SPECTACLE - MOVEMENT - FUTURES

CounterCoup Maine - The Movie

MAINERS IN REBELLION
AGAINST
BIG BODY DOMINION

Proposal for a Populist Spectacle

ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT
Available online at: http://www.nancho.net/cc2002/
Last updated: 2002-03-23
For more information, please contact W David Kubiak: kubiak@nancho.net

ARRANGEMENT

1 SUMMARY
   1.1 Executive Vision
2 STRUCTURE
   2.1 Intro Sketch: Countercoup Maine -- The Movie
   2.2 Mini-Chautauqua Roadshows
   2.3 Sample Roadshow Program
   2.4 Filming Process & Video News Series
   2.5 Proposed Moc News Hour Segments
   2.6 Campaign Promotion
   2.7 Towns To Visit
   2.8 Sample Platform/Policy Ideas
   2.9 Current Shadow Cabinet Nominees (Partial Listing)
   2.10 Countercoup On The Streets
3 BIG CONNECTIONS: Partners, Precedents & Advisory Resources
   3.1"New Chautauqua" Originating Sponsors
   3.2 Current Project Team
   3.3 Collaboration
   3.4 Advisors & Consultants [Partial Listing]
   3.5 Countercoup Lead-In Events
4 COSTINGS
   4.1 Crew\Road Expenses
   4.2 Equipment
   4.3 Consumables
   4.4 Post-Production
   4.5 Promotion & Cross-Media Expenses
   4.6 Administration
   4.7 Total Projected Costs
5 ABOUT BIG MEDICINE
   5.1 Major Activities
   5.2 Finances
6 PROPOSED SCHEDULE
7 REFERENCES

1 SUMMARY

PAUL REVERE REDUX
WHEN THE COUP IS UPON YOU AND THE MEDIA IS COMPLICIT,
HOW TO WARN THE PEOPLE?

"The American press, with very few exceptions, is a kept press. Kept by the big corporations the way a whore is kept by a tycoon." Theodore Dreiser, An American Tragedy

"We've reached a point where private totalitarianism is not out of the question… The same big corporations that own content own Web properties, own traditional media. The possibility of getting a dissident voice through their channels is increasingly scarce… If you want to get a story through that doesn't sync with the dominant belief system, it's just not going to happen… In essence, they're in a position to own the human mind itself." John Perry Barlow, founder, Electronic Frontier Foundation

"Countercoup Maine - The Movie" is a project designed to abruptly thrust the corporate domination of our media, society and governance into the spotlight of public attention and political debate. The initiative will create a feature film about a fictional (but highly visible) populist gubernatorial campaign in Maine that begins to blur with reality; gets citizens actively riled and organizing around media-shunned corporate rule issues; and spawns continuing statewide print, radio and public access TV networks to distribute non-corporate news. In addition to the final movie, the project will generate an Internet site, weekly videos, bi-weekly radio shows and monthly newspapers to inject its rebellious themes into all levels of the media. It will also mobilize new inter-group coalitions committed to strengthening popular (and economic) democracy and emasculating corporate political power across the board. Besides organizing and publicizing new possibilities for nonviolent insurrection, it further hopes to generate a modest recyclable profit in its odd and rowdy process. The campaign\film will be produced by Big Medicine, a Maine-based 501(c)(3) research and education institute, in collaboration with artistic & technical teams from the Art House Coalition, the Maine Independent Media Center, Off-Center Productions, Portland Media Artists and the TrueMedia Truth Squad at the Portland Public Access Center. The production has already attracted an inspiring advisory board of nationally eminent and locally expert authorities on populism, economic justice, and democratic renewal.

NATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD
Ronnie Dugger
Richard Grossman
Doris "Granny D" Haddock
Hazel Henderson
David C. Korten
John Rensenbrink

MAINE ADVISORY BOARD
Carolyn Chute
Tammy Greaton
Peter Kellman
Robert A. G. Monks
Rosalie Tyler Paul
Lloyd & Ellen Wells

1.1 EXECUTIVE VISION

As noted in the "Countercoup 2002" basic proposal, the Countercoup initiative was born out of the spirited, grieving defiance that erupted at the Unity New Chautauqua last September. The project incarnates both the event's opening premise that big corporate bodies have indeed usurped our governance and its concluding commitment not to let this outrage stand. Strategically, participants favored two complementary courses of action: the wholesale broadening of people's authority with more direct (and economic) democracy and the systematic belittling of corporate political power. The tactics discussed were largely media focused - either ways to trick or shame Big Media into sounding the alarm or ways to create new clarion media of our own. The Countercoup project is designed to meet these goals by organizing citizens around innovative democratic models, by promoting radical revisions in the state's Corporate Code, and by injecting the tabooed topic of corporate rule into mass media, mainstream awareness, and public debate very forcefully and very fast..

