I am Cassie Jaye, the director of the documentaries: DADDY I DO, THE RIGHT TO LOVE, and the upcoming THE RED PILL. AMA!

Hello, first i just wanted to say i am very glad to see someone, especially a feminist to actually give the Mens Right Movement a chance. Even though i don't directly call myself an MRA i believe that the movement has been subjected to a lot of misinformation and straight up slander from the media.

But onto my question. I found the name "The Red Pill" a little weird. Mainly because the term Red Pill is associated with Pick Up Artist culture. Primarily on reddit there is a subreddit known as theredpill who use PUA culture, ultra-traditionalism and sexual strategy to boost male identity. Now the thing is that MRAs are often conflated by these people by the media, even though notable PUAs have actively stated to be anti-MRA and that MRAs want nothing to do with them.

What was your decision to call it The Red Pill and do you think it won't get confused with the Red Pill as a pick up artist philosophy rather than a mens rights philosophy?

Hi CaptainWeeaboo, thank you so much for asking this! I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to use your question to address everything I want to say about the title.

The title The Red Pill refers to the cultural metaphor for “seeing the painful truth of reality” (which of course originated from the movie The Matrix). When I began this project in March 2013, 2.5 years ago, the MRM/MHRM was often using the term ‘the red pill’ when describing their moment of realization or enlightenment about gender politics. One of the very first articles I read on A Voice For Men was by Paul Elam called something like “red pills, blue skies, and tits”. AVFM also had the phrase, “take the red pill” as part of their logo at the time. They have since changed it.

The reason I chose this title is because early on in filming, MRAs were telling me that feminist ideology was ‘blue pill” and that they took the ‘red pill’, so while I was struggling to see and understand the opposing viewpoints, I used this terminology to compartmentalize the ideologies. I actually refer to red pill / blue pill often in my video diaries. When looking at the story arc and the journey I went on, the only title that made sense was ‘The Red Pill’ because it succinctly described my quest to understand the way MRAs (and anti-feminists) see the world.

Others have asked, do you know the difference between the MRM and TRP subreddit, yes I do and those differences will be briefly addressed in the film when describing the factions of the manosphere. However, my film’s title is not referring to TRP subreddit, it is in reference to its original popular culture usage (which is used my many other groups and conspiracists as well, it is not owned by the subreddit).

As far as why TRP subreddit appears on the screen in the sneak preview video, mainstream media constantly conflates all manosphere factions to seem as if they are all one in the same (PUA, MGTOW, MRM, TRP, etc). In the sneak preview video (around the 1 minute mark), that is an actual audio excerpt unedited from MSNBC. They did a story about the “Men’s Rights Movement’ and they said that the MRM “is a universe of message boards like reddit’s The Red Pill”. This is not me saying they are the same, it’s mainstream media, and in my film we will show what mainstream media says about the MRM before we go beneath the surface.

Whew! That was long, but hopefully we can move past the title now. Oh, one more thing: no, I’m not changing the title.

Thank you for the answer. And i do like the term to describe a bitter rivalry between the two.

I found the best detail in your sneak preview that you had a purple pill on your name.

Thanks, love that you caught that.

This's a topic that interests me a fair bit, so I have to ask a few quick questions:

• Who did you end up interviewing from either side? Like big names, random individuals, or what?
• Did anything you learned during the research and interviews completely surprise you?
• Have you talked to any transgendered individuals who may have seen both sides of the gendered issue to a degree?
• Did you talk to people who were MRAs that became feminists, or feminists who later became MRAs?
• Have you done any real research into things like atheism+, gamergate, or similar groups which aren't directly members of the MRM, but may have very close ties to the MRM or feminism?

Anyway, thanksies for putting out the time and effort into this, looking forwards to your answers! =3

EDIT: I forgot to mention, I have a direct line to people like Dean Esmay, James Huff, several of the honey badgers and a few others along those lines. Is there anyone you'd want to talk to that you haven't already? Figure I may as well offer to help with your project. Heck, even I'd be willing to be interviewed if you wanted, even if I'm not a publicly known name. Anyway, question to add is there anyone from like NCFM, AVFM, CAFE, Men's Rights Sydney or whiteribbon.org you'd want to talk to?

Thank you for all your thoughtful questions.

• "Who did you end up interviewing from either side? Like big names, random individuals, or what?"

