I am a documentary filmmaker who followed Ke$ha around for 2 years. AMA.

How fucking hard does she party?

The first night I met her was the night of her NYC show back in spring 2011. After the show, which she finished near dead exhausted, she went to 2 after parties and partied like I'd never seen anyone before. Like a fucking rockstar. Making out with dudes, jumping around like a wild child, and drinking from bottles. Like a massive bottle of Patron, to herself, all gone. Then she went to another party. By the time it was over, the sun was rising. Probably the craziest party was in Las Vegas. Another "til the sunrise" party. The sun was coming up and she wanted to 1) Get a tattoo and 2) Get married to one of her friends by a guy dressed as Elvis. Luckily none of the above never happened.

Ok, all that said, she's grown up a lot lately. She still parties, sure, but she takes her work very seriously. She's a massive perfectionist and she's learning the perfect balance between party hard and work hard. Of which she does both.

EDIT: Everything I said above is on film and in the documentary BTW

EDIT #2: I just remembered this too: After a FULL night of partying, she and like 20 friends go back to her hotel suite and they download EVERY song either ABOUT pussy or with pussy in the title. They then rocked out until mid-morning listening to only pussy songs.

That is awesome. I really wanted to believe she partied that hard.

I'm afraid I'll need her amount of partying to be equated in fractions of Andrew W.K.'s. It sounds like Ke$sha's partying quotient is equal to roughly 2/10's of an Andrew W.K.

Those are just 2 abbreviated examples. I followed her for 2 years. I could write an entire novel on the parties I witnessed.

It sounds like it was fun to film.

Was it more fun than filming "Hot Chicks of Occupy Wall Street?"

Well at least a group of feminists didn't try to burn my apartment down* after the Kesha documentary. *True Story

What did they bring when they showed up? Gasoline?

How did they try to enter the building / apartment?

Someone dumped gasoline outside my apartment (on the carpet) creating a puddle and then poured gasoline on the staircase bordering my bedroom. Woke to smell of gas. Entire air was "wavvy" from the fumes. This was just 3 days after "Hot Chicks" aired. Whoever was doing it heard me coming and ran away. Fire department comes. They call the police. Police come and say: "This is an arson investigation." Took them like 5 hours to soak up the gas and clear the air. They found a unpaid parking ticket in the stairwell. Never heard back from the cops.

How passionate is she about her fans? All artists claim that fans come first etc, but did you find this to be true in Ke$ha's case?

Great questions. And yes, her fans are like her 2nd family.

The 2nd day of filming, she gets on her tour bus and her assistant hands her a MASSIVE box of fan mail. She then opens EACH one, reads it, signs whatever memorabilia was included, and sometimes hand writes a note back.

She meets with fans at EVERY tour stop. In one case, a kid in England handed her a book he'd put together. He was shy and couldn't say much beyond "Please read the letter I put in there." She read it. It was about him being bullied in school and hitting rock bottom with depression. And then her song "Animal" came on the radio and he suddenly felt a bit hopeful and pulled himself together. The note ended "You saved my life Kesha". They both broke down in tears and embraced. To this day, she calls or texts him every once in a while to see how he's doing.

why did you choose Kesha? was it circumstance? Who/what to you would be an Ideal film subject?

Ok, I'm back. So 2 things:

1) Her brother and I worked as video journalists in DC back in 2008. When Kesha "took off", he said "Hey, we should start filming some of this."

2) My last 3 films were political in nature and thus frustrating and at times heart breaking. "8: The Mormon Proposition" featured gay teenagers kicked out of their homes by Mormon parents and one of them being beaten with a pipe and nearly dying. So filming a popstar seemed like a refreshing new take for a documentary.

Did you or your crew step in on the beating? Hell, I would have turned the pipe around on that guy.

This happened after our interview with him. We had to read about it in the news.

Were there any restrictions she put on the documentary, such as "you cannot film X..." or "This is a boundary I won't let you cross..."?

First night of filming her: "Just don't film me taking a dump. Everything else is cool."

And she basically held true to that.

[deleted]

A lot of examples like this occur in the documentary. It's just part of that lifestyle. Paparazzi are everywhere and there's a hungry group of consumers waiting to gawk.

One of the worst cases involved her computer being hacked and very private photos being uploaded online and spread everywhere. This actually happened more than once. And it's on camera as it develops.

Also, let me just say that it's heart breaking to see her try to be strong, only to break down in private over shit like this. It hurts. And you can see it hurts. She's just like everyone else.

