1-Year Anniversary of Vice-Precedence Blog

Hey Vice-Precedence Blog Readers!

Last night Jason informed me that its the one-year anniversary of the start of the blog for Vice-Precedence. I knew it must be around the time we had started it since I had been laid off on June 4 2009, and we started it a week later. So what have we done this year?

Well, in looking over our posts I'd have to say, we have done a hell of a job informing the public about the Vice-Presidency, whats going on with Dick Cheney and our current VP Joe Biden, and the men who have held this office in our nations history. Not to mention the fact that we were one of the first websites to break the stories of Sarah Palins resignation and the Gores divorce.

I hope that this doesn't come off as arrogant, but I am truly proud of the writing both Jason and myself have done here on the blog. People tell me that when they read it they always learn something and are entertained by it. I just wish more people would read it and that that stupid Japanese psuedo-porn site would stop trying to post their messages as responses to our posts. It drives me crazy.


At the same time, while I am proud of the blog and am truly grateful to you readers when you tell me how much you liked it, I can't help but feel frustrated about some things. Not here on the blog, but with Vice-Precedence as a production altogether. Something I haven't talked about here on the blog is that we wanted to shoot at the Vice-Presidential Museum in Indiana run by the Dan Quayle Foundation. I joined the Museum simply because I wanted to be a member. I had visited the website and admired what the museum did to preserve the memory and history of the Vice-Presidents and to educate children. After I joined I contacted the Museum director and talked with him about shooting at the museum. We discussed the film and our goals with Vice-Precedence. He had watched our trailer and other videos and understood what we were doing and found them entertaining and historically accurate. He told me to make a formal request to the Museums board of directors and he felt sure we would get permission to shoot at the museum. So I wrote a formal letter:

To President Darlene Stanley, The Quayle Commemorative Foundation, and
Whom It May Concern at the United States Vice Presidential Museum:

My name is Matt Saxe and I am a Sustaining Member of the Museum and a
professional filmmaker. Currently my company, Banded Artists
Productions, is working on a film entitled "Vice-Precedence," a comedic
documentary on the history of the Vice-Presidents who never served as
President, and the unique history of the office. We would very much
like to shoot in and use the resources of the Museum for our film.
After speaking with Director Johns, he told me that we needed to write
you for permission and explain what we want to do. That is the purpose
of this letter.

Our goal with this film is to both educate and entertain people with
the amazing history of the vice-presidency and tell the sometimes
funny, sometimes tragic, and sometimes bizarre stories of the forgotten
men who have held our nation's second highest office. We want to be
both completely historically accurate, and at the same time, give the
audience an incredibly entertaining experience. Studies have shown that
people retain information better when it is presented to them in a
comedic and entertaining way. We have accomplished this goal with other
films and we know we can accomplish it with this one.

Specifically in the museum, we are interested in highlighting unique
artifacts and displays that are there and on the Vice-Presidents from
Indiana. The museum shows that there are people in this country that
truly respect the office of the vice-presidency and believe it is
important that Americans learn about the office. We hope that by
filming at the museum and featuring it in our film, we can attract more
people to visit the museum and learn of all the great work it is doing.
While our film will emphasize the humorous stories and quotes about the
Vice-Presidency, we do not intend to mock the office or people who are
interested in it in any way. As I have said to Director Johns, we do
not want to have people laugh at the Museum or the people who work
there, we want them to laugh with us and be interested in the Museum
and the history of the office of the Vice-Presidency.

We are happy to schedule our shoot at the Museum to fit whatever is
best for the museum. The shoot would probably be 2 to 4 days at the
most. Our film does not have a large crew, probably 3 to 4 people or
so. So there would not be a big crew in the museum. We're also
interested in doing on-camera interviews with Director Johns and other
experts who work at the museum for possible inclusion in the film.
Perhaps even interviewing guests of the Museum as well.