As far as individuals who've been interviewed, you can see the list on our website for the film here: http://theredpillmovie.com/credits.html

• "Did anything you learned during the research and interviews completely surprise you?"

As far as being surprised during my research and filming, I would say YES. Not to go into too much detail since I don't want to give spoilers out: I was surprised to learn how much misinformation there is in mainstream and social media regarding the MRM (and I fully believed that misinformation until I started to dig deeper), and I was also very surprised by the knee jerk dismissiveness most people had to the notion of "men's rights".

• "Have you talked to any transgendered individuals who may have seen both sides of the gendered issue to a degree?"

I did not have the opportunity to interview any transgender people for this film, but I did attend an LGBT conference while I was making The Red Pill and I heard a male to female person speak about experiencing discrimination for now being a women, which I found to be fascinating.

• "Did you talk to people who were MRAs that became feminists, or feminists who later became MRAs?"

A few of the men's rights advocates that I interviewed started out as feminists, like Paul Elam, Warren Farrell, and some of the honey badgers. I have not spoken to anyone that first started out as an MRA and then became a feminist.

• "Have you done any real research into things like atheism+, gamergate, or similar groups which aren't directly members of the MRM, but may have very close ties to the MRM or feminism?"

I really wanted to focus this film on the MRM since we are only have approx 80-90 minutes in a typical feature length film. I think Atheism, GamerGate, PUA, MGTOW, etc... they are all worthy of their own film. If I covered all of these in my film, we would have to speed through and gloss over so many important issues and that's why there is so much misunderstanding to begin with, we need to dig deeper.

I have done research around those topics so I could know for myself, but we won't be going into Gamegate, atheism, etc in The Red Pill.

For your last comment (the added edit): Thank you for offering connections to those people, many of them are already in the film, but for the others I haven't interviewed, I don't think I can commit to more filming until we know if we'll even be able to continue making this film, and that will rely on the Kickstarter results.

Why do you think that the feminists who actually advocate for men's issues, most famously Christina Hoff Sommers to Warren Farrell and other women like Erin Pizzey get such a bad rep from the feminists community?

Great question Bhill.

The responses I've gotten from feminists when I bring up men's issues are: "once we get equality for women we can start thinking about men's issues". Katherine Spillar in my film said something along the lines of "let women get an even playing field first" (before we discuss men's issues).

I think most feminists agree men have issues, but will say women have MORE issues. Like false accusations is a prime example: feminists will say so many rapes go unreported and those that do get reported, very few result in a conviction, so why care about false allegations against men when it's such a small percent compared to the epidemic of women being raped?

I think Sommers, Farrell, and Pizzey get resistance from feminists because of this (and I'll use my own personal experience while making this film): When an MRA would talk about men's issues, I almost always (in the beginning of filming) thought "well what are they saying about women then?" Or "what about <this> women's issue?" I could rarely just focus on the men's issues being discussed without getting defensive and wanting to "bring balance" to the conversation by bringing up what life is like for women.

I think that is what's happening when Sommers, Farrell, Pizzey and others talk about men's issues. People get defensive and think they're saying women's issues are nonexistent or don't matter.

There are probably many other reasons Sommers, Farrell and Pizzey get resistance too.

How did you first hear about the Men's Rights Movement, and what was your initial reaction?

Hi AugustFell! So, what happened was from about October 2012-March 2013 I was in a creative slump after releasing my second feature documentary “The Right to Love”. I like always having something ‘in the works’, but I didn’t have any films on the horizon. During this time, the Delhi bus gang rape happened and the Steubenville rape case was happening. This was the first time I heard about ‘rape culture’ and I went on a massive googling spree. I thought my next documentary was going to be about rape culture (I like tackling controversial topics), but then I stumbled upon AVoiceForMen.com and thought ‘these are the rape apologists I’ve been hearing about!’ I toyed with the idea of making a film about the Men’s Rights Movement as well as some other ideas, but I always came back to the MRM because it really fascinated me. I wanted to know "who ARE these people?". I was absolutely terrified of the idea of meeting Paul Elam, and when I did meet him he's like 6'5" or something like that. It was intimidating, but my protection was having a camera with me at all times. So, I committed to making a film about the MRM but I never in my wildest dreams thought I would also become a subject in the film. That came later, when I realized I was going through a transformative journey myself.