I've heard she's actually very intelligent: supposedly she scored a near perfect on her SATs and was going to go to my dream school (Barnard in New York, which I'm still bitter about).

Does this image of someone very intellectual and thoughtful ever come out in person? From her music and partying, it just seems contradictory, so I'm very curious how prominent that is in her personality outside of her image.

Like I said above, there is "Ke$ha" and then there's "Kesha".

"Ke$ha" is a wandering misfit, half drunk, half crazy, stumbling over hill and dale for the next party.

"Kesha" is sharp as a tack. Plays multiple instruments. Reads constantly. Writes constantly (I literally saw at least 300 full notebooks). And she knows EVERYTHING about her production. I often would see her on ProTools mixing a new audio cue, or designing new stage props herself. She designed a massive 12 foot glitter cannon for her live show.

Over those two years, what are a few of the most surprising things you've learned about the workings of the music industry?

Since we mainly filmed her, we didn't really interact with music "industry" folks.

Probably the most fascinating part was filming her write and record her 2nd album. Obviously, there are many parties invested in its success, so it was interesting to see her write and record songs and then have them analyzed by others in order to best culminate "hits". Which makes sense I guess. A lot of songs we filmed her record never made the album and the decision making process of "what songs go on the album" was truly fascinating.

I can just imagine some of those lost songs being absolutely fucking brilliant, but because they wouldn't be "hits" no one will ever hear them.

...or they could be terrible.

My #1 favorite song she worked on didn't make it on the album. Here's hoping it turns up sometime soon...

Have you ever hooked up with Kesha?

Kesha once got frustrated while trying to learn a new dance routine and told me to leave the room. I kept recording and didn't leave. So she ran up with the speed of a puma and punched me. I kind of understood her frustration though. Having cameras in my face 24/7 would probably piss me off sometimes too. But, other than that punch, not much physical interaction.

EDIT: The footage of her punching me is probably gonna end up in the documentary so spoiler alert.

Does she have a mean jab or was it kind of wimpy?

Kesha does not fuck around. It was, however, a half playful punch. But it did knock me over a bit.

Has she ever really brushed her teeth with a bottle of jack?

I never saw this happen. And I kinda never expected to see this.

What was the biggest change you noticed over those two years?

When we first started filming her, she had just "taken off" as a popstar. And she was 24. So, it was kind of a dream world for her. All of the things that make Kesha "Ke$ha" were magnified 1000%. Crazy parties. Hardly sleeping. Hunting for beards. Penis jokes. Blasting Iggy Pop at full volume.

2 years later, those things still exist, but she's matured into a more "self aware" artist. She's very hands-on EVERYTHING. She designs her own costumes, her stage sets, her props, and even her own tshirts. She doesn't just let assistants or managers take care of everything. She participates in every decision. She's learned how to be a boss. And a pretty good one.

It's a coming of age story. She was girl when I met her. And she's developed into quite a strong woman.

Why is she famous?

Kesha's mom was a country music writer in Nashville. Her and Kesha wrote some songs together and made a demo CD of mainly Kesha playing acoustic guitar and singing awesome country music. However, the last song on the CD was a goofy pop track with her doing the "white girl rap" she does. The label that signed her loved that track. They brought her in. She sang backup on "Right Round" and then she wrote and recorded "Tik Tok". And people latched onto that big time.

Was her country album any good? I'd love to hear it.

Her and her mom did this little diddy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hmxofgnIso

Is she mostly a normal person outside the more public eye?

Yes and no. On one hand, she's disarmingly "normal" from the standpoint of the first time I met her, she was drinking blood from a human heart on stage and dancing with a giant penis. And then, once I started following her around, she's a very smart, witty, and warm-hearted "normal" individual.

But I have to say that she's also one of the funniest people I know. The one-liners that come out of her mouth sometimes made me almost drop my camera from laughter.

"Nothing in life is free. Except for mullets." -Kesha

I actually now consider her one of my close friends.

That's not...that's not funny at all. It doesn't even make sense.

Ha, I guess it doesn't out of context.

Her mom walks in the room sporting a mullet.

Kesha: "What the hell is up with your hair?"

Mom: "I gave myself a haircut."

Kesha: "You gave yourself a mullet."

Mom: "Well it was free. I didn't want to pay for a haircut."

Kesha: "Mom, nothing in this life is free... except for mullets."