WHY MAINE?
The last task - detonating this debate in the mainstream corporate media - is perhaps the most challenging, but this year Maine offers an unrivalled opportunity to pull it off for two reasons.

  1. Maine will enjoy an unprecedented flood of media attention in 2002, because of our first-in-the-nation gubernatorial Clean Election (with its first public-funded and industry-abhorred Green Party challenger) and our first chance to finally get Universal Health Care enacted into law. The historic import of these "firsts" amplified by the millions of dollars corporations are now collecting to trash them in the press and on TV, already promise Maine a very high but expensively distorted media profile this year. We plan to gratefully exploit this 15 minutes of celebrity, and sense the time is right. We believe that corporations have overreached themselves unspeakably here, that Mainers are angry enough for at least a symbolic revolt, and that this chance to take our wake up call to a national audience is too precious to ignore.
  2. Maine's economic plight and peculiar demographics are ironically suited for a broad spectrum revolt. The state is the second poorest in the nation but endures the second highest taxes (and highest power rates). Its southern yuppie population is incensed about corporate attacks on the environment, and its northern working class communities have been impoverished and infuriated by corporations' slash-&-burn economics, runaway shops, and fierce opposition to all health care reform. Labor and Libertarians, students and seniors, suburban Greens and village Republicans are now finally finding common cause: Corporations Shall Not Rule!
WHY A MOVIE?
The cinematic conceit allow us to wage both an 8-month media offensive disguised as a political campaign, and a populist political crusade camouflaged as a film. In small towns, this will help us attract un-politicized crowds that might not be so anxious to attend an anti-establishment political harangue in the current climate as well as funders who may be otherwise ineligible to support an "actual" political campaign.

It also offers us an efficient vehicle for generating citizen\activist footage for the video news show as well as a non-threatening way to organize communities and coalitions against corporate power along non-partisan lines. Also since we shall be doing all of the things that a "real" campaign would do (including gathering the signatures that could actually land us on the ballot), the fine line here between fact and fiction should remain tantalizingly obscure.

Finally, we believe the widespread (and free) publicity that this enigmatic insurrection promises to attract will help pre-sell the film and give it a profitable life on the road.

In effect, the film will star Carolyn Chute, Maine's working class celebrity novelist who co-founded the 2nd Maine Militia and has campaigned against corporate political power since 1995; and W. David Kubiak, a long expatriated Maine anti-corporatist, who won New Hampshire's 2000 Democratic Vice-Presidential Primary (http://www.state.nh.us/sos/presprim2000/dvpressum.htm) and launched Unity's New Chautauqua. In actual fact, this entire movie (and its weekly spin-off video news show) will more often feature the faces and experiences of scores of ordinary Mainers now battling the rampant symptoms of corporate rule. It is their voices rather than the stars' that are most apt to persuade their fellow citizens that we do indeed have a crisis here and it is finally time to act.

In sum, we believe that the movie campaign's policies, personalities and auxiliary media (not to mention its likely appearance in the polls) will provoke a long pent-up anti-corporate response on both the left and right, as well as fascinate journalistic attention with its unprecedented form.

WHY NOW?
We could have put this funding appeal out a couple months ago as a speculative request. However, we wanted to make sure all the parts - technical, artistic, personal - really were in place and the rather bizarrely cheap budget we quote was actually enough to get this complex movie project done. We have now tested our numbers and recruited all the necessary talent, and can confidently promise that the plan is both realistic and ready to go. As responsible as we were trying to be, this caution has perhaps disserved us because now we need some serious funding fast! We look forward to your immediate interest and support.

2 Structure

2.1 INTRO SKETCH: Countercoup Maine -- The Movie

Rough Plot Outline: Carolyn Chute & David Kubiak run as co-candidates for governor in a "film" about a populist insurrection against corporate rule in Maine. They barnstorm through 20 different towns and cities across the state presenting mini-chautauqua rallies, press conferences and state fair publicity stunts. All events are staged for the movie, but attract "real" citizens, "real" journalists, and "real" public attention to their issues (e.g., the corporate coup d'état in Augusta and Washington, the corporate takeover of our mass media, and Maine's urgent need to secede from Corporate America's political control). To add more realism to the "film" Chute\Kubiak begin collecting the 4000 signatures needed to get on the ballot. Along the way, they are plotted against and sabotaged by corporate PR thugs, paper company spies and local party hacks. They barely survive the campaign -- physically, legally or financially -- but are finally strangely vindicated in an 11th month/11th hour surprise ending.