Hi Cassie, I was very enthousastic when I first came across your project, as a former feminist turned egalitarian focussing on men's rights myself. However I notice a lot of people in the men's rights community are very sceptical about you (I'm not that familiar with your past work I'm afraid, but I will look it up) and the media in general. So I hope you don't mind I bunch a few seperate questions into one, but here goes.

A lot of the media coverage of men's issues and especially people involved in advocation of these issues has been anything but objective. Especially if those advocates are white men. Being a feminist yourself, do you think you are approaching this project with an open mind? And as a feminist, did you find it hard to do so? (I've been there, and (also being a woman) I had a very hard time with coming to terms with reality in the beginning)

And also what has been your goal from the start? Did you want to go in depth on the 'manosphere' in general? (including PUA's, RedPillers, MGTOW's, MRA's, and other 'groups'?) Or did you specifically want to look at men's issues that are finally starting to slowly make it into the mainstream media, often in SPITE of feminists.

And also, having been through it myself I had a harm time coming to terms with the blame feminists got in the men's rights community at first. But after seeing all the ways in which (radical) feminists and feminist organisations in positions of power and influence have actively stood in the way of men's issues being dealt with, and in fact often making them worse, I now understand it and have become slightly anti-feministic myself. Although I am glad many still differentiate between moderate and radical feminists. I think a lot of the opposition to the men's movement is mainly caused by ignorance, propaganda, and fear.

How did you deal with that? Because I know it can sometimes be quite overwhelming. Specifically coming from people like Paul Elam who - although I agree with most of what he says - is hardly as ... diplomatic as Karen Straughan or Christina Hoff Sommers.

Either way, from the trailer footage I've seen I am very hopeful you have approached this from a neutral and objective standpoint, and am very curious about the end result. I also hope this AMA helps the many doubters in the men's rights community decide if they want to financially support you or not.

Hi Hgoddyn, apologies for my delayed response and thank you for your thoughtful questions.

I understand why many people in the MRM/MHRM are cautious to trust me and my intentions. I'm a stranger to them, I'm asking for money on Kickstarter, and the synopsis says "a feminist follows the men's rights movement"... that all sounds very fishy, I get it. Also, there are many examples of the MHRM being vilified, taken out of context and misrepresented in the media. I remember someone from MSNBC covered the International Conference on Men's Issues in Michigan in 2014, and their article was all cherry picked quotes and nowhere near the experience I had at that conference, but every person comes from a different perspective. So, I understand why people are having a hard time trusting me.

Also, I have seen the automatic dismissiveness to the movement, and the criticism that the movement is made up primarily of older white males.

Regarding: "Being a feminist yourself, do you think you are approaching this project with an open mind? And as a feminist, did you find it hard to do so?"

When I began this journey filming, I had a much more open mind than many of my feminist friends had at that time, but in looking back on the footage, I was still very shut off to many of the MRA views, especially critiques on feminism. I was very receptive to hearing about the issues because I have a soft spot for sticking up for anyone who is being mistreated, that's why many of my films have been about human rights and social issues.

Still, what the MRAs were saying about feminists did not soak in for me immediately, but when I started to go about my everyday life, and saw the casual misandry that was happening, and saw how people got angry (wide eyes, clenched jaw angry) when I brought up men's issues... it made me look deeper into what the MRAs were saying.

As far as your question: "what has been your goal from the start? Did you want to go in depth on the 'manosphere' in general? (including PUA's, RedPillers, MGTOW's, MRA's, and other 'groups'?) Or did you specifically want to look at men's issues that are finally starting to slowly make it into the mainstream media, often in SPITE of feminists."

Although the film will quickly address the factions of the manosphere to get the viewer up to speed (the viewers who have never heard about any of this), this film will focus on the Men's Rights Movement. I've categorized the MRM into 1. issues and 2. ideology. The film will first go in depth into the men's issues, and then the film will go into the conflicting ideologies, since that was my experience when I was trying to understand all of this.

Regarding: "I think a lot of the opposition to the men's movement is mainly caused by ignorance, propaganda, and fear. How did you deal with that? "

The original goal was for me to learn and understand the MRM platform, and now that I've gone on that journey, the goal is to complete this film to help create a better understanding, so we can all engage in these tough conversations. Some people will probably refuse to watch this film (one feminist told me she doesn't want to cloud her brain with those thoughts, thoughts being the MRA POV). I think the biggest deep-rooted fear that anyone can have is the fear that they could possibly be changed. That is a scary thought.

