If things have seemed quiet around here since our last update following our December filming dates, that’s because the work that’s been happening on Murdered on the Fourth of July since then (following a little holiday break) has been less visible but very important, including:
- Ingesting, syncing, and transcribing filmed interviews
- Creating a “paper edit” to inform the visual editing
- Conducting additional pre-interviews and subject outreach
- Conducting additional research, including for archival footage
- Applying for additional funding, including several grants and co-production opportunities
- Boring-but-essential administrative work like preparing the annual report for our fiscal sponsor
In the midst of all that, we did manage to film a new interview a few weeks ago with Dr. Pete Simi, an academic expert on white supremacist groups whose doctoral work was done at UNLV and whose field work includes time embedded with such groups. And we are working on logistics and scheduling for filming another set of interviews in Las Vegas, using the remaining funds from our initial crowdfunding campaign.
“When it comes to white supremacy and the white supremacist movement, violence is very much at the core of that ideology,” says Dr. Pete Simi, a professor of sociology at Chapman University.
But to keep this film moving forward (while we wait on decisions from the film funds to which we’ve applied), we are still looking for individual donors, investors or contributors to help bring the story of what happened to Lin “Spit” Newborn and Daniel Shersty fully to life. If you would like to learn more about exactly what we need additional funding for, or how people can donate not just financially but with services or other in-kind offerings, please visit our Donate page.
Thank you for your continued support as we endeavor to bring this impactful story to a wider audience.