2.2 MINI-CHAUTAUQUA ROADSHOWS

(repeated in each of Maine's 16 counties)
  • Four weeks before campaign arrives: advance team visits town, locates anti-corporate allies, unscientifically polls the community on problems it is facing, and develops host committee and contact people for next stage of organization;
  • One week before campaign arrives: Countercoup Good Humor truck spends a day in town dispensing patriotic ice cream ("red, white & blueberry," "loud corporate raspberry" "globalized grapes of wrath sherbet," etc.) and campaign fliers, which introduce the Countercoup issues, invite citizens to "come have fun helping us make a wicked cool movie," and devote their last page to the results of that town's "problem poll".
  • The campaign arrives and spends approximately 8 hours in each town (two weekday evenings or one full Saturday\Sunday)

2.3 SAMPLE ROADSHOW PROGRAM

  • 2 hours -- chautauqua format: speeches, music, performance, big screen video endorsements from "famous faces";
  • 2 hours -- feast, gab & gossip: barbecue, bean supper, etc;
  • 3 hours - mock town meeting, asking each community to pretend (for the sake of the "film", you see) that they are concerned about their common future and would like to:
    1. spell out the problems they face;
    2. visualize the town as they would like to see it 5~10 years, and
    3. discuss what they could possibly do together to make it happen.
  • 1 hour -- gather contacts for follow-up actions, and introduce spokespeople and literature from groups willing to help the town's citizens move to the next stage of self-organization if they wish.

2.4 FILMING PROCESS & VIDEO NEWS SERIES

The campaign constantly has at least two camera teams in attendance -- one to document the campaign and "make the movie"; and the other(s) to film "The Making of Countercoup" -- a weekly video program to be released on 20+ public access channels as The MOC News Hour. The latter will focus on backstage events, the faces\voices\concerns of local citizens and activist groups, and assorted other evidence of (and resistance to) the corporate coup in Maine. Besides being used to pioneer Maine's first grassroots non- corporate cable news network, the MOC News will be distributed to\through schools, libraries and video rental shops statewide.

2.5 PROPOSED MOC NEWS HOUR SEGMENTS

  • Corporate weather reports -- Smog, acid rain & global warming news, plus weekly totals of corporate $$ gusting into Maine to swing elections, sway selectmen, inflate legislators and flatten referenda.
  • Corporate Rogues Gallery -- Maine's Worst Corp of the Week
  • Adbuster Anti-Commercials
  • Best Schools Money Can Buy: Student videographers cover school-Nike\Pepsi\etc sweetheart deals
  • Your Leadership at Work -- Lobbyist Profiles
  • Nichols\May style news anchor parody (Paul Drinan\Lisa Boubie)
  • Daily Life with Carolyn (chopping wood, making jam, shooting AK-47)
  • Corporate Hospitality (weekly shot of our reporters being thrown out of a big office)
  • Maine NGO promotions and activity reports & Activist event calendar
  • Joe & Marie Maine - Barbershop\Beauty Salon Political Commentaries
  • IMC's Alasdar & Hillary at War (vignettes from the media frontlines)
  • Vernacular Maine-speak translations (close captioned) for smarmy, pedantic spiels by politicians, pundits and academics)
  • Different theme songs every week
  • Cliff-hanger endings

2.6 CAMPAIGN PROMOTION

In addition to the road shows, the Countercoup campaign will develop a virtual presence in the Maine State of Mind with an Internet web site, weekly cable shows, occasional radio outbursts, and a statewide print bulletin (The New Chautauqua Countercoup Times), that all introduce the campaign's do-it-ourselves populist platform, its shadow cabinet of prominent pissed Mainers, its rebellious accessories (t-shirts, pins, posters, signs…), and lots of basic info on how to get involved.

2.7 TOWNS TO VISIT (in addition to Augusta, Bangor, Portland)

Towns with economic problems, innovative solutions, or historic\symbolic significance.

COUNTY         CANDIDATE TOWNS
Androscoggin      Lewiston
Aroostook      Allagash, Limestone
Cumberland     Bridgton
Franklin      Kingfield, Stratton
Hancock      Orland, Bar Harbor
Kennebec      Waterville
Knox      Union
Lincoln      Wiscasset, Friendship
Oxford      Rumford\Mexico
Penobscot      Passadumkeag, Dexter
Piscataquis      Dover-Foxcroft
Sagadahoc     Bath
Somerset     Jackman
Waldo     Belfast
Washington     Calais, Machias
York     Biddeford

Other Movie\Campaign Public Events
Fourth of July celebrations in Athens and county fairs in Acton, Blue Hill, Common Ground, Cumberland, Fryeburg and Union.