Anyways, I thought it was pretty funny.

Another one: "I'm gonna go get a drink with that beard and then I'm gonna touch him where he pees."

1) Did you feel like there were times Kesha was putting up a performance for your camera? If so, did it stop at any point? how?

2) How involved did you try to get in your subject's life while filming? were you just taking the role of a side observer? if so, how do you keep it up?

3) Did you guys keep filming all the time or were there set times schedules for each day for following her around and filming?

4) How much do you feel this film is a fair representation of what Kesha's experience would have been, if you and the film crew weren't around here during that period?

5) What was the most surprising thing you learned about making a documentary like this while shooting the film? What was the least surprising and most expected?

Gonna answer all these in a sec. Stay tuned...

EDIT: 4 hours later and here you go:

1) Her brother was there filming her, so she was usually 100% candid. Almost like no cameras were there. With me, she warmed up after a few days. Trust is big with her. If she trusts you, she'll Batman down and let you see her Bruce Wayne. Not THAT. But you know, the stage mask came off.

2) I became more and more involved. As a filmmaker and as a friend. Sometimes, when she would break down after a terrible moment, her brother would set down the camera and be her brother while I stood in the corner and kept filming. I tried to disappear into the walls. But there are lots of times when some of the footage is like "Grey Gardens" where the subject breaks the 4th wall and talks directly to me, or yells at me, or winks at me. She was probably the best documentary subject I've ever followed.

3) At first, we both had full time jobs and started maxing out our vacation and sick days. And so we filmed 1-2 weeks on, 1-2 weeks off. Finally, we had to quit our jobs and Kesha started paying out of pocket so we could put food on the table while we finished the film.

4) Because of her candor, I feel the film is a very fair representation of Kesha's experience of the last 2 years. We seriously became trusted extensions of herself. After a few weeks, she'd often forget the camera was even there.

5) I'd worked on political documentaries and journalism pieces up to this point. Months of research, hard hitting interviews, and meticulous editing. When I started this Kesha documentary, I found it hard to keep up sometimes. She moves at 1000 miles an hour. So I learned how to shoot a documentary amid circumstances unknown and strange to me.

The second answer is how much I would actually become emotionally involved in this Ke$ha girl. Not in a love or sexual way, but when you observe a human being for so long, you begin to feel every joy and sorrow they experience. Just the other day, I was filming Kesha, her mother and her brother singing a song her mother wrote. Her brother played guitar, and mom and Kesha sang in harmony. I got tears in my eyes while filming it. I dunno, it took me by surprise.

Surely OP will deliver

8 hours later: <wipes tears from face> Surely OP will deliver?

Fear not. It's happening now. Gonna edit my comment above.

Too bad I'm in Canada so I won't be able to watch this, Ke$ha my biggest guilty pleasure. She's hilariously self-aware.

Does Ke$ha do low-key laze around days, or is she just go go go party every night?

When on tour, almost every night is usually something crazy and chaotic. When she's not on tour, she'll play with her dogs/cats, watch scary movies, go hiking through the woods, or just simply relax.

1. What was the most irresponsible thing you caught on film?

2. How much did you have to cut/edit/blur to make this TV friendly?

3. What did you wish got to be included in the end result that didn't make it?

1. Kesha drinking a bottle of her own pee comes to mind.

2. We had about 550 hours of footage to make six 30 minute episodes. So a lot obviously has to be cut out or trimmed down. MTV has been great in letting us "push the envelope" content wise. "Fucks" will be beeped out. And some places/people who we couldn't get a release from can't be included. But not that many.

3. I haven't seen the end result yet. It airs in 3 weeks. Just from a time constraint, as I said before, not everything will make it in. Actually, one scene comes to mind that I love that, to be fair, might be kind of boring for most people: Kesha digs up these jeans shorts from her garage, but they're covered in rust stains. She sits in this epically huge old school boiler room at a venue and tries to get the rust out using bleach, lemons, salt and all kinds of random things. It's just this popstar wiping lemons and salt on a pair of shorts for like an hour in the middle of a huge steampunk backdrop. I love random moments like this.

Why do you think she has gotten such a bad reputation?

I'll use myself as an example. Before shooting this documentary, I would never listen to pop music. And especially Kesha's music. When Tik Tok came on the radio, I quickly turned the channel. I just didn't "get" it. Wasn't my thing at all.