How do I deal with that? Hmm.. I dunno. Hope that other people trick them into watching this film? DVD stocking stuffer? No... I think the best thing that could happen for this film is a viral, word-of-mouth "you have to see this film and then let's talk" ripple effect. That's my hope for this film, that it becomes a conversation starter, but you can't be a part of the conversation until you've seen the film. That way at least everyone is clued into the issues and the opposing views. Right now I see a lot of misinformation floating around and that is severely stalling progress.

Do you think the time will ever come when feminists will take men's issues as serious concerns, and not dismiss MRAs as women haters? It seems like most feminists say that men's rights as a movement isn't necessary, because feminism is about equality, therefore men's issues are covered, too. I've yet to hear feminists discuss men's issues, outside of men should do more to help out with feminism. Additionally, the Southern Poverty Law Center calls various men's rights groups "hate groups," which makes me wonder who does their research for them.

Great question. I'm not sure how long it will be before feminists take men's issues seriously, but I do feel that my film can create a bridge for honest discussion if the film can get out there to the mainstream masses.

However, I've noticed feminists and MRAs alike both say they are working on men's issues, the difference is how.

When I explain this film to my friends and people who know nothing about MRAs, I explain that feminists view Patriarchy as the evil in the world and say we need to dismantle patriarchy to achieve true gender equality, and MRAs view feminism as the evil in the world and we need to dismantle feminism in order to achieve a gender balanced society. They both believe they are the answer to progress for men, but they disagree on what needs to be done, who is holding men back, and who is the one to lead the charge for change. I believe my film will help people think critically about these discussions.

Your other films are wonderfully objective and fair, and you unfailingly treat your subjects as human beings first and foremost, so I am not personally concerned will be a ‘hit piece’, driven by ideology. You’ve not been that way with your other films, so why would you start now?

I’m curious as to how your feminist beliefs did, or didn’t, help you to understand the issues facing men and boys? We are very critical of media/institutional feminists in the MHRM, but in my experience, the average women on the street who identify as feminists actually share many of our goals and concerns, they are simply unaware of how much institutional feminism opposes those goals.

Do you feel like your feminism helped you understand, or made it more difficult?

Hi JudgyBitch,

Thank you for your comments on my previous films, and yes, that is my style (to allow people to speak for themselves and not be taken out of context), it's not just what I do, it's who I am. I wouldn't be able to sleep otherwise.

As far as how my feminist views affected my journey making this film and trying to understand men's issues, without giving away too much of the film: learning about the issues hit me first and hardest, there was concrete data you can't deny but you can try to rationalize (which I did at many times) but the critiques on feminism were much more difficult for me to digest.

This ideological journey/struggle for me was captured moment by moment in my video diaries. It's now very difficult to watch my early video diaries because I know so much more now, but I think those moments are important to show how it all unfolded.

Of course, I'm not going to say how it all turns out, but it doesn't even really matter what conclusion I came to, what matters is what the viewer wants to accept or deny when given the opportunity to listen to all sides and learn the facts. They are welcome to watch my journey and completely disagree with everything I say and think, but I am just a character in the film, I am not the voice of God telling the viewer what to believe, it is up to the viewer to decide for themselves.

I do think we all have a lot to learn from my experiment though. I call it an 'experiment' because in hindsight it does seem like I was a lab rat and data and results were all captured on camera.

And just to make sure I answer your question directly: my feminist views helped me understand the resistance I had to men's issues being discussed, but then again my feminist views made it a longer process to really hear what the MRAs were saying.

Looky, it's JB! #CelebritySightings

It's really Dean Esmay in a frock. He doubles for JB when she is in public, due to the takedown mentality of her opponents. P¬)

Oh come on everyone knows my tits are bigger than hers.

OK seriously, since I'm supposed to ask a question: Cassie how has your family/close friends reacted to some of the discussions you've almost certainly wound up having? I guess you don't have to say but I myself had some VERY rough conversations with loved ones. I'm curious if you had experiences you'd like to share. (Share as much or as little as you like)

Hi Dean, thanks for the great question.

Hmm.. conversations have certainly erupted with some friends and family while making this film.

It's always fascinating to me what issues people will focus in on and adamantly defend or vehemently reject. Rape culture, circumcision, patriarchy, and the gender wag gap always seem to ignite heated debates, sometimes ending in tears or the silent treatment (from them, not me).