2.8 SAMPLE PLATFORM/POLICY IDEAS

CORPORATE COUP-BUSTING
  • Modernize corporate code (revoke personhood, add community, the environment and employee well- being to corporate directors' responsibilities, restore Bill of Rights protections to employees in the workplace, impose a 20-year corporate lifetime, phase in employee/stakeholder ownership & control)
HEALTH
  • Introduce the Single Payer System for Universal Health Care
  • Following the anti-tobacco litigation model, ban junk food advertising and bill processed producers for all public health expenses related to obesity.
ECONOMIC\FOOD\ENERGY SECURITY
  • Enforce a Living Wage statewide (approximately $11.00/hour)
  • Introduce runaway shop legislation, tie state aid to enforced employment guarantees.
  • Support industrial hemp agriculture for paper, fiber and biodiesel fuel
  • Support biodiesel, solar, wind and hydrogen energy development
  • Support family farms, organic products & Community Supported Agriculture
  • Support small sawmills, value added processing, furniture start-ups, etc.
  • Support employee-owned cooperatives and stakeholder-controlled businesses
MEDIA
  • Encourage low power community TV, public access stations, and grassroots media centers across state.
  • Claim home rule over the local broadcast spectrum, mandate public access for non-corporate views and free air time for political candidates and debate.
TAX POLICY
  • Abolish state income tax - introduce net asset tax (aka the Fat Tax) -- taxes net wealth over $200,000 / person (or corporation) instead of income -- about 3.5% / year = current revenue
  • Allow tax payments in kind or public service hours (mentoring, teaching, geriatric care)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
  • Introduce California's Proposition 36 -- mandating treatment rather than arrest for all non-violent drug offenders (Ref: http://www.prop36.org/ )
  • Decriminalize victimless crimes.
TRANSPORT
  • Introduce Philippine jeepney system throughout the state ( Ref: http://www.film.queensu.ca/CJ3B/World/Philippines.html)
  • Convert all public transport vehicles to biodiesal by 2007
EDUCATION
  • Reduce class size to 15 or less.
  • Develop classes in legal, economic and medical self-defense.
  • Promote classes in democracy, ecology, 3rd World history and media literacy,
  • Survey each town for special talents and invite more community members into educational process.
  • Promote more internal democracy in decision-making affecting classroom and school policies.
  • Exhort high schools and universities (public & private) to actively tackle pressing social problems.
FOREIGN POLICY
  • Develop independent foreign policy and sister-state relationships in similar bioregions around the world.
  • Give all possible moral, diplomatic and media support to struggling democratization movements abroad.
  • Encourage boycotts of all sweatshop products and vendors in the state.
  • Repudiate Chapter 11 of NAFTA (and FTAA) treaties that gives transnational corporate statutes supremacy over local laws.

2.9 CURRENT SHADOW CABINET NOMINEES (Partial Listing)

Veteran Maine sages whom citizens would like to get more lights, cameras, and column inches to.

EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENTS
Attorney General      Alice Knapp, Phil Worden
Department of Corrections      Caroline Dove, Michael Vernon
Drug Czar      Harry Brown, Anne Rand
Legislative Relations      Tammy Greaton
Secretary of State      John Rensenbrink
State Police Commissioner     Jim Freeman
Surgeon General      Tom St. Amand

SECRETARY OF:
Agriculture, Food & Security      Russ Libby, Dede Parker, Billy Barker
Appropriate Technologies      Bill Ellis
Arts & Humanities      Laura Childs, Cecily Pal
Corporate Oversight      Julian Holmes
Democratization      Lloyd Wells
Education      David Solmitz, Marilyn Wentworth, Bill Gifford
Forests & Land Use      Mitch Lansky, Sam Brown, John Falk
International Relations      Barbara West, Ken Carstens
Labor      Peter Kellman, Ed Gorham
Health      Paul Volnick
Human Services      Lucy Pulin
Media Democracy      Rebecca St. Clair, Rob Waite, Richard Rhames
Transportation      Naoto Inoue
Treasury      Robert Monks
War & Duct Tape      Michael Chute
Water & Fisheries      Ron Huber

2.10 COUNTERCOUP ON THE STREETS

WHERE THE REBELLION HITS THE ROAD

Bumper Sticker Slogan Suggestions

  • The Bigger the Corporation, the Smaller the Member
  • Revive the Maine Commons, An Eminent Domain
  • If Voting Made a Difference, It Would be Illegal
  • The Road to Hell is Paved with Corporate Media
  • If Corporations are Persons, Owning Stock is Slavery.
  • Make Government a Corporate Free Zone .
  • Corporations Out of the Gene Pool
  • Tired of Political Jokes? Don't Elect Them.
  • Think Out of the Box, Shoot your TV
  • Decorporatize School, Life Dies in a Desk
  • Big Corporations Need, Bleed and Breed Little People
  • Secede from Corporate America, Reclaim the Maine State of Mind
  • Boycott Irving -- Exploitation, Graft & Clearcuts since 1932
  • Corporations Bought our Capitol and We Can't Afford to Buy it Back