And then the first night of filming her I saw her live show. And it was addictingly amazing. Like remember the feeling you had the first time watching "The Goonies" or "Star Wars"? That sense of magic mixed with silly youthful lusts for adventure? THAT is how it felt watching her live show. And then suddenly, I found myself (secretly) listening to "Party at a Rich Dude's House" and so on.

There are preconceived notions about Kesha sure. But I'm glad mine at least, have melted away.

Well I meant less about her music and more about her being viewed by a lot of people as trashy or dirty. There are a lot of pop stars that don't get that rap.

If you watch her live show, it's trashy, dirty, glittery, sweaty, bloody and chaotic. If people judged her character based on her live show, then it would be exactly that: trashy, drunk and dirty.

But that's like thinking Jennifer Lawrence is a manically depressed pill popper because of "Silver Linings Playbook".

Except Jennifer gets to play different roles for every movie.

And Ke$ha's role stays more or less the same.

The trailer looks great and I'm pretty excited to see the real thing. What was your goal with this documentary? Did you just want to make an entertaining film or did you want to expose people to what's it's like to be a celebrity?

One of my favorite documentaries is "Don't Look Back", DA Pennebaker's film on Bob Dylan in the sixties. It's a very "fly on the wall" doc, in that the filmmaker just stands in the corner and films what's happening.

So we tried to apply that to this film. And mostly, this was true. She let us film on and off stage. And we just stood in the background filming whatever crazy shit was going on. In the end, it's an observation of a modern popstar in her prime, trying to hold on to her dream while prepping her sophomore album. An album that can make or break many artists.

On the scale of "Don't Look Back" to "Truth or Dare," how close to being a fly on the wall did you get?

65% of the time is was that way. But then it kind of became "Grey Gardens", where the subject starts a direct relationship with the cameraman. (Talking to him, yelling at him, being coy, witty, etc)

Are you and everything you own absolutely covered in glitter?

During the tour, it was a daily experience. Once, my girlfriend found glitter in my bed. Lots of explaining to do.

Does she do anything besides partying?

Oh god yes. She loves animals. She went to Africa to help rehabilitate injured lions, flies around the world investing in "save the whales", and her and her mom have adopted like 12 homeless dogs. She just won an award from the Humane Society for her activism.

She also is very very very very close to her family. So she's always hanging out with them. Giving her younger brother piggy back rides, going camping, or just spending the weekend doing "hillbilly activities" in Nashville (her hometown). She's a country girl, so she loves the outdoors, cheap beer, and jetskis.

Were you there when she worked with The Flaming Lips? If so, what was the interaction between them like?

I was not. That was so last minute. Wayne Coyne tweeted her and was on a plane within hours. They went into the studio and knocked out like 3 songs over 48 hours and then he left. And it was a weekend where we were not filming! ARGH!

Does Ke$ha ever lurk on reddit, or is she a redditor?

Kesha, because of terrible experiences with the internet (computer hacked twice, twitter hacked, email hacked) tries to stay offline.

Now, I'm not a big conspiracy foil hat guy and I actually enjoy a fair few of her songs, but you ever seen some weird illuminati-esque shit go down? I'm prepared for downvotes just curious.

EDIT: spelling.

No problem. This will probably get asked eventually. I can tell you that 100% of any/all "illuminati" symbolism was probably put in because, no disrespect, people like you have coined "illuminati" a popular buzz word. Beyond that, there was zero illuminati shit going down. And Kesha's basically the opposite of what such a secret society would believe in.

So is she overall, a good person?

Yes. I don't warm up to people easily. Never have. She's now one of my best friends. Love the shit out of her. One of the most loyal people ever.

How much pitch bend (not auto-tune) is used in the studio on her albums?

It was used pretty well on her first album. She made it a point to extremely limit it for her second album. Girl's got a great voice.

Did you end up meeting any other celebrities during the filming of this documentary?

First night of filming Zach Galifinakus hung out with us at some bar. We couldn't film there, so I'll let Kesha tell that story if she wants to. It's pretty fucking hilarious.

I saw Bono with his arm around Justin Bieber giving him a pep talk about the music biz. That was weird.

There is footage of Stephen Fry and Kesha chatting it up. I hope that surfaces one day. Love that guy.

Others: (we didn't film them really) Britney Spears, Rhianna, Psy, The Black Eyed Peas, Neil Diamond, Jay Z, Beyonce, Stevie Wonder, The Black Keys, oh god actually this list is long.....

I have always thought that when up close to her she might smell.....weird, is this true?