We have already interviewed Professor Steven Tally of Purdue
University, the author of "Bland Ambition," and the legendary Gore
Vidal for our film. Mr. Vidal said we were "better interviewers than
Ken Burns". We interviewed Mr. Vidal in his home and it went perfectly,
so I can assure you, President Stanley and the Museum that we would
show the same respect towards the Museum. As a member of the Museum I
promise you the highest level of professionalism in regards to our film
and our crew. We believe shooting in the museum is one of the keys to
making this a truly great documentary. This is the first ever
documentary made about the Vice-Presidency, and we very much want the
museum to be a part of it.

Thank you and Best to you,

Matt Saxe
Sustaining Member United States Vice-Presidential Museum
Member-Minnesota Historical Society
Screen Actors Guild.

So we sent the letter in mid October of 2009, and waited. And waited. Months went by. I was assured by the director that our letter had been received and had been discussed at the Boards meeting. But we were told no decision either way.

Finally on April 5th 2010 I received the following letter.

Dear Mr. Saxe:

I want to apologize for the delay in response to your request. This has been a difficult and busy year. I should have been more prompt to reply.

Your request was presented to and discussed by the board of directors for the Center. In the end the decision was made that, although they appreciate that your project is intended to educate adults about the vice-presidency and appreciate your focus on historical accuracy, they do not believe it matches our mission of educational programming for young school children. Therefore, the board has declined your request to utilize the Center and staff for your production.

I wish your good luck on your project. As an apology for your troubles, I will be issuing a refund for your membership of $100.00. The check will be issued during the month of April.

Sincerely,
Daniel Johns
Executive Director.
The Quayle Vice-Presidential Learning Center.


Can you believe that? Not only did they deny our request to shoot at the Museum, but they don't even want my tax-deductible donation for my membership! Wow! Sure enough within a week I had another envelope from the Museum with a check for $100 in it.

This sort of thing is what is making this production a story in and of itself. Does any other documentary ever have issues like this? Michael Moore and Sacha Baron Cohen have made it almost impossible to get interviews for a documentary. Everyone is afraid they are going be made to look like fools. I bet that in the case of the Vice-Presidential Museum this is especially a worry. Still, this has to be one of the weirdest things we've experienced in our trek to make this film.

In the end, we can only make another request and hope they will let us shoot at the museum. We have always planned on making the film appropriate for a wide audience. So that families can watch it together and learn from it. Like my father and I did when we watched Ken Burns CIVIL WAR. We also plan on making a childrens book to go with the film. Maybe these things will help to change the boards mind.

Still, the museum isn't the only one to deny us an interview. Walter Mondale, Al Gore, Sarah Vowell, all have (thru their agents or staff) denied our requests for interviews. We still haven't heard from Sarah Palins people who I contacted the day after meeting her at her book signing back in November of 2009. Even with all these refusals and obstacles, Jason and I stand firm in making Vice-Precedence the film and completing our other projects that are associated with it. Your can help us accomplish our dream.

Tell your friends and family about our production. Join our Facebook page and post comments on it about blogs, links, and pictures we put up. Anything you can do that you think will be helpful to us, we would be grateful for. You can see on the blog that people love and are interested in this production. Whenever I feel a little depressed about how things are going, I read the endorsement given to us by Paul Zaloom (Beakman of the legendary kids science show BEAKMANS WORLD, and nationally recognized political theatre performer) that Jason received and posted here on the blog:

"The trailer for "Vice-Precedence" knocked my socks off. The film deftly mixes the genuine history of the VPs, much of it astounding and weird as hell, with witty commentary, the best combination for a film on a serious and absurd and seriously absurd subject. I laughed out loud a bunch of times; that doesn't happen often enough in documentaries. I cannot wait to see the finished project."


That always makes me feel good.

I just want to finish this blog by saying "Thank You".

Thank You to Mr. Zaloom for this amazing endorsement and to the legendary Gore Vidal for actually letting us come to his home and interview him for our film and for his incredible endorsement and continued support.

Thank you to YOU-all our Family and Friends and Fans (Likers?) on Facebook and who have and continue to support our production.