3 BIG CONNECTIONS: Partners, precedents and advisory resources

3.1 "NEW CHAUTAUQUA" ORIGINATING SPONSORS
2nd Maine Militia
Alliance for Democracy
American Workers First
Bangor Clean Clothes Campaign
Big Medicine
Forest Ecology Network
Greater Portland Labor Council
Maine Youth Campfire Collective
Maine Global Action Network
Maine Green Independent Party
Maine Independent Media Center
Maine Labor News
Maine Peoples Alliance
Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners Association
Maine Rural Workers Coalition
Maine Youth Campfire Collective
Native Forest Network
Pax Christi-Maine
Peace Action Maine
Peace through Interamerican Community Action
Program on Corporations, Law & Democracy
Resources for Organizing & Social Change (ROSC)
Sound Ecology
Veterans for Peace-Maine
Witness for Peace-Maine
Women's International League for Peace & Freedom

3.2 CURRENT PROJECT TEAM
2nd Maine Militia, Kezar Falls, ME - project planning
Big Medicine, Kennebunkport, ME - www.newchautauqua.net - project coordination
Lloyd & Ellen Wells, Falmouth, ME - www.consensualdemocracy.org - project planning
General Evolution Advocacy & Research, Sydney, AU, Social Change Online affiliate
www.socialchange.net.au - web development
Maine Global Action Network, Greene, ME - project planning

3.3 COLLABORATION 3.3.1 CURRENT TECHNICAL STAFF LIST (resumes available upon request) VIDEO
Patrick Bonsant, Portland Public Access
Hillary Lister, Maine Independent Media Center
Jennifer Lunden, Big Medicine
Josh MacDonald, Poverello Productions
Molly O'Neill, True Media
Laki Vazakis, Portland Media Artists

SOUND
Rob Fish, Maine Independent Media Center
Jesse Leah, Art House Coalition
Tavia Gilbert, SALT Institute
Alasdair Post-Quinn, Maine Independent Media Center

SCRIPTING, CASTING & ART DIRECTION
Paul Drinan, True Media
Gesse St. James, Art House Coalition
Briggs Seekins, Portland Public Access
Terry Allen, Big Medicine

EDITING / POST-PRODUCTION
Peter Frey, Portland Public Access
Chris Newcomb, Off Center Productions

3.3.2 PROJECTED TECHNICAL PARTNERS
Community Television Association of Maine (www.ctamaine.org) - Distribution: MOC News
Collegiate FM Stations - Distribution: The Big Medicine Show
Free Speech Radio (www.webactive.com/freespeech) - Distribution: The Big Medicine Show
Free Speech TV (www.freespeech.org) - Distribution: MOC News Hour
IMC, USA (www.indymedia.org) - Distribution: MOC News Hour
Maine Independent Media Center (www.maine.indymedia.org)
    - Creation: MOC News Hour; & Distribution: Countercoup Times news insert
New Way USA (www.newwayusa.org) - "Best Practice" Resource Center
Paper Tiger TV (www.papertiger.org) - Distribution: MOC News Hour
Portland Media Artists (www.portlandmediaartists.com) - Creation: MOC News Hour
Portland Public Access (www.ctn4maine.org) - Creation\Distribution: MOC News Hour
Portland Time Dollars (www.mtdn.org) - Community renewal resources
WMPG (Portland) & WERU (Bangor/Orland) - Distribution: The Big Medicine Show

3.3.3 Guides & Mentors
Alliance for Democracy - Somerville, MA www.allianceonline.org
Chaordic Commons, Inc. - San Rafael, CA, www.chaordic.org
Co-Intelligence Institute - Eugene, OR, www.co-intelligence.org
The Democracy Foundation - Washington, D.C., www.ni4d.org
Maine Businesses for Social Responsibility - Portland, ME, www.mebsc.org
Rolling Thunder Down-Home Democracy Tours - Austin, TX, www.jimhightower.org

3.4 ADVISORS AND CONSULTANTS [Partial Listing]

National Advisory Board
Ronnie Dugger - founder, Alliance for Democracy
Richard Grossman - co-founder, Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy
Doris "Granny D" Haddock - campaign finance reform activist
Hazel Henderson - post-corporate economic futurist
David C. Korten - author, "When Corporations Rule the World"
John Rensenbrink - co-founder, Green Party USA & Maine Green Independent Party

