Wednesday 26 April 2023

Kickstarter, the 'OFFICIAL' record

 Now...

As we live in the country which i am quite sure is world champion for false allegations - ask my local church warden lay other of for, for one... about the false allegations made against her ...


You do not beat lying "hoodwinker" [copyright me - he knows i wrote that in the Times... they bugged my email of course they would]  Jack Straw in a public fight - December 2008 naming my law in parliament saying he would de facto "reverse" it, then a mere 3 months later squirm on ITV This morning saying he HAD "CHANGED HIS MIND..", unless you are paperwork-lethal...(as he knew from all those taps) i am.....


we better make sure we have a perfect little record of everything written on 


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/giveittotheman/our-freedom-to-speak-feature-film-based-on-true-life-events




















BLAHH BLAHHH BLAHH.....

copy and paste


As online sun 23 April 2023 at whatever oclock (i have records)

Story

UPDATE 20 April

added a small bit of waffle at  https://www.simonclayton2020.com/2023/04/interlude.html 

plus picture there of yes 'Bill of Rights' in the media - they matter - ask a Saudi dissident perhaps....  and interestingly over the years of many many intelligent chats on general geopolitics and even small scale community  initiatives most people, even dodgy cynics i know well,  DO say "yes..manifesto...good idea" (i.e. people just cannot ever be trusted to say what they mean, and mean what they say - paper a good idea !)

but cannot as yet get collaborators - so so so much 'people pleasing'.... 

funds needed to PAY for collaborators - knowing where the goalposts are thats all that matters in life.

Risks and challenges

Of course any creative project has risks. In my promo vid here as i say (having known many creatives, not so...reliable... ) the IP will be guarded, and held by others also, as a nugget of gold. I drop dead I WANT this to be transferable to some other with maximum efficiency. And there will be no financial shenanigans. I am so open i will be publishing on my main site my full medical records so future investors can see my health is perfect for my age, and i have never had any issues which may cause me to be unreliable.

Learn about accountability on Kickstarter

 

 

Pledge £10 or more

Pledge £10 or more, Appear in credits

Your name will APPEAR IN THE CREDITS under the special thanks section of the film AND on the website if you so wish, assuming the Kickstarter succeeds.
please do email in - your name as you wish us to list it - the admin will take some time to organise and having things as clearly put in to us as possible will help.

ESTIMATED DELIVERYJun 2023

1 backer

Pledge £50 or more

collective member - digital.

Access to a private Facebook or private blogger.com page, (possibly a Substack Free comments group) where you will join a maximum of 100 other members discussing methods, contacts, ideas on how to get this to the biggest screen possible.

ESTIMATED DELIVERYMay 2023

0 backers

Pledge £1,000 or more

KEEPER of the story

To me this is a truly key role.
This film is about the right of a (high Court Gagged) man, or any parent, and others also dealing with the legal system to 'tell their story'.
The full story of 2002-about 2005 has never really been collected together for fullest posterity. Apart from a personal story it is a superb story of in fact HOW to fight for righjts and truth. Including many technical tricks and methods.
My health is superb for my age, however at this age anything could happen, just like that.
I have friends who tacitly suppor me, however no one has the time free or in fact motivation to be part of 'owning' the whole thing.
Thus I wish three people ideally eac to have a copy of much of the supporting paperwork and also all the real story.
They will be my primary full 'witnesses' and hopefully will also be even part of the team writing the thing up in a professional manner. I will pledge to them that in person a few days is spent with them in a group going through the whole thing

ESTIMATED DELIVERYSep 2023

REWARD LOCATIONWest Midlands, UK

Pledge £5,000 or more

Associate Producer

You will join my small team as our equal in all future negotiations and deliberations on the project.

ESTIMATED DELIVERYSep 2023

0 backers

Limited (1 left of 1)

 

https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/040/365/972/85c8fd34b77ae4e0fd431e5cec46d5d1_original.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.0.2&w=680&fit=max&v=1679724817&gif-q=50&q=92&s=26eb2512306e02f8680f4fd04b8c628b2006 She spoke too - the first ever child allowed to be photographed even, from a UK court case

She went on UK national radio 1 the day of this photo in London to speak about her 'Esti's Bill of Rights'  peace plan.