She's not big on girly perfume, but still manages to smell like a girl. Flowery. With a hint of danger.

What made you want to take on this project? What do you hope people take away after seeing it?

Will brb in 5 minutes to answer this. Gotta go grow a tail.

EDIT: Oops. Sorry. This got lost down below. OK my answer (same from above):

1) Her brother and I worked as video journalists in DC back in 2008. When Kesha "took off", he said "Hey, we should start filming some of this."

2) My last 3 films were political in nature and thus frustrating and at times heart breaking. "8: The Mormon Proposition" featured gay teenagers kicked out of their homes by Mormon parents and one of them being beaten with a pipe and nearly dying. So filming a popstar seemed like a refreshing new take for a documentary.

In the trailer she said she wants a guy with a beard. I'm no psychologist, but that's such a strange quality to request- does her dad have a beard? Usually those wild girls want a father figure.

She, to this day, has no idea who her father is. That said, her first love, who continues to be her muse, had a big beard.

Does she really queef glitter?

No. But "Glitter Queef" sounds like the title to the perfect Ke$ha song.

Did Ke$ha come up with idea to purposefully sing like she was already intoxicated or was that the label's idea?

She plays a role on a few of her songs, yes. If you listen to "Animal" or "The Harold Song" from her first album, she's playing a different role. And most of her new album reflects a more evolved character.

How does she feel about Tik Tok now? Is she tired of it?

When she hears thousands of fans singing along to it, it never gets old.

Hey man, I saw your post on /r/movies yesterday and made sure to come check this out. Good luck with your doc! I wish more celebrity personalities allowed filmmakers to document a portion of their life.

2 questions:

1. What do you think is the biggest rift between the Ke$ha that we all know and the one you got to know?

2. Hook me up with a crazy story regarding her party habits? I want to know if I ball equal to or less than Ke$ha.

1) I like to say there's "Ke$ha" and then there's "Kesha". Most of you know "$". "Kesha" was a marching band nerd, a misfit who would sew her own clothes and then get made fun of at school, and her favorite bands are Iggy Pop, T Rex and basically any dirty rock from the 70s. This list goes on. I hope the show introduces you to "S".

2) Read my long response way above.

what are some of your favorite documentaries and why?

Here are the documentaries that got me into making documentaries:

The Thin Blue Line - A mixture of thrilling story telling and masterfully crafted cinematography. And it freed an innocent man from prison. Amazing.

Paradise Lost - The range of emotions I felt watching this film exceeded any piece of fiction. It stayed with me for years.

Gimme Shelter - A perfect "fly on the wall" film featuring the Rolling Stones UNTIL... the end when they break the 4th wall and are showing Mick Jagger the raw footage in the edit room... of a man being stabbed at their concert. BRILLIANT.

Roger and Me- Still a landmark for gonzo guerilla documentary filmmaking. Had me saying "A documentary can do THAT?!"

Umm.. Did you get any?...

I got glitter thrown over me multiple times that still shows up in my luggage to this day. And she once brushed her teeth (with toothpaste) and spit into my hand. Other than that, not really.

How awkward was it for her brother to film her mackin' on dudes?

I usually filmed those moments. But a funny moment you'll see a few times in the show: When her brother and I were filming and she started talking explicitly about some guy, she would turn to her brother and say "Ear muffs, Lagan." And Lagan would playfully put his hands over his ears. It was kinda cute.

I seen an interview of Example talking about Ke$ha and he said that she paid models In the UK to be her friends because she didn't have any friends to go to the party with in the Uk, has she done this in any other situations? Example interview:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05vYqGK9xbE

I toured with her all over the world. Including the UK. This is 100% not true. Her tour bus is usually busting at the seems with her friends. But mostly friends of hers from before she was famous. She's very loyal to her past.

Did you find that the two of you had any similarities or interests that lead to discussion?

We're both giant nerds. And she makes it a point to tell me that all that time. Except she's never seen "Star Wars", so maybe that immediately discredits her. But she's a nerd and you can tell her I said so.

Did you hang out with Wayne Coyne while with her? They've apparently become good Fwends.

copy/pasted answer from above: That was so last minute. Wayne Coyne tweeted her and was on a plane within hours. They went into the studio and knocked out like 3 songs over 48 hours and then he left. And it was a weekend where we were not filming! ARGH!

What surprised you most about Ke$ha?