Maine Advisory Board
Carolyn Chute - founder, 2nd Maine Militia
Tammy Greaton - co-director, Maine Peoples Alliance
Robert A. G. Monks - corporate accountability activist
Rosalie Tyler Paul - chair, Peace Action Maine
Ellen Wells - affiliate, Good Life Center
Lloyd P. Wells -envisioner, Consensual Democracy

3.5 COUNTERCOUP LEAD-IN EVENTS
(Big Medicine abetted/co-sponsored)

UNITY NEW CHAUTAUQUA 9/21-23/01
LEWISTON SOLIDARITY DAY 10/27/01
KENNEBUNKPORT ANTI-CORPORATE WAR RALLY/TEACH-IN 11/17/01
COUNTERCOUP VIDEO WORKSHOP (Southern Maine Technical College) 2/17/02

COUNTERCOUP BRAINSTORM & PLANNING MEETINGS

1/8/02 8:00 PM Augusta, Augusta City Center
with members of Megan, IMC, ROSC, Alliance for Democracy, Portland Commons

1/10/02 6:30 PM Portland, CTN Public Access Studios
with members of Portland Public Access, Maine Independent Media Center, Sound Ecology, Center for Consensual Democracy, True Media

1/12/02 5:00 PM Portland, Peace & Justice Center
with members of the Art House Coalition, Megan, Portland Public Access, Peace Action Maine, 2nd Maine Militia, Kennebunk Students for Justice, Maine Green Independent Party

1/13/02 1:00 PM Bangor, Peace & Justice Center
with members of Megan, PICA, Bangor Central Labor Council

1/17/02 11:00 AM Portland, Peace & Justice Center
with members of 2nd Maine Militia, Portland Commons, Maine IMC, Maine Global Action Network, Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy, Center for Consensual Democracy

4 Costings

Note: All technical, management and performance labor will be compensated with the Maine Living Wage ($11.00/hr) that the campaign is promoting as a statewide standard.

4.1 Crew\Road Expenses

Videographers

40hrs x 12wks x $11.00

2 people

$10,560

Sound

40hrs x 12wks x $11.00

2  ”

$10,560

Light/art direction

40hrs x 12wks x $11.00

2  ”

$10,560

Advance work

40hrs x 8wks x $11.00

3  ”

$10,560

Performance, production assistance

30hrs x 10wks x $11.00

7  ”

$23,100

Travel\food\lodging expenses

$25/person/day

540 days

$ 13,500

Editing staff (See Post-production)

 

 

0

Total Projected Expenses

 

 

$78,840.00

 

4.2 Equipment

Cameras                               

Qnty

Cost/mo

Mo’s

Project Totals

Sony VX1000    

2

$500

8

$4,000

Sony VX2000                

1

$300

8

$2,400

Sony VX900     

1

$200

8

$1,600

SOUND

 

 

 

 

Sony TCD-D10   DAT     

1

$180

8

$1,440

Sony TCD-80 DAT Walkman

1

$130

8

$1,040

Altec 24” Shotgun Mikes

2

$40

8

$320

Technics Wireless Mikes

2

$60

8

$480

Peripherals

 

 

 

 

Steadicam Jr.   

1

$90

8

$720

Libec 50 Tripod  s

2

$80

8

$640

Cables

 

$30

8

$240

Light Kits

2

$200

8

$1,600

PROCESSING

 

 

 

 

Gateway\Canopus Editor\Processor

1

$375

8

$3,000

VIDEO PROJECTOR

 

 

 

 

Sanyo PLV-60

1

$980

4

$3,920

FIELD Vehicles

 

 

 

 

Biodiesal Video Bus

1

$2000

8

$16,000

Good Humor Truck

1

$1500

3

$4,500

INSURANCE

 

$385

8

$3,080

 

 

 

 

 

Total Projected TECH ExpenseS

 

 

 

$44,980.00

4.3 Consumables

Media - Production

Qnty

Price

Subtotals

Tape – Mini DV video

450

$10.95

$4,927.50

Tape – DAT audio

250

$11.00

$2750

Media - Distribution

 

 

 

Tape – VHS HG

980

$1.99

$ 1,950.20

FUEL

 

 

 

Biodiesal

(for bus & advance team)

700

$1.80/gal

$1,260

Gas\oil for ice cream truck

400

$1.30/gal

$520

FOOD

 

 

 

Chautauqua meals & ice creams

20 events

$350/event

$7,000

PROJECTED TOTAL

 

 

$18,407.70

 