I'll just list a couple past interactions that come to mind:

• One sweet interaction was with a women (neither feminist or MRA) who learned I was making this film and she revealed her son's difficulties in family court and him getting custody of her grandkids. That was devastating to hear her pain, and yet she knew nothing about the men's rights movement.

• I had many bad experiences hiring people to work with me on this project: an animator who was making his work slower than it needed to be and I couldn't figure out why, and after about 2 months of stringing me along, he finally told me he didn't want to be a part of a film about the MRM and he was hoping we would just "fall out of touch". Another person I hired could barely keep it together when watching my rough edits, she would have panic attacks about what was being said in the film. I think that was a unique scenario, I hope other people won't be having panic attacks and leaving the theater while watching this film.

• I recently had a wonderful conversation with a fellow filmmaker at a film festival last week. He had never heard of the MRM and wanted to know everything I knew. I would explain and he would start bringing up his own experiences. He would say "being a single middle-aged man, sometimes I feel like I shouldn't be around children or else I'll be looked at as creepy or a pedophile. Is this discussed in the MRM?", and I would say "yes, it is", and then he would say "how about how there is so much attention focused on women being hired as film directors and women being equally represented in political positions, when the amount of submissions don't reflect that percentage of men to women. Are these issues discussed in the MRM?" and I said "yes"... and he just went on and on with observations he's made over the years of being a white middle aged male, and yet he had no idea about the MRM. I thought that was a fun conversation since many of the other conversations I have are people telling me I shouldn't make this film, so it's fun to change it up once in a while.

After watching the trailer on kickstarter I was struck by a moment where one of the men your interviewing walks away saying "I don't like sympathy for any of this."

Personally it resonated very strongly as a man I know how hurtful sympathy is to me and at the same time I crave understanding its a horrible mess in me emotionally.

I would love to have a small glimpse in how that moment impacted you.

Hi Ideology_checker, great name!

Thanks for asking about a specific moment in the sneak preview video. Each moment has a long story behind them, so it's fun to answer specifics.

That moment when the man stands up and says "I don't like sympathy for any of this!", I can't give away what triggered his reaction, but I felt absolutely horrible in that moment.

I asked tough questions to all of my interviews, but never in an effort to catch them in a fumble, more so to have an honest dialogue about the struggle I was going through to understand them. So, when I asked tough questions, they were always genuine and sincere, but whenever the interviewee was upset by the question, I felt especially horrible because I honestly wanted to know the answer. I wasn't trying to offend them.

That all probably sounds very vague, but the full film will show how everything went down.

Thank you for your reply.

I know you want to avoid specifics and I understand but could you just indicate if you think you empathized with him in that moment? Essentially do you think you understood why he was so distraught either at the time or even later in retrospect?

I empathized with him later (weeks-months later) when I was watching the footage back. I interviewed him very early on in the filming process and I was VERY green about these issues and talking points back then. That's probably why he reacted the way he did. He was getting frustrated that I wasn't seeing his POV.

So, yes, now I completely understand where he was coming from and today I probably would have reacted the same way he did.

Hi, Cassie. If I had the money to fund the rest of your kickstarter, I would do it. Unfortunately, I can't. How do you suppose the kickstarter will be funded? I'm a bit worried that the kickstarter won't meet it's goal at the rate it's being funded right now. Do you have any plans to make your kickstarter more widely known so that more people will donate?

Hi icefire, wow, that is so incredibly sweet! And if I had the money to fund the rest of my kickstarter, I would do it too, haha.

Yes, the current Kickstarter amount raised is very worrisome. I know there are some irons in the fire to get the word out more, but they are all taking longer than expected.

I'm definitely in panic mode right now. Mainly because not only is this an all-or-nothing crowd funding campaign (meaning if we don't reach our goal of $97k then we don't keep ANY of the funds), but this is also an all-or-nothing moment for the film's future. I've tried every other funding option possible: submitting to film grants that never got approved for funding, approaching executive producers who wanted too much creative control and did not want to take a balanced approach, and the only thing that worked (but now does not work) has been exhausting my savings and spending all of my income on this film. 2.5 years later that really adds up. I'm not bitter, it was worthy every single penny for the philosophical journey I went on. So, the kickstarter was literally the last cry for help to get this film made. If we don't reach our goal then it will be a very sad day.