Before I started filming her, I had this worry that she was going to be a pretentious diva. Super self conscious about what we film and constantly having her nose up in the air. Basically imagine the opposite of that and that's Kesha. She's one of the coolest, most legit, people I know. Totally love that.

What's her favorite drinking game, and what's the most ridiculous situation this game has resulted in?

Why don't I know the answer to this?!?

Has she ever gotten into any legal problems? Since well, she does party like a rockstar

In 2 years, I don't think she ever got in legal trouble for partying or for doing something irresponsible. She's actually pretty respectful about other people's property, etc. That said, when I got sued for the first time (a case involving my first film ever), my lawyer said "Welcome to the business." So lawsuits, frivolous or otherwise, are always abound when you're a star.

upvote for reffering to yourself as a star

Aw Aw Awwww.... Dammit missed that. Oh well. Damn you subconscious ego!!!

What sort of equipment did you use?

Like 90% of this was shot on 2 Canon 7Ds and little Rode microphones. It was very guerilla filmmaking.

What about lenses?

I shot nearly 100% of my footage with the Canon 17-55mm. It's the perfect "run and gun" documentary lens. We also used the 24mm, 70-200mm, and 50mm.

Why does Ke$ha only drink warm beverages? You would think with the sucess she has had that she would have access to refrigeration. Is she alergic to cold or something?

She drinks cold drinks. But she's always been the kind of girl who looks in at the douchebags and starfuckers in the ritzy club drinking champagne and would jump in with a warm budweiser, flip every one off, dance like a banshee on a table, then leave laughing.

Kesha prefers one thing: dive bars. Dirty dive metal bars.

[deleted]

I would not have been interested in making a documentary about a chick partying and trying to sing.

Partying and singing is literally the prologue to a much more engaging story. So, yes, the documentary is about way more than that.

I like this AMA, and I'm excited about this documentary. I absolutely adore Ke$ha, and all this does is strengthen my reasoning for liking her music and whatnot. Knowing that she cares about her fans to the degree that you've said is great.

Now for my question: I've heard rumor that part of her career is a subtle satire of other pop musicians. Have you heard that rumor, and is there any truth to it?

I don't think I ever heard that. From her at least.

few short ones: a) Does she take the content of her songs seriously? "D-I-N-O-S-A-U-R" and "Party at a Rich Dude's House" seem to be jokes, as if they are making fun of people who take themselves entirely too seriously, almost like parody songs but not...

b) Is she intelligent? I'm secretly hoping that she when she's not performing, recording, or (seemingly) drinking anything within arm's reach, that she sits around reading books about subjects she's interested in, or somehow, is a Lisbeth Salander prodigy and no one knows it.

Yes, they are parody songs in a way. It's kind of like how Trey Parker and Matt Stone do South Park. They parody a lot of ridiculous things, but they always say, "If it makes us laugh, then we love it." That's Kesha. Sometimes she'll come up with the most hilarious lines and say "This has got to be a song."

And she's one of the smartest people I know. Constant reader and writer. And her wit is unchallenged in my book.

So, I don't have access to MTV since it doesn't air in my country, any way I'll be able to watch this online somewhere? I'm interested.

Last I heard, MTV will air the episodes online after they air on TV.

What plans do you have for your next documentary? Do you plan on tackling more political issues or something new?

I am working on a fictional TV show script right now (a la Mad Men) and I'm developing a documentary on robots.

I have a handful of questions. I'm not really looking for specific answers, if you could answer them more generally and discuss the subjects, I'd be pleased. Thanks.

I saw her a couple years ago on her theater tour and enjoyed the show. She seemed to know the "limits of her talent" and had fun.

You talk a bit about her being frustrated learning a dance move. I found her dancing to be about on Katy Perry's level-- it was obvious her dancers simplified the moves when Ke$ha joined the routine. Other than learning the routines in her concerts, is she working with a dance instructor to get better at dancing in general?

One of the things I was impressed with was how when Warrior came out, it didn't try to be anything it was not. It was a strong Ke$ha album without many surprises. I'd describe it to my friends as "if you like her singles, you'll like this." Contrast with Gaga's sophomore album, which some would argue she's trying to do too much. Anyway, I notice Max Martin and Dr. Luke get a whole bunch of writing and producing credits. I'm sort of under the assumption you don't hire Max Martin or Dr. Luke unless you really want their help. So, my question is how much input did you notice these professional songwriters/producers have in her album? Are there songs you can hear Ke$ha's influence in more than others? Songs you hear Max Martin in more than others? While we're on the subject, I am a fairly big fan of a whole lot of artists Martin writes for, but I don't think I'd recognize a photo of him. Will we see him in your film? Did you get to talk to him much?