4.4 Post-production

Studio Time (for movie)

$40/hr

220 hrs

$8,800

Studio Time (for video series)

$20/hr

180 hrs

$3,600

Editing Fee (for movie & video series)

$11/hr

400 hrs

$4,400

Dubbing (for MOC News Hour)

$1/tape

980 tapes

$980

Tape to Film Transfer (for movie)

 

 

$7,800

PROJECTED TOTAL

 

 

$25,580.00

 

4.5 Promotion and Cross-Media Expenses

Web based promotion (for movie & video)

 

$2,700

Fliers, brochures & posters

 

$3,200

Countercoup Times

 

$8,040

Mailing (promo materials)

 

$600

Mailing (for MOC News Hour)

$1.85 x 60 x 8mo

$888

PROJECTED TOTAL

 

$15,428.00

 

4.6 Administration

Office rent

$600/mo

9 months

$5400

Utilities

$80/mo

  ”

$720

Web\Telecom

$380/mo

  ”

$3,420

Office supplies

$200/mo

  ”

$1,800

Printing/copying

$300/mo

  ”

$2,700

Insurance

$78/mo

  ”

$702

Manager

40hr x 36wks x $11

 

$15,840

PR Coordinator

10hr x 36 wks x $11

 

$3,960

Controller

10hr x 36wks x $11

 

$3,960

Projected Total

 

 

$38,502.00

 

4.7 Total Projected Costs

Crew Expenses

$78,840.00

Equipment

$44,980.00

Consumables

$18,407.70

Post-production

$25,580.00

Promotion

$15,428.00

Administration

$38,502.00

Projected Total

$221,737.70

5 About Big Medicine

Address: PO Box 13, Kennebunkport, Maine 04046
Telecom: Tel (207) 967-2390 Fax: (207) 967-2808 Email: bigmed@nancho.net
Legal Status: Federally certified research & education 501(c)(3): 2/1/01
EIN: 01-0535998

Registered Purpose:

"This non-profit corporation is being formed to increase public awareness, knowledge and discussion of large scale organizations as continuously evolving living systems with uncertain implications for the planet or our common future. To that end, Big Medicine will endeavor to:
  1. promote, conduct and/or publicize research on the evolution, nature and eco-social impact of large scale organizations;
  2. develop, create and/or distribute educational materials in all media concerning large scale organizations and their ecological, societal and psychosomatic effects in the world;
  3. develop, create and present workshops, seminars, conferences and other educational events that consider large scale organizations as living systems and examine their singular and collective effects upon our lives;
  4. explore, promote, develop, and/or publicize new models and technologies for more decentralized, democratic and human-scale economic/social organization;
  5. promote, develop, and/or publicize promising societal paradigms and strategies to satisfy the needs currently served by large scale organizations without their attendant drawbacks and liabilities."
FIRST PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT:
"Wresting Away Corporations' Collective Might," Op-Ed Commentary, Maine Sunday Telegram 2/4/01 (see http://www.nancho.net/newchau/wresting.html)

5.1 Major Activities

March 7-21: "Are Corporations Really Alive? (Are They now the Dominant Species?)"
International Online Computer Conference hosted by Meta-Systems, Washington, DC
Role: Lead organizer (see http://www.nancho.net/bigmed2001/bbonline.html)
Contributors/participants: Tom Atlee, Ernest Callenbach, Noam Chomsky, David Korten, Ralph Nader, Howard Rheingold, Meg Wheatley, David Sloan Wilson, et al. (see http://www.nancho.net/bigmed2001/bbintros.html)
Attendance: 1,200 plus

March 21: Establishment of Big Medicine Mailing List
Active egroup on Big matters. See http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Big-Medicine/
Role: Co-organizer (moderated by Christopher Case)

September 21-23: Unity New Chautauqua
3-day hoedown and strategy summit for Maine activists cosponsored by 26 statewide grassroots groups & Jim Hightower's Down Home Rolling Thunder Democracy Tour
Role: Lead organizer (see http://www.newchautauqua.net)
Contributors/participants: Carolyn Chute, Ronnie Dugger, Richard Grossman, Doris "Granny D" Haddock, Jim Hightower, David Korten, Reverend Billy
Attendance: 430 plus

October 27: Lewiston Solidarity Day
Inter-group networking & strategy conference for central Maine activists
Role: Assistant organizer for ROSC & MEGAN (see http://nancho.net/lsd/lsd.html)
Contributors/participants: Carolyn Chute, Tammy Greaton, John McClendon, Ethan Miller, Lucy Poulin, Charles Scontras, Jose Soto et al.
Attendance: 190 plus