If you have any ideas to help spread the word, please let me know.

Hi, Cassie! Great project, and you actually 'caught' 'Big Red', without whom the movie would not have been clomplete! My question is: Did you realise, while making the movie, how powerfull, influentual, yet virtually untouchable, feminism actually is?

Is that like taking the Red Pill?

Also: I would like to donate, but i don't have a credit card. Are there other ways to send money from Europe?

Hi Kroll (and thanks Fooksake for mentioning to kroll to post this as a parent thread, I caught it though!)

Yes, making this film has made me realize how feminist views are more widely accepted (even by people who do not call themselves a feminist). Just the views that men have all the power and women are oppressed is taken as fact without question. In this film we are going to question everything.

Independent theaters are the primary outlet for most documentaries that get screen time. I can't imagine my local theater screening this, they have a fairly well established bias.

How do you plan to distribute this movie?

Bare minimum: we’ll screen at film festivals for 9-12 months and then self-distribute online, but that’s the extreme bare minimum. However, what I’m aiming for is: we’ll premiere at a top tier film festival, do an Oscar-qualifying theatrical run in LA and NYC theaters (I've done this before), we’ll do a grassroots nationwide screening tour in small town theaters and on college campuses (at least the ones that allow it), and then we’ll secure a distributor so we can eventually be on Netflix, Hulu, OnDemand, etc.

G'day. Are you surprised that this film is not getting more attention ?

Actually yes. I have (/had?) connections to large media outlets and they denied writing about or posting The Red Pill video, even though they supported my other films. It is very disappointing.

Do you have any backup plans to produce the movie in case the primary funding through your kickstarter doesn't pan out? (I think this is an extremely important movie to make, I would fund it all myself if I could)

Hi Mr. E, thanks for being here!

As far as backup plans go. I think the ONLY option we have (if this Kickstarter doesn't make its goal) is to try to find an angel investor. Someone who believes enough in this film to want to see it completed and who will support my vision of being true to how my journey unfolded.

I guess I can reveal that I was offered full project funding in 2014 to make what would have been a propaganda film to support that organization's agenda. I refused then and will always refuse to do that. This film is not about making money. This film is about creating a better future, based by facts, knowledge and understanding.

So, yeah, I think an angel investor (that 'gets it') would be our only hope if the Kickstarter fails.

How has the public reaction to/perception of this documentary differed from how the general public reacted to/perceived other documentaries you've made?

Hi Mr. Scruffles,

Great question. Making documentaries are almost always a uphill battle, there's a lot of competition to obtain the few available funding sources. However, my other films were nowhere near as difficult to promote and gain support for as The Red Pill has been.

For my previous films: I was able to garner mainstream media attention, I was able to rally support and assistance in post production, my friends would share it with their friends, people (strangers even) would happily engage with me in long conversations about those films, but it seems this film topic REALLY scares people (and/or just makes them angry). It scared me too when I first began this project, but I still was curious to find out what happens. I think, sadly, many people would be very happy if this film just faded away.

Hello Cassie. I would like to say I am very curious about your project, but as an MRA I must admit I'm a bit distrusting of the media in general. Even so, I have made an effort to share your kickstarter campaign and donated a little bit, but also changed my pledge several times out of doubt more than anything.

I like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, especially after having seen the trailer and read some of your articles etc. But having been heavily involved in a lot of online discussion on men's issues over the past few years ever since the Eliot Roger case, and having seen a lot of media coverage of men's issues and the MR movement, I have a hard time trusting "the media", which you now represent.

So perhaps hearing it from you personally will bring more comfort.

What was your goal from the start of this documentary? And has that goal changed over time, as you came in contact with more and more people? How has this impacted your views? And what, if anything, do you think (and hope) the impact of it will be on society or the gender wars/gender debate in the nereby future?

Thank you.

First off thank you so much for your contribution to our Kickstarter. I really appreciate your support while you've been having concerns about me and this film. That is very brave of you to take that leap of faith without knowing the outcome.

I hope to reassure you that my approach for all of my documentaries has been to allow the interviewee to give their best "pitch" and allow the audience to make their own opinion. My past films have been praised for being balanced documentaries (here's a review of my film "Daddy I Do" that acknowledged my balanced approach http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1323593/reviews?ref_=tt_ql_8 ). Many audiences can not tell what side of the debates I am on, and that’s how I prefer it to be. It forces the audience to think for themselves rather than relying on me to tell them what to believe.