Thank you, etc., update 29 March  https://www.simonclayton2020.com/2023/03/begging-bowl-update.html 

and still working on one more simple page of promotion / explanation here  https://www.simonclayton2020.com/ 

A major feature film Listen in 2020 showed the horrors of court systems - a true to life, superbly acted, but only depressing film,  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6627168/ 

 This, however, is the only happy and  life affirming story of how the culture was changed so that that film could indeed be made. And how to take on any oppressive legal or administrative systems. Any 'cause'; Anywhere....

Any possible allies or supporters, i don't really use social media so if you can post or tweet that's super helpful. My communications summed up here  https://www.simonclayton2020.com/2023/03/communication-breakdown.html

or i have even written a text for spreading via mobile to copy / paste. 

 https://www.simonclayton2020.com/2023/03/text-outbound.html 

I have no network of my own   

Initial concept / pre production. Please see last few paras here for producer's  ('founder'  / driving force) credentials. Though it is a team of equals i wish to create, initially.  And would love to adopt some newbies even, so they may learn on the job how to hustle something real, to the big screen. The purpose of the end product and perhaps even the journey there, too, is to inform and educate the next generation (20-40 somethings) on how indeed to get all the way against impossible odds,  from nowhere. 



There are many variants on this quote i like:

"I would rather shoot for the moon and miss than aim for the gutter and make it"

"shoot for the moon and if you miss you will still be among the stars"

TRUST:     Do please note that although almost 'hidden' in the legal grand finale which appears to be  more on transparency in justice by default, when it was so often prior me always forever secret, (details on website), written deals between parents, was a key development created. Thus having been key in developing legal trust agreements in British splitting families, i think you may be able to feel assured that  I keep to the deal... 

Expenses and know how required for operating costs, some initial filming, and to set up simple legal structures and then attract investment. Maybe even lure some 'names' on side. 

The story, or just a glimpse, as MUCH more is being written up at 

 https://www.simonclayton2020.com/ 



Including pledges on use of email addresses, showing all donors, and use of Kickstarter  -  more important for now as I have no experience of crowdfunding or this site, and until  apprx 1 April  this will all seem a shambles , but i add in  general thoughts on this campaign finance etc',  here.



 https://www.simonclayton2020.com/2023/03/kickstarter-launch-please-ponder.html 



and here

 https://www.simonclayton2020.com/2023/03/credits-money-any-help.html 

I have in the past various well off contacts (who never even answer emails, so are of no use yet) , who may put in a decent wedge if they see popular support of the project here. So every tenner pledge really does count for something!



Please note, it is in the notes on main website https://www.simonclayton2020.com but the major cultural legal change certainly caused more WOMEN to have proper justice than men....it  prevented  instances of the cruellest kind of unlawful child removal, arguably affecting mothers (in 'care' cases) more than fathers, via more open justiceand the THREAT: THEY COULD TELL THEIR STORIES, too,  if that happened.



please take in that this film is not a dull child custody dispute - that was won and dealt with long before the real issue that applies in many walks of modern life a truly punitive gagging (HIGH COURT) injunction fought by me when hundreds of campaigners and journalists accepted that status quo. That was the legal culture - that was the norm.  It affected millions in theory. I alone reformed that most deliberately. When everyone said i was nuts to even think of doing so.



From

 https://www.simonclayton2020.com/p/media-on-cases.html 

You do not get a WHOLE PAGE, in the British Telegraph newspaper - the paper of the establishment and moneied, unless its rather a big deal - though they got it wrong or painted it for a melodramatic narrative, it was never about "men"  - this was only after fighting the secrecy rules, which affected far more women than men.

 

https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/040/366/071/ae9506a5430f60dff75bd67de5bd6a7b_original.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.0.2&w=680&fit=max&v=1679726115&gif-q=50&q=92&s=311a22b7a2766a99ade06c943d182f61Telegraph newspaper July 2006





ANY urgent help now  - expenses cash, running about here and there, temporary base to work from, please call to discuss 07958 five two six 381 from 0600 uk time 7 days

on the main website you can also see a few more 'pitch' videos:

Story basics

It is 2003 in the hottest summer ever  in Portugal, and a man languishes after a brutal arrest at gunpoint, and then incarceration in a small regional gaol house, in such harsh conditions men are in fact seriously ill from heat exhaustion in the stifling cramped conditions.