Thank you to my production partner and friend Jason Klamm for all his hard work on the blog, Facebook page, and website.

Some great stuff is coming folks, and I think you'll be just as excited as we are about it. Thank You Vice-Precedence Supporters!

Matt Saxe

Happy BURRthday!

Hey Vice-Precedence Blog Fans!

Well, yesterday was former VP Dan Quayles birthday as reported by Jason, and tomorrow, Feb. 6th is another VP's birthday-and not just any VP, but the first one who never became President! Thats right-its the birthday of the most infamous man to ever hold the office of VP-Aaron Burr!

Burr was born on Feb. 6, 1756 in Newark, NJ. His grandfather Jonathan Edwards was Colonial America's most famous pastor, the author of the definitive American Puritanical sermon-"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", and is still considered, almost 300 years later, one of Americas greatest theologians. His father the Rev. Aaron Burr Sr. helped found, and was the president of Princeton University.

Aaron Burr is best known of course, for killing former Secretary of the Treasury, signer of the Constitution, head of the Federalist party, fellow Revolutionary War hero, and Major General/Senior Officer of the United States Army (the equivalent of the Joint Chief Of Staff)-Alexander Hamilton in a duel while he was Vice-President. Thats right-over 200 years before Dick Cheney shot a man while VP-the Vice-President of the United States shot and killed a man.

The duel is without a doubt the most famous in American history-made even more famous by the highly popular "Got Milk?" ad directed by my director on "Pearl Harbor" Michael Bay! Bay's work since then leads many to believe it would be a much better world if he had stuck to commercials. But that's a whole other ball of wax.

Burr is best known for the duel, but the life of this remarkable American is more than just a few seconds on the "Plains of Weehawken". Burr was the first truly prominent American feminist-advocating womens intelligence and equal education and opportunities for women throughout his life, and put his money where his mouth was-educating his daughter like a man.

Burr was a Revolutionary War hero in his own right, fighting bravely at the battles of Quebec and Monmouth, and numerous other smaller battles. He was an accomplished lawyer, congressman, Senator, and Vice-President. Here is a quote about his service as VP in presiding over the Senate:

"Mr. Burr, the Vice-President, presides in the Senate with great ease, dignity & propriety. He preserves good order, silence—& decorum in debate—he confines the speaker to the point. He has excluded all spectators from the area of the Senate chamber, except the members from the other House. A measure which contributes much to good order." Senator William Plumer (F-NH)

In case you're wondering, that "F" stands for "Federalist", and Burr was a Democratic-Republican-meaning this quote praising him is from someone in the opposing party. Pretty impressive eh?

Later in his life Burr was put on trial for treason against the U.S., accused of trying to carve out an empire for himself in parts of the Louisiana Purchase and Mexico. It was "The Trial of the Century" and Burr was acquitted, despite President Jefferson's efforts to make sure Burr was found guilty.

Burr was, without a doubt, an American Original-its hard to find any person in any other country's history like Burr. That's probably why he has so captured the American imagination-particularly in Gore Vidal's first novel in his "American Empire" series: BURR. Its also part of why the Aaron Burr Association was formed (as I talked about in another blog here) and why I joined it.

I called up the President of the Aaron Burr Association-Mr. Stuart Johnson and got this quote from him on the upcoming birthday of this amazing American:

"We here at the ABA want to wish Aaron Burr a happy 254th birthday. We've stood by you and will keep up the good fight promoting your life. Your depth and complexity never cease to amaze us and we will keep protecting your reputation and promoting your life to all Americans."

Thanks for the quote Mr. Johnson.

We here at Vice-Precedence are determined to show people the truth about Aaron Burr, and that's the focus of one of our upcoming projects. So lets all wish this truly distinctive American a "Happy Birthday"!

Thanks for reading.

Support our Film, or An Insignificant Truth

First of all, you may be wondering about the double title I use here. Well, I'm in a double title mood because I just saw "Caroline, or Change" at the Guthrie Theatre here in Minneapolis as part of their Tony Kushner Festival, and he gives everything a double, or triple or hella long title-like his new play "The Intelligent Homosexuals Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures". Whew. So just be grateful this title isn't as long.