I understand your skepticism about me since the men's rights movement has been so poorly reported on by other journalists, but I think the best way to assure you is to tell you a little more about my journey while making this film.

I began this film project identifying as a feminist. I was astonished and intrigued to learn about these men’s issues that I hadn’t heard much of and yet seemed like huge issues. As I dug deeper, I found that these are issues that need to be more widely addressed, but I was experiencing first-hand the push back about even mentioning men's rights or men's issues. "Why is this?" I asked myself.

My initial goal was to make a film about the Men's Rights Activists: who they are, where are they from, and see if they are truly the misogynists everyone was saying they were. However in my journey, I realized my own strong-held beliefs where starting to be challenged and I began to see signs that I was changing. I began recording ‘video diaries’ so I could document my own evolving thoughts and emotions to use as research for when I was going to compile the story in the editing room. While I was recording my video diaries and reflecting on my interviews with MRAs I realized that I wasn’t being a very good ‘devil’s advocate’ anymore in my interviews and I was forgetting what the feminist rebuttal would be. That’s when I decided to bring feminists into the film.

My goal NOW is to show the honest journey I went on (and it was a windy road) in hopes of dispelling the misinformation about men's issues and to encourage dialogue based on facts rather than fear.

I don't want to live in a society where ideas are censored, and hopefully others will stand with me on that.

I have to wrap this AMA up, but if you have more questions, please message me on Kickstarter. I don't want you giving your hard-earned money without truly knowing where it is going. You deserve to know and be certain about what kind of film you are supporting.

Were you worried how the mra community would treat you as a woman?

Great question! Yes, I was worried and very curious how it would all play out. In the very beginning, I thought maybe they would scoff at the idea of me making this film because the inference is that I “must be a feminist trying to make a hit piece”. Obviously the MRAs had their guards up (and they still do, that has never stopped), but any of my fears about my safety subsided when I reminded myself that I always had a camera with me and at least one other person (cameraperson or producer) with me. Those fears especially dwindled when I met each MRA one on one and realized that many of them had a wife, girlfriend, or full on family. While interviewing, I’ve only felt afraid a couple of times during making this film, and those moments were captured and will be shown in the final film.

As it seems that everyone else has the MRM-as-covered-by-feminist questions covered, mine is a bit more prosaic: what remains to be done on the film? I don't know anything about film making, but it seems like you've shot all of the footage already. What steps are left? While I'm curious for its own sake, people might be interested in knowing what the $90k will be actually going to; it might give people something concrete on which to be willing to put their money.

(Don't hesitate to explain the post-production steps to me like I'm 8 years old - I really have no frame of context here.)

EDIT: sub-question = is the film all lined out/scripted/finished in that way? Or are you done with content and it's more at the "technical/finishing" point?

Hi FookSake, thanks for giving me the opportunity to discuss why we need the funding.

Most people do not realize the costs involved in completing a film for theatrical release and distribution. Many documentaries average $250k to $500k, to even $1-$2 million. Cheaper budgets produce much lower quality films that have a difficult time being taken seriously and distributed to the masses.

For most documentaries, the production stage (which includes filming and traveling for a documentary) is much less expensive than the post-production stage, especially when you've accumulated as much footage as I have (over 100+ hours of captivating interviews, and that's not counting the events I've filmed).

We need a minimum of $97k to pay for low-budget reduced-rate post-production costs. We worked really hard to get the budget down to $97k, we had to cut people’s rates in half, and then half again to get it that low, and even if we make the $97 we will still be pinching pennies and getting favors to complete this film.

The funding is going towards an editor for 1 month (I’ll be editing for about 4-5 months, without pay of any sort and then I’ll be bringing in a professional polishing editor for 1 month), an animator (to visually show the statistical information we’ll be covering in the film), sound design/edit/mix (you don’t know how important sound is until you see a film with bad sound), color correction (you can tell from our Kickstarter video we need this! Some people’s skin tones are bright red or sickly green!), music/score (this is what makes a film cinematic in my humble opinion), insurance (because you can’t distribute a film without it), and lastly, Kickstarter fees (which are hefty) and Kickstarter rewards.