Within only a few years, with no previous knowledge of the law, no money, and no contacts,  he has caused a "revolution"* within British legal system,  and to some extent even media circles. He had single handedly, against massive opposition, and with no help,  pushed forward a test case at the highest level on Freedom Of Speech matters, that  all experts and campaigners had for years said were impossible to have democratically modernised.  (full  media coverage/proof of course is available in the archive).

But this is no dour merely legal drama. This "revolutionary"* (to quote senior legal spokeswoman on national tv 2 years later) change, came about through blood, sweat, tears,  fear, the greatest joy, incredible fellowship discovered among the Portuguese gaolmates, and a lot of love  - in unexpected places.  And sadly two deaths of people most beloved. One of those deaths  - his closest friend in the Odyssey, was an important part in the victory - his death the week before the grand finale court hearing added extra impetus and life force. Indeed that scene  is poignancy personified.  There is much real purest emotion. Emotion of course sells.



And in the Odyssey that began in 2003, magnificent universal lessons of the human soul and condition, were observed from a vantage point that few will ever get.  It was almost a privilege to be there. It is time to share with the world many surprises behind those headlines.

Long overdue as a film - full biggish budget if possible. A book deal was offered to me in 2006 immediately after the national media coverage, but declined at the time as always this was a film.  And i was busy giving the child at the centre her fullest simple life once again in the hills with our small zoo and her friends.  It has movement,  energy, much emotion - including great  mirth at times. But also the ultimate 'feelgood' - only a win. That even then likely helped thousands of others, probably 100s of thousands (UK court forms were eventually adapted to incorporate aspects of this case). 

Part Shawshank, part Full Monty, part Captain Fantastic (my kind of humour),  however also buried within several small subplots including one that is about the most bittersweet little love story, almost, ever. (and she  - a Portuguese woman who i loved, as did my kid - or seemed to, goddam gone and died before we had the chance to get together properly and likely marry when both our lives had settled back down, as per our pledge to each other.... in the gaolhouse)

And I - the 'subject', Simon Clayton. do not actually care what the  end product makes me seem like as a person -  weird, not someone you would wish to share a coffee with never mind a cell with,  unpleasant, though it cannot describe me as 'mad' as one is really rather checked out going through the courts, and they didn't ever find me so :-) .

What i do care about is that this is only about one thing, somehow we show all that mattered: spirit; and facing rather impossible odds, and  how ANY citizen in any country or sector of society, may  just be able to manage to crawl out of their personal unique abyss after some grave development in life, and fight.  And just maybe even end up winning. A how to fight ANY 'cause' and not lose ones soul, in so doing.

It may be some employment tribunal, a medical matter that needs battling to achieve a fair and just entitlement or conclusion.  It may be any of the many ways people attack using financial or other 'civil' weaponry via courts or business, even. It  may be, yes, in divorce, or other maters of so often petty criminal interpersonal law (i have had friends who are policemen that say just that). 

Simply put: for whatever reason you are at the very bottom of the abyss,  and someone is pouring in cold icy water from above to add to your hell. That so often is the nature of society.  But bit by bit, day by day - and it is always a lonely and extreme place in your mind, that mind searches for just some way to have a go and change this....whatever it is. Sometimes against all the odds it just may work... and I had absolutely NO idea what on earth I was doing from the first call to a newspaper in 2003....but i did it, ALL the way. 

Showing that journey - the real version, WITH laughs and emotion, to the next generation is my quest.  Future generations will have their battles for  whatever 'the man' throws at them.  And something that keeps their spirits up for such fights is my only objective.

But i know enough about the real human soul (and film and books) to know that pious preaching and earnest do not work. They don't stay in the subconscious for the day maybe the information is necessary to help one survive. Emotion, and especially laughs, matter more - a heartfelt dramatization, is what always works. What resonates for years.  I have long had that vision in my head - in fact almost every moment of the thing i can recall precisely, as i knew from early on it is the perfect story for just such filmic treatment. And i know my movies...