Now to the real subject. In his first post for this blog, my amazing production partner and co-author, (and now co-blogger) Jason Klamm asks the question-"Why?"

Why would any one want to make a movie or write a book or put up a blog about the Vice-Presidency of the United States? Who cares about this, the most neglected of U.S. government offices-a position about which our first VP, our second President, Founding Father and star of HBO mini-series John Adams said:

"The Vice President is the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived."

Well, the main answer to me for this question is: "Because NO ONE has done it yet!"

Its the absolute truth, in the history of documentary film-making, there has yet to be one single film ever devoted to the office of the Vice-President of the United States and the men who have held this office-which, technically, is the second highest elected office in the most powerful, influential, and (some would say) greatest nation on the face of the earth.

Doesn't that blow your mind a little bit? That no one else has done this? Think about all the other documentaries that are out there-ranging from everything to Broadway shows, to genocide, Christian summer camps, to animals, the planet, and climate change (made by a former VP you know), to weird artists, both famous and infamous individuals, 9/11, high school football teams, the car industry, financial scandals, guns, Gay Orthodox Jews, health care, religion, and more. Tons of different documentary films have been made-but not this one. Not by anyone, not yet. Not on TV series like "American Experience" on PBS which has tackled the history of the Supreme Court, or individual filmmakers like Ken Burns who has made documentary films about the Civil War, baseball, jazz, WW 2, the national parks (coming up) and individuals-but not the second highest office in our country. Its never be done-or even attempted as far as we know.

Until now.

FACT: "Vice-Precedence: Being Number Two in the White House" is a completely new and original idea for a documentary film.

Oh, and just a fair warning here folks, but if you try and steal this idea from us, from Me, I personally will make sure to sue your ass back to the dawn of time-whether you believe in Creation in Genesis in the Garden of Eden, or the Big Bang, trust me, I will make sure to send you there with your guts for garters if you try and steal this from me and my friends and partners. I will make you burn. Just putting that out there. Now we can be friends again. 'Kay?

There aren't many new ideas out there-that's why Hollywood and Broadway steal everything from previous sources-but this movie is one! And not to brag, but I, Matt Saxe came up with it! Me. Just a regular guy from St. Louis, MO. with a simple Bachelors Degree in Theatre, (not History) from a public university-(Roll Tide!) who for almost six years made a living wearing a huge werewolf puppet suit to scare tourists in a show at Universal Studios and being a fundraiser over the phone while hustling for acting jobs in La-La Land.

That's one of the reasons "Why" I am so behind this subject and getting this film done. Another reason "Why" I want to do this is something Jason addresses, and that its part of the history of this country. No matter what your perspective of this country is-there is no denying in that the way we have picked our leaders-and WHO, we have picked shows us for what kind of a country we were and are becoming. The fact is that this nations voters (and yes for a long time that meant only white men-a lot of whom owned slaves) have chosen some strange and bizarre people to be a heart-beat away from leading our country. Also, don't get all high and mighty about the fact that we no longer own slaves, we members of the last couple generations are just as guilty of choosing some weird folks for our second highest office as our slave-owning predecessors. Look at some of our recent VP's and VP candidates (I won't name names because its a matter of political perspective) but be honest with yourself-when you were voting for the President, did you ever worry even once about the guy on the ticket with him and what would happen if a tragedy happened and he or she (in 1984 and in 2008) became President? Did you really?

Who our Vice-Presidents were is just as representative of our country as who our Presidents were. Call it an "insignificant truth" if you will, but its a truth none the less, and as John Adams also said: "Facts are stubborn things."