How much of her public persona is an act? She seems really weird and sometimes answers interview questions where I think she's playing dumb. I'm sure she's fairly smart.

When she got started, some were upset about how she didn't really "pay her dues" and was signed to a record contract very quickly. Do you think her quick rise to the top had anything to do with her mother, who was a professional songwriter for longer than I have been alive, getting her in contact with producers and less about her being "discovered?" Do you talk about this in your film?

Oh yeah: What the hell is going on with her and Guster? I've seen them both tweet about it. It seems like a weird pairing. Is there going to be a joint song or something?

Last one, promise: Did you ever talk to her about those nudie photos allegedly of her with jizz on her tummy and the guy going down on her? It'd be so Ke$ha if she leaked them.

No I lied: Will you talk a little about the process of selling your documentary to MTV? Did you show it at film festivals? Did you call MTV? Did they call you? Was there talk about a theatrical release or another form? Did they commission the documentary? How do you eat/keep the lights on for the two years you film?

Thanks! I can't wait to see the film.

Ok, herpants, I'm gonna answer your novel. :-)

1) She's been choreographing a bunch of new stuff lately. And she's got like 8 backup dancers now for the new tour. And we filmed a bunch of this and she really does pretty good. Learning dance moves for each song was WAAAAYYYYY harder than I thought it would be. A lot of work goes into it.

2) Kesha writes the lyrics to all her songs. Sometimes, after writing a song, some will help her tweak a word or two, but it's mostly her. As for music, she writes some and her producers write some. "Love into the Light" for example was composed by her on her piano at home while we filmed her. Dr. Luke and Max Martin both were intimately involved in helping produce "Warrior". And we filmed both of them.

3) Her definitely has a "stage persona", but most of that is just an exaggerated version of who she really is. Behind the scenes, she's one of the normal and coolest people ever. Well, actually, "normal" isn't the right word. I've never met anyone quite like her.

4) Yes we talk about all this in the film. But Kesha basically lived in her car for a while, did the whole waitressing thing, stole from the 99 cent store to eat, etc. Look, this business is all about who you know mixed with a bit of luck. I should know, I've made 4 films.

5) Guster was basically her favorite band long ago. The room she grew up in at her mom's house (which remains mostly untouched) has Guster posters and gushy fan notes she wrote them back in the day. Cute.

6) We cover this in the film.

7) We had 550 hours of footage. Editing it all into a single movie didn't make sense. MTV offered releasing it as episodes. That made a lot of sense. As for eating, both her brother and I had full time jobs and used up all our sick days and vacation days and finally had to quit our jobs to keep filming. Kesha pitched in some money to help us put food on the table. It was very very very guerilla filmmaking. A crew of like 4 people.

Hey, cool AMA--how much time did you get to spend with her band? I personally know Jenn Stone (her keyboardist, for those of you who don't know). She works with my boss' band (Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls) when Amy's on her solo tour so I've driven her to the Atl airport and hung out a little with her here in GA.

I FUCKING LOVE HER BAND. Jenn, Max and Elias!!! They're all really close and Kesha hangs out with them all the time. Favorite quote from Max, Jenn and Elias when their bus broke down in England: "Rock and roll ain't all sex, drugs and cereal. It ain't all spare ribs and hand jobs."

Will this show up on Netflix or do I need to tune in to MTV?

MTV April 23. And then I think they will stream it online in the days after.

Where's the strangest place on your body you're still finding glitter?

Still? Well it's been a while since the tour, which is glitter heavy. But I'm sure if I got colonoscopy tomorrow, they'd find glitter.

No question, but tell her I actually thought her second album was damn good :)

Me too. "Past Lives" she wrote with the Flaming Lips and it's my favorite I think. Or "Gold Trans Am". Or "Dirty Love".

What is the largest number of guys she banged at once?

I bet you couldn't film her real singing voice without autotune..amirite?

This footage was not autotuned.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGj3BKZj248

Is her real singing voice as horrible as we percieve it to be?

No. She has an incredible voice and not sure people think she doesn't.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNCEV7ZSNFo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Qi13Aj7EK8

did you have to wear a special suit to keep the stank ho smell from getting on you?

She smells like most girls do. Flowery mostly. With a hint of danger.