November 17: Kennebunkport Anti-Corporate War Rally\Teach-In
Day-long event on focusing on corporate, military and civil liberty issues, designed to link anti-war, anti-racism and anti-corporate globalization groups
Role: Local sponsor (see http://nancho.net/newchau/17th.html)
Contributors/participants: Rev. Ken Carstens, Carolyn Chute, Mary Donnelly, Lilian Guerra, Wendy Hazard, Peter Kellman, W. David Kubiak, Chris Marshall, Ethan Miller, Dr. Meryl Nass, Mike Prokosch, Matt Schlobohm, Michael Uhl, Arthur Whitman, et al.
Attendance: 350 plus

January 1: Launch of "The New Chautauqua Countercoup Times"
A 4-page regular insert in the Maine Independent Media Center's "Maine Commons" statewide newspaper
Role: Publisher\Editor
Circulation: 10,000

January 8-17: Countercoup Brainstorm\Planning Meetings
5 local inter-group meetings among allies around the state
Role: Organizer\convener (See Countercoup Lead-in Events, page 9 of this document)

February 17: Countercoup Video Activism Workshop
An 8-hour hands-on tech & artistic seminar for Countercoup video staff
Role: Lead organizer
Collaboration: Southern Maine Technical College, Maine Independent Media Center, Portland Public Access Center, Portland Media Artists
Instructor: Kate Sibole, SMTC's "Video on Location" prof
Attendance: 10

5.2 Finances

Major donors to date:
Rande Brown, Eastman Foundation, Foundation for Deep Ecology, Lloyd Wells, Virginia Lincoln-Morita

Total income in 2001: $ 24,858
Gifts & donations: $14,160, Interest-free loans: $7,000, Event income: $3,698.

Total expenses in 2001: $ 25,870
Event\field organizing expenses: $14,230, Office\overhead: $11,640

6 Proposed Schedule

2nd Quarter 2002
  • Create preliminary public web site for movie\campaign promotion
  • Produce video script and begin filming
  • Schedule and send out advance teams for mini-chautauqua tour
  • Produce Countercoup Times insert for Maine Commons
  • Implement WAMPUM accounting framework
  • Organize online donations gateway
3rd Quarter 2002
  • Full launch of campaign\mini-chautauqua tour
  • Introduce sample Town Meeting resolutions to reject corporate personhood and\or corporate rule
  • Continue primary film production
  • Release first installments of MOC News Hour
  • Continue publication of Countercoup Times
  • Prepare legal attack on corporate rule (statewide referendum to reject corporate personhood and\or legislative rewrite of Maine's Corporate Code)
4th Quarter 2002
  • Complete and release "Countercoup Maine - The Movie"
  • Continue community organizing\networking
  • Continue legal countermeasures against corporate rule
  • Establish autonomous MOC News Hour
  • Continue publication of Countercoup Times
  • Begin 2003 prep for New Hampshire 2004 Primary

7 REFERENCES

IMPORTANT STYLISTIC REFERENCES:

MOVIES \ VIDEOS

A Perfect Candidate ('96)
(RJ Cutler's realpolitick documentary on the Oliver North\Chuck Robb Virginia senate campaign shootout)

Bob Roberts ('92)
(Tim Robbin's dark comedy about a fascistic senatorial candidate's slick populist campaign)

Looking for Richard ('96)
(Al Pacino's brilliant docudrama on the staging of a play),

Man with a Plan ('96)
(John O'Brien's romping Vermont election parody on geriatric Yankee crusade),

Medium Cool ('69)
(Haskell Wexler's racing street action docudrama filmed entirely within the Days of Rage during Chicago's 1968 Democratic Convention)

Power ('86) & Network ('76)
(Sydney Lumet's deft manuals on political media and myth-making),

The Candidate ('72)
(Robert Redford's arch tale of political idealism wrung through the electoral wringer)

The War Room ('93)
(DA Pennebaker's behind-the-scenes documentary on Clinton's '92 campaign),

Zellig ('83)
(Woody Allen's re-invention of history with media magic)

IMPORTANT CONTENT REFERENCES:

VIDEOS

Life and Debt ('01) www.lifeanddebt.org
(Step-by-step illustration of how the IMF cripples 3rd World economies for multinational exploitation)

Signal to Noise ('96) www.pbs.org
(PBS series on the birth and corporate takeover of television)

The Powers of Ten ('77) www.powersof10.com
(Eame's legendary macro/micro reminder that in a world of infinite improbability anything is possible)

Trade Secrets ('01), Trading Democracy ('02), Earth on Edge ('02) www.pbs.org
(Explosive PBS series of Bill Moyer's Reports on corporate threats to our health, earth and democracy)