So those answers go into "Why" I'm doing it, and why YOU should be interested in helping us. We need your support, both moral and financial. I will tell you right now-everyone who I have told about this film, has told me they think its one of the most original ideas they have ever heard of and those that watch the trailer and taster on VP William Rufus DeVane King have all told me that its wonderfully funny and fascinating. That includes people who know nothing about history and don't even care about it. Honest. Its been amazing to me.
So please, go to YouTube and watch the trailer there-rate it, post a comment, send it to friends with your endorsement, get the word out on this, your support and encouragement means everything to us. I am always grateful when someone tells me that they have watched the trailer and enjoyed it. Your grass-roots support can make a difference. Any kind of help you can provide we will be grateful for.

In working on this film and the book I have had many incredible meetings and conversations, but none more amazing than with Gore Vidal. Whatever you think of his politics, there is no denying that Gore Vidal is now, the most accomplished writer living in America. Perhaps the world. His body of work, and the quality of his work is simply stunning. Whether in novels, non-fiction, essays, plays or screenwriting, Vidal towers above the American literary landscape. Meeting him and interviewing him for two hours in his home in L.A. was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. When he said "You're better than Ken Burns." when we were finished with our interview, it simply left me speechless. Jason and I had worked hard to make sure we would make our interview with him as smooth and professional as possible. He and I prepared our amazing crew (big thanks to Ben Eshgapoor and Zander Lee) and prepared ourselves thoroughly. I got to conduct the interview and write and ask the questions. I prepared as much as I could-reading and researching, figuring out how one question could lead naturally into another-making sure I knew what I was talking about-Jason went over my questions with me and made brilliant suggestions that aided me immensely. It wasn't an easy time for me-I was experiencing problems in my marriage that would soon lead to my divorce, I was working at the theme park part-time but was for the most part out of work and looking, I was feeling frustrated in all aspects of my life-but hearing Mr. Vidal say what he said when we were finished was one of the highest honors I could have imagined and for that day-I felt on top of the world.

Actually, I guess the most wonderful experience of this project wasn't my meeting with Vidal, but working with Jason and everything we have learned. Together, he and I have become closer friends, and (lets face it Jason) Veep Nerds. Whenever we discovered a new anecdote, a new story or quote, or when we discovered John Denvers' "The Ballad of Spiro Agnew" and sang it to Jasons' roommates, we would practically be-as Phish put it-bouncing 'round the room. Every new discovery led us to being more and more excited and firmer in our belief that this film is meant to happen. I believed in it in late 2004 when I came up with the idea for it, and now, 4 and half years later, I still do.
So please, read this blog, post comments, send us your ideas, pass the info about us on to your family and friends. You won't regret it. Help us make film making history and historical film making that's not only informative but entertaining. As Jason put it so well in his post-we are not ashamed about the comic aspect of this film-its what sells it, and to be honest-the office of the VP is so littered with the ridiculous and the absurd that to not make the film comedic in tone would just be plain stupid.

In this blog as Jason said-I will be concentrating on former VP Richard Cheney of Wyoming (aka Darth Cheney according to Jon Stewart) who has become a major voice for the Republican party at this time. Instead of retreating to a ranch in Wyoming or some corporate figurehead role, and fading into the past, Cheney has become a bullhorn for conservative beliefs and values in the wake of his party's defeats. While at the same time-expressing his personal beliefs as well-regardless of what others may think. While most Democrats wish he would disappear (and probably many Republicans too) Dick Cheney bravely puts himself out there and opening himself to more ridicule and vitriol-defending the decisions he and those in the President George W. Bush White House made-about what to do after 9/11, the Iraq War, torture, social issues, and more. He's not a stupid man, he can read a newspaper-he know he isn't popular, but still, he states what he believes in a "Damn the torpedoes-full steam ahead" manner. Including invoking the wrath of his own party by voicing his support for gay marriage! Whether you hate him or not-Cheney refuses to back down. Call it courage or stubbornness or what you will-I know I am looking forward to his book. It is my hope that you will follow Jason as he writes about our current VP Joseph Biden from the First State-Delaware, and myself as I write about Cheney and other Veeps on this blog. Please support "Vice-Precedence:Being Number Two in the White House" in all its forms, blog, book, and with your help-finished documentary film. Thank you for your support and best to you.

Matt Saxe.