josh Penchina [mailto:josh.penchina@vice.com]
Sent: Monday, June 05, 2017
To: Mindspring (siegels1@mindspring.com)
Subject: Re: HK EdgertonI’m so sorry you had a tough weekend, Lunelle. Everything ok?
And do you think it’s OK if I reach out to H.K. tomorrow to begin discussing his availability?
Thanks so much.
Cheers,
JOSH
*************************************************
On Jun 8, 2017, Lunelle Siegel (siegels1@mindspring.com) wrote:
It seems to me that the goal of the show if to take people out to laugh at…am I missing something?
The host seems to be looking for material for his night club act vs. being a documentary.
Am I wrong?
Lunelle
*************************************************
On Fri, Jun 9, 2017, Josh Penchina (josh.penchina@vice.com) wrote:
Hi Lunelle!
I’ll be on a plane most of today but will write you back ASAP. Looking forward to clarifying a whole lot for you about the series and this episode.
Thank you!
Josh
*************************************************
From: Josh Penchina [mailto:josh.penchina@vice.com]
Sent: Friday, June 09, 2017
To: Lunelle Siegel (siegels1@mindspring.com)
Cc: HK Edgerton (hk.edgerton@gmail.com)
Subject: Re: HK EdgertonHi Lunelle,
I apologize again for the delayed reply. Thank you for sending along your concerns. I’d like to address them by emphasizing/clarifying a couple of points:
Firstly, as I mentioned over the phone, this season is focusing on entirely different groups and themes than the first season, and (in all honesty) therefore really deserves to be given an entirely different title, to differentiate it from last season.
Each hour-long episode of this season will essentially take an in-depth look at the disdain between liberals and conservatives today, and the varied ways this divide is manifesting in communities across America. As I mentioned over the phone, we’re focusing episodes on topics as varied as the victimization of police (specifically in Baton Rouge), the radicalization of far left protest groups (a.k.a. antifa), the attack on free speech & how political correctness is running rampant in America, the phenomenon of the ‘American Redoubt’ in the Northwest, the radicalization of some Muslim communities in Minnesota, etc…
Because the subject matter is so different than last season, myself and my executive producers have been fighting tooth and nail to have the series be renamed but the business executives at VICE have been resisting for marketing reasons. The series became one of the most watched on VICELAND, and was nominated for a number of awards, and there has therefore been a reluctance to change the title. It’s something that my team and Jamali himself are incredibly unhappy about but we’re prepared to do anything possible to guarantee to contributors that this season is not solely profiling groups and/or individuals that espouse hate. If there is any crossover at all, it’s that some contributors are perhaps incorrectly being labeled as racists (such as members of the Southern Heritage Movement), and it is these people who we’d like to give a platform to in order to clear their names and understand their true values.
That being said, our goal for this episode remains what I’ve maintained throughout… to present a fair, accurate, and current portrait of the Southern Heritage movement and to explore the adversity your members have unfortunately been facing from liberal society and policies. Please let me know if there’s anything else I can do to make you rest assured.
Secondly, the goal of the show is absolutely not to laugh at people who participate in it, or for our host to acquire material for his standup comedy acts. The series merely uses comedy as a conduit to make difficult and sobering subject matters more palatable for our audience to learn. Remember, VICELAND’s audience is largely made up of millennials (18 to 30-somethings) who tend to process information a little easier with a more casual approach than a hard-hitting news piece. In reality, between all the jokes and casual bonding, our contributors’ uninhibited messages are absolutely received by our audience. If anything, comedy makes the learning process so enjoyable that these episodes tend to ripple out to audiences much larger and more diverse than the usual VICELAND viewer.
Honestly, at the end of the day, this could be an incredibly valuable platform for members of the movement, especially H.K., to make themselves truly heard and understood by mainstream society and especially younger audiences, who – now more than ever – are beginning to question the progressive policies we’ve all grown up with. Since researching the movement myself I’ve come to appreciate just how watered down and off-base the liberal interpretation has been of the movement. It’s honestly made me look at all these recent monument protests with an entirely new perspective. I have no doubt that given the right platform, that you’ll be able to cultivate other new sympathizers from our audience.
Anyway, sorry for the long email guys. I just wanted to assuage your concerns and do my utmost to shoot straight with you. Please let me know what you think of all of this when you get a chance.
Thank you and I look forward to chatting again soon!