I awake every day at 6am - 7 days a week, and work on whatever i am up to. I can subsist on nearly nothing. I have done so for 20 years. I can run a full office from a campsite  and small tent .... in the rain. I can work anywhere in any conditions. I want to do this now.

I would like to be able to afford to work full time on this all the rest of this year, now, only on attempting to get proper collaboration and finance in place  - ideally with partners, or simply helpers and collaborators. I am not afraid of attempting to bully the biggest of the corporates to doing something with me - us, on this.

I wish to as soon as possible work with writers, find experienced screenwriters, and put together a  professional storyboard /pitch so as to attract some serious big hitting partner - likely of course we end up junior in the project. But my people will stay on board in some way, all the way. I will always insist on that. (i get so so so bored repeating myself on the story and 'principles' within, so it is in my interest i have a few sidekicks who i can trust to stand in for me ). The core story is quite simple in fact and can live in the smartphones of a few people - the key scenes i will dictate (quite a few i have already on the sister website to this -  they are in links to a filestore where the audios live - all are open to anyone to download- i don't do secrecy)

I particularly would like to  make an URGENT cheap recce trip to Mid Portugal as early as this May. (because it is the 20th anniversary....and i believe we are all just following in Homer's footsteps and pattern of how we work..as does Nobel Laureate Mr Zimmerman - he said so in his acceptance speech)

Take a friend with a camera so as to get rough footage of some of the places.  So writing will be easier from at least some film... (evocate, maybe inside gaols)

Also (not essential but would be interesting) track down and interview some of the other characters in the story from the Portugal phase.

Maybe even try find some local film people to try and partner with.

I would expect that around 25% to 33% of the film will be located (or seemingly so) in Portugal. (not the tourist regions). In fact it almost has to be.

One reason why this is key is that to my own surprise the truest heart warming aspect to the whole story is half a dozen simply extraordinary beautiful souls encountered there - one before I was collared, the 'love interest',   then half a dozen in the gaol.

They changed my life. I cannot ever forget them. And i still cannot forget that I promised I would go back and see them all quite soon after i was moved back to Britain, but so much completely unnecessary (all papers PROVE it was all nonsense) legal work i had to plough through, i never had the time or money. One day maybe,  there are a few of them i would still love to make that promise good to.

I HOPE that i can find Portuguese collaboration (even finance)  - this is about the most wonderful true PR job for Portugal ever. And it is 100% real. I cannot be bought. In fact in this pitch I am underplaying how well Portugal will be portrayed.

They use the word coração often, and less so but still sometimes, saudade. Both words are deeply soulful words -  even almost of loving universally human resistance. You had to be where i was, to learn what those words really mean.  To live them....

This is a very important aspect of the film. And i know I will be able to find Portuguese people who will assist me fully in the project. Because they value  coração  almost above all else.  And because in many years regularly travelling all around Europe I discovered them to be the one people left who really would go out of their way to help the traveller or foreigner in trouble abroad....  this aspect of these people, defined that whole year for me.  In fact saved my whole life. Without their initial spirited influence I would not have even begun to fight. And i would never have seen my one daughter again. And would have been dead of sorrow within months... certainly within a few years.

The best line of all, well, of dozens:

Three or four weeks on from being arrested, Evora slammer....

The gorgeous Louis.

(listen audios of his story I think they are in the audio files towards bottom of this page - or a post nearby - all links and pages gradually being made more usable

https://www.simonclayton2020.com/2023/02/kickstarter-assistance-sought.html  )

"Louis..... it's all I ever hear on the radio......"

"Yes Simon it's number one in the charts..."

"But...it's so beautiful....

 João Pedro Pais - Um resto de tudo 



"you dastardly crims in here,  and you all speaking English better than the English, I am not advancing very well with my Portuguese....  I get a sense, but please help....what's it...about!?"

" ...it is almost impossible to explain to you in words..... but almost every man in here knows exactly what it means in his ...heart..."