I know $97k sounds like a lot, but it’s actually not when you think of how huge this topic is and how much push-back there is to people just "helping you out because they believe in the topic". I was fortunate enough to receive many favors from people for my film "The Right to Love" because they believed in the topic and the message. The Red Pill does not have that advantage. If it's a low quality film, it's easy for theaters to say "no thanks", but theaters, film festivals and netflix cannot dismiss you as easily if they see the amount of effort and professionalism put into this film.

My understanding is that you have identified as a believer in Feminism and have expressed admiration for prominent Feminists like Gloria Steinem. Thus far, have your Feminist acquaintances reacted positively or negatively to this project?

Excellent question. Most feminists have responded negatively about me making this film. The most common reaction I get to to this film is "why are you giving them a platform to speak?"

Also, I was in contact with Gloria while I was filming and asked her for an interview, she declined due to her busy schedule but she referred me to Michael Kimmel.

I thought the red pill hated MRAs. And you made a movie that says they're one in the same? How does that work?

I've never said the MRM and TRP are one in the same. I would like to mention there have been other films titled The Red Pill, look on imdb.

Hi Cassie, I'm non-biased, I was just wondering after all of your research and everything you have learned, do you think there ever will be a time that all men and women will feel they are equal/have equal rights? Is this concept even possible? Thanks for your hard work!

Excellent question and this may be one of the most important questions we examine in the film.

"do you think there ever will be a time that all men and women will feel they are equal/have equal rights?"

All people? No. As long as we're allowed independent thought, I think there will be people questioning if their life experiences are equal to the opposite sex, or if they are disadvantaged/advantaged in any way.

I think these thoughts are healthy if they help detect injustices, but they are unhealthy when the thoughts themselves create inequality for other people or groups.

Hi Cassie

You said:

I was absolutely terrified of the idea of meeting Paul Elam, and when I did meet him he's like 6'5" or something like that. It was intimidating, but my protection was having a camera with me at all times.

Was there any time that you felt like you needed that camera for protection? Did you ever feel threatened?

Yes I felt threatened a hand full of times (sometimes without the camera). Those times are still upsetting to me but I don't think they represent their group affiliation as a whole. There are bad seeds and bad seeds like to be a part of movements, too.

In the Extended Preview of "The Red Pill" you capture a lovely moment. As you were wrapping up filming Paul Elam and Warren Farrel made some very interesting quips.

Paul Elam asked "Are you going to put a disclaimer that no Feminists were harmed in the making of this movie?".

Warren Farrel then says "And then you can put in Parentheses "well we really don;t care if men were harmed.".".

What was the funniest moment for you during the filming?

Oooooo... funniest moment! Umm.... I've had a lot of funny moments this past week reading the comments from people about the Kickstarter. So many of them are so far off base that I can't help but just laugh. Some people were saying I was using the $97k to pay off student loans but I never went to college, I am debt free (woo hoo), others were saying that this film is a big feminist conspiracy Trojan Horse and we're doing a kickstarter "to trick MRAs into funding the movie that will be their downfall", someone else said I was a honey badger in disguise, haha. It's all very amusing to me.

But while filming, hmm... funny moments... actually many funny moments will be included in the film, so I can't give away those. Oh, here's something that comes to mind: Warren Farrell and I emailed for a bit before we finally met for his interview, and the whole time we were emailing, he thought I was a man!

I'm still very skeptical about this myself. Your preview is fairly slanted towards feminist views on terms of music and what you allow to be shown.

Can you explain why you are doing subtle confirmation bias in the preview?

Hey all, here's the last response I'm giving today:

Adanu, thanks for your question about the music. I think more people are reading into the music than they need to. It was a creative choice and it wasn't meant to manipulate the viewer into sympathizing more with the feminists. I wanted something upbeat to pick the energy up and help move the story along because there was already enough weighty music in the preview.

Hi do you have any directorial advice?

Have a vision and stick to it. and Make the film YOU want to see.

Do you have any tips on set control?

A great Assistant Director who will be loud for you so you can be the nice cop and whisper in the AD's ear what you want done.

Hi, Cassie! Great project, and you actually 'caught' 'Big Red', without whom the movie would not have been clomplete! My question is: Did you realise, while making the movie, how powerfull, influentual, yet virtually untouchable, feminism actually is?

Is that like taking the Red Pill?

Also: I would like to donate, but i don't have a credit card. Are there other ways to send money from Europe?

Just want you and others to know that I responded to this question by Kroll within the comments section...