Sincerely,
JOSH
*************************************************
On Jun 9, 2017, Lunelle Siegel (siegels1@mindspring.com) wrote:
Josh,
I think we just need to have right of approval of final version and title
I like what you’re saying but where is the guaranty?
Lunelle
*************************************************
On Sat, Jun 10, 2017, Josh Penchina (josh.penchina@vice.com) wrote:
Sorry again for the delay, Lunelle. I’ve been meeting with some SCV and CRA (confederate riders of America) activists in Oklahoma all day…
I think we can arrange some sort of approval arrangement with you guys, to ensure you of our good intentions. Is there a good time we can discuss details about that first thing Monday morning?
Thanks so much!
Josh
*************************************************
From: Josh Penchina (josh.penchina@vice.com)
Date: Thu, Jun 15, 2017
Subject: Re: HK Edgerton
To: Lunelle Siegel (siegels1@mindspring.com)
Cc: HK Edgerton (hk.edgerton@gmail.com), Daniel Zabludovsky (Dan.zabs@vice.com)Dear Lunelle and H.K.,
I hope you both have been well since we last spoke. I’m going to have my team draft up some kind of agreement that would sufficiently guarantee you two that H.K. will not be disrespected in any way by our host, Jamali Maddix, on this series.
We’re comfortable agreeing that during the stand-up segments of the show, and when Jamali is interacting with H.K. himself, that he will not say anything derogatory to or about H.K. However, the nature of this series is such that we profile controversial issues and interview activists on BOTH sides of an issue. As this is technically a news documentary (albeit one hosted by a comedian) we have to abide by journalistic ethics and practices that require our reporting to be fair and balanced. That being said, if we happen to interview someone who makes disparaging or derogatory remarks about H.K., we reserve the right to include those remarks in the program. It is these types of remarks that we cannot control for or prevent from making it to air if they reflect a common public sentiment. However, we can ABSOLUTELY make sure that H.K. has every opportunity possible to defend himself directly to an offending third party or, in their absence, to Jamali himself. And, to reiterate, Jamali himself will not say anything derogatory about H.K.
And as I’ve mentioned before, we can absolutely allow you guys to review a cut and voice any concerns you might have before the show airs. However, for legal reasons and because of journalistic ethics we absolutely cannot give you guys editorial control of the final product. But we will absolutely take any concern you might have in consideration, as we want nothing more than for you to be happy with the final product. (it’s also worth mentioning, that in all our episodes from the first season, every contributor was pleased by the series and how they were portrayed. Nothing came as a surprise to anyone).
Finally, I want to stress again that Jamali is not interested in poking fun at contributors this season. We are focusing episodes on police departments that have had multiple officers killed on duty, communities threatened by radical Muslims, people on the front lines of defending free speech from radical Leftists, etc… the people we’re spending time with are everyday Americans fighting for very popular causes. These are absilytely not fringe movements. There is absolutely no group or individual in this season that comes anywhere close to the extremists we spent time with (and that Jamali may have poked fun at) last season. I hope you understand that there sincerely will be an entirely different tone to this season.
As I mentioned yesterday, we’re very quickly populating our filming schedule for this summer and since I first spoke with you two I’ve made much progress on accessing members of the movement who see the value in this series and who are interested in participating. Right now we plan on filming with Andrew Duncomb (a.k.a. ‘The Black Rebel’) and members of the SCV and CRA in Oklahoma between July 4th and 7th. Then we’re planning to film in Columbia, South Carolina on July 9th and 10th to cover The Second Annual Flag Raising being organized by The South Carolina Secessionist Party. Arlene Barnum will be speaking at this event. We would love to include H.K. in our filming in Oklahoma and/or in South Carolina if possible. Can we discuss as soon as possible if H.K. might be able to participate?
Also, if you would like to provide us with more access I’d be happy to discuss the possibility of our adjusting our schedule to allow for way more time with H.K., and to even focus the episode ENTIRELY on H.K. (as we first discussed). We’ve only begin focusing on Andrew Duncomb and others because I’m being pressured to lock in dates as soon as possible, as there are nine other episodes being booked and planned for a relatively small timeframe of filming over this summer.
All this being said, are you guys still interested in this? Are you comfortable enough with my assurances? Would speaking with Jamali himself make you more comfortable? And if you are interested and comfortable can we begin discussing filming logistics by tomorrow (Friday) morning?
Thank you both so much for your cooperation with all of this.
Sincerely,
JOSH PENCHINA