******



FUNDING SPECIFICS:

£3,000 living expenses for me for the next  4 or 5  months 

£2,000 expenses for a very low budget recce trip to the scenes in Portugal (set off late April 2023) - two need to go, 4 or 5 locations need to be visited.

£2,000 to pay others to assist in presentation matters such as  website and maybe even deposit to professional screenwriter or the like

NOTES and references

* Sophia Cannon on ITV This Morning  - see website https://www.simonclayton2020.com/p/media-on-cases.html

credentials.

You will find on this webpage possibly the most transparent ever write up of plans, costings, and regular accounts.

I will account for every penny, and do not believe in clever dick secrets and coyness. Every penny in and out will be listed in full in a monthly account published online.

In the 00s from 2003  - starting in the gaol house, I turned myself into about the most successful PR operator of them all. It was a full time job gathering the support of media and other outside entities such as Parliamentarians etc.. I know how PR works - the real version. And under EXTREMELY tough circs, too

And then with absolutely no previous experience of any legal matter (not even a traffic ticket for many years prior this 2003 event), if one can turn oneself into a machine of legal attack, from inside a gaol;  and then from a cottage high in the Welsh Hills, with no money, busy as a single parent,  taking on the whole legal establishment as Litigant in Person, including ALL the work to get to the Highest level of the appeal Court, the film industry will be a walk in the park.

I am not of course being flippant - i am deadly serious, as would you be even pondering sticking in a tenner.  Two years coordinating alone a massive legal counter attack on the whole system, requires a huge amount of paperwork, in quadruplet..and considerable skill and administrative and business sense.... one is  dealing endlessly with hoards of bureaucrats and officials.  And I have the last few years of course done much reading and considering how this goes forward - within the industry.  I have researched how to make film - the business end, fully.   I actually know several very famous people from the industry from random encounters prior to 2003 in another life (and have known many senior journalists and writers  - post 2003 fame or infamy however you may view it all). But they are all a bit too old to use now. Or not hungry enough. This will be ours.

All the fancy titles within serious film, certainly all have their role, but a truly great story -  passion to see it up there on the screen bringing tears to the odd eye,  is about spirit and commitment to that cause above all else.  As well as most importantly of all informing the younger generation yes sometimes you have to aim for the impossible, for a wider greater good, and thus this is a timeless worthy project. I am not a cynic. And these are not sales or begging-bowl hyped up words. These are me. What i have lived for 20 years. Even still, now.

I have a few close enough to me  I trust and know have general business capabilities who are friends who may well put time in at the initial stage. We  - it will always be 'we', have to get this all into the hands of a few experienced professionals who will take the thing as far as possible as quickly as possible. And find the biggest possible partners. No, who won't Disneyfy it... it couldn't be - too much is there in public.   Nor will they shaft me...or anyone else around me. I have my ways of ensuring that.

I have been speaking to various well known production companies the last year or so, and have been given the heads up but haven't found anyone with space in their schedules

Hence i need help. From you. Your money to help me tick over and your advice and maybe even contacts too.



Of course if by some miracle this was oversubscribed and £20,000 or 30 thou even, or even more, came in, then i can actually hire professionals to get working on scripts etc., and then by the autumn launch a professional full campaign here and elsewhere. 

I make one pledge maybe above all.  I have always believed in manners,  But in fact there is a little scene in this film between a simply astonishing man - who taught me real 'honour' in that gaol, and  which will make this point in a scene i cannot ever forget.  All manner of people may wish to try and contact -  ask questions or even make offers. (i asked this man a favour once and his response later on is a lesson i wish i had known before i assumed he would not care).  

Every single person has the right to good admin - all emails will be answered - within a week latest, let's say.  All phone calls, all messages.  And trolls or scammers are welcome to try...i have a good nose, and no one ever gets to me...ever. No one has me even raising my voice ...But I simply feel this modern mode of read an email and either say nothing back, lose it, forget, or deliberately ignore...is rude. Everything always gets answered. Will always be answered. 

giveittothemanproductions@geegeemail [one 'g' obviously].com

07958 52 six three 81 

And i am a machine of pure work, only. Keep an email account clear of other tangential activity  in this age of inboxes being swamped- what comes in may matter, and i have lived as a monk in a cell, and know how to be so focused its daft.