We got to this point with all of your generous support -- We are now in the home stretch of finishing PAY 2 PLAY and getting out this important film during this crucial election year! Since you backed our successful campaign two years ago, we got so far with what we raised.  The light panel and lavalier mike alone made half this movie!

We're now looking to find the funds to complete the film, and turning again to Kickstarter.  We already have amassed momentum from the media coverage of our May Day action, where we unveiled our PAY 2 PLAY game board taking over an intersection of Downtown L.A.  This photo of our P2P Board is the number one photo in Yahoo's World Events.

Our last campaign offered work by the street artist Alec Monopoly.  While Alec Monopoly has since become an international art star, featured in this month's Playboy magazine, we have more incredible street art to share from other artists in this documentary, including Free Humanity, Teacher, and Burn One. 

Please check out our new campaign at http://kck.st/KrkAhD and share it with friends.  We have an incredible story to tell and can't wait to get it out!

Thanks again for all you do!

John Wellington Ennis, PAY 2 PLAY

Greetings!   

Thanks again for all you do! 

Happy New Year!

As our film progresses, here is a look at one of PAY 2 PLAY's portraits in motion: Street artist Alec Monopoly decorates Los Angeles while the city sleeps, and applies his talents to target Big Oil and Big Media.

This new short doc, "Alec Monopoly: The Spray Paint Zorro" was just featured on the home page of The Huffington Post, which brings enormous exposure to our film. We captured this and other exciting stories with your support, and we remain deeply grateful. We'll keep updating you to with advance looks at the characters and themes of PAY 2 PLAY, and continue covering issues of campaign reform at our blog, www.pay2play.tv.

It's going to be a good year!

John Wellington Ennis
Director, PAY 2 PLAY

Greetings from New York City!

Since covering the campaigns in Ohio and working Video the Vote on Election Day, I have been in NYC following one of the characters of PAY 2 PLAY, the street artist Alec Monopoly, as he has been preparing for his major solo debut art show in Chelsea.

While such an impressive exhibit by a young artist would traditionally warrant an appearance by the creator himself, circumstances inhibit in-person accolades: The NYPD are looking for him.

In the past weeks leading up to this exhibition, uniformed and plain-clothed police officers have been stopping by the studio and gallery, asking neighbors about Alec, and were observed staking out his intersection on more than one occasion. Alec has credible reason to believe his cell was tapped, and has relied on pre-paid booster phones.

That he is under surveillance may be a surprise to those unfamiliar with how the NYPD has treated artists since Giuliani bolstered “quality of life” crime enforcement in the ’90s, largely kept in place by Mayor Bloomberg. Painters selling their work on the street as well as graffiti artists have been thrown in jail, with their artwork confiscated and destroyed.

Alec’s street art has gotten him notice all over the world, and so it is not surprising that the New York City graffiti task force notices. In the last few weeks, next to the small crevices of the city’s surfaces where tags thrive unabated, big bright posters of Jack Nicholson or DJ Monopoly Man sprung up. Alec’s prominent signature also helps make his name subconsciously ubiquitous. So if the cops really are setting out every day to crack down on those that decorate the city (as opposed to those that vandalize private property) then Alec’s advertised art show makes for easy police work.

While getting arrested has helped many an artist become a folk hero, Alec demurs and prefers to let his work represent him. Completing your first major exhibit is a struggle in itself – that struggle is only compounded when you can’t get in to your own studio because the cops are parked outside waiting for you in one of those unmarked cars that look like taxi cabs, but have sirens.

In the tight hours finishing the pieces for his show, I was able to film this exclusive interview with Alec. In this short doc, he discusses refining his medium from the streets to indoors, his philosophy on street art, and life on the lam.

We are still distributing rewards to our backers, so please get back to us to get your stuff. We have new stickers from Alec Monopoly for you!

Thanks again for your support!

Greetings from Ohio! With the 2010 elections about to boil over, I am lucky to be here to keep up with so much that is going on. I have all of you to thank for that!

That's why I wanted to share this new video with you that I just produced about Karl Rove being served with a subpoena. You will not have seen this anywhere in the mainstream press, even though it happened a week ago. This is why independent media is so crucial, and why your support goes so much further: because it reaches more and more people constantly.

Karl Rove was served with a subpoena Sunday, Oct. 24th, 2010, as he arrived at CBS studios to appear on “Face the Nation.” The subpoena was to compel Rove to provide a deposition in a lawsuit that stems from the 2004 election in Ohio. Despite the fact that news crews from CBS and CNN taped Rove being served, neither have reported it or aired the footage.

In this video, I sat down with the attorneys who issued the subpoena, Clifford Arnebeck and Bob Fitrakis, who explained how their suit reached this point and what Mr. Rove’s legal obligations are, considering his aversion to appearing under oath.

At the PAY 2 PLAY Blog, we have a copy of the process server's sworn affidavit about his contact with Rove, as well as a radio broadcast with the attorneys discussing the case at greater length. I also sit in on the radio show, "Fight Back with Bob Fitrakis and Connie Gadell-Newton," and discuss our film PAY 2 PLAY: http://pay2play.tv/2010/10/31/karl-rove-you-got-served/

Thanks for lending your voice to get this heard! I hope you are able to make it to the voting booth to make your voice heard even louder!

In gratitude,

John Wellington Ennis
Director, PAY 2 PLAY