OFF THE WIRE
agingrebel.com
According to Cameron Casey, a producer on the Discovery Channel
reality series Warlocks Rising, Discovery is demanding that
this page “take down,” its stories about the show. Cameron says lots of things
and The Aging Rebel smells blood. This is how we got here.
The Aging Rebel has published five stories (which is probably at
least two more than ideal) about this television program in the last three
weeks. On June 21st, this page ran an announcement titled “Warlocks Rising” that
the show had been produced and was going to air. That advance was followed by
“Warlocks Issue Press Release” on July 4; a favorable review of the show titled
“Watch Warlocks Rising” on July 5th; and a story about a growing controversy
surrounding the show titled “Warlocks Rising Controversy” on July 9th. In
researching the controversy story this page solicited a brief written interview
with Casey who replied obliquely:
“…thank you for your interest in the show. We are aware of the controversy
and understand the Warlocks concerns, we are proud of the show and tried to tell
the Warlocks story by focusing on Love/Respect and brotherhood and tried to stay
true to the characters, club history and real stories of the club. As story
tellers/documentary film makers we take our jobs very seriously and wanted to
maintain respect and consideration for Warlocks on all levels. Warlocks are
proud Americans and as you know many fought for our country in war and are
living patriotic lives and live by principles that at the core truly American
principles.”
The controversy story transcribed the written questions Casey had been asked,
noted that he had not answered those questions and promised “When he does, this
page will print his replies.”
The next morning, at 11:01 a.m. Pacific Time, Casey did answer those
questions and The Aging Rebel, as promised, ran the questions
and Casey’s verbatim responses at 2:54 p.m.
Four Questions
The Aging Rebel: First and most important, the show as aired includes the
closing credit: “Special Thanks The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives.” Why? To what extent was the ATF involved in the production and post
production of this show? Are you aware of the implications of that credit?
Casey: ATF were not involved with us but they did let us dig into files they
had on the club and give us information from their perspective on the club. We
are documentary film makers and wanted to look at the story from all angles. We
thought having the story told from their point of view (as limited as it was)
would be beneficial for viewing audiences to get a full and true picture of what
the Warlocks world is all about. Information flowed in one direction only – from
them to us. We in no way ever got involved in their investigation processes. (If
any were going on at the time or not) We had nothing to do with law enforcement
investigation issues.
TAR: Is this show journalism or entertainment? Who controls the outtakes?
Casey: Documentary Film making is by nature a journalistic process of story
telling from a fly on the wall perspective. Meaning that we try and be observers
as much as possible and not manipulate the situations letting real life happen.
Our job was to tell the true Warlocks story as it unfolded in front of us. In
capturing real stories and real characters in real situations we can only hope
that audiences will find the material worthwhile, valuable, informational and
above all exciting and entertaining. THE OUTTAKES ARE CONTROLLED BY DISCOVERY.
But most of the extra material not used in the show are discarded.
TAR: I have been told filming on the show began in September. Did it? I know
filming continued on the show throughout last fall.
Casey: RESEARCH for the show started over a year ago with interviews, phone
calls and emails. The shooting started in August and lasted for the entire rest
of the year.
TAR: Will the show mention the deadly shootout between members of the Chester
faction of the Harpy Warlocks and members of the Warbird Warlocks?
Casey: Due to the sensitive nature of the shooting and the trial there will
be little or no mention of the shooting at this time. We did in fact do an
episode of the shooting that may or may not come out depending on how popular
the show becomes. Tell everyone to watch the show and hopefully we can continue
to tell the Warlocks story in subsequent episodes and seasons. They are an
amazing – exciting and meaningful brotherhood with legendary stories to tell.
Their story should be told.
In addition to answering the questions in writing, Casey suggested, “Let’s do
a few more stories as an ongoing account of how the show got made etc. If that’s
of interest to you.”
Free Reign Media
The Aging Rebel’s reporting on the production used, in part, a Free
Reign Media press release issued on July 5th. Among other things that release
states:
“Entertainment production company Free Reign Media recently partnered with
Discovery Channel on its upcoming Warlocks Rising series,
which enters the secret brotherhood of the Warlocks Motorcycle Club, a notorious
nationwide group with a stronghold in Florida.”
“Likened to the real-life version of Sons of Anarchy, Warlocks
Rising was co-created by Cameron Casey and Stuart Schonfeld of Free Reign
Media in association with Discovery Studios. Casey and Schonfeld also served as
executive producers along with Eddie Barbini and Brian Knappmiller.”
“Casey and Schonfeld spent a year developing the storylines of the seven
Warlocks members featured in the series. This included hours of journalistic
research and interviews with the bikers to flesh out and document their personal
stories and family relationships.”
Panic Attack
At 3:14 p.m. Pacific, 20 minutes after the most recent story was published,
Casey wrote, “Can you hold off printing any more information about Warlocks. The
Club is not happy about the information being sent out and it’s causing problems
for all of us. I’ll be in touch once I can clear this from the Warlocks.”
At 3:19 p.m., 25 minutes after the interview with Casey ran, he emailed this
page to explain that he had misspoken. He wrote “ATF gave us some photos from
their archives only. It is standard for Discovery to say thank you to
all parties who help in the production.”
At 4:46 p.m. Casey wrote, “Discovery Legal department is very angry
and we need to take down the articles that you wrote – First off ATF did not let
us into their files – I was wrong. I thought they gave us some reference photos
but that’s not the case. And I was not the only person that produced the show.
Discovery had an entire team producing this show. So what you wrote is
not true. Please take down the articles ASAP.”
The Aging Rebel stands by the stories as currently written. This
page has not been contacted by Discovery’s legal affairs department.
The, now, six stories this page has published about the show were all intended
to either alert readers to the cablecast of Warlocks Rising, fairly and
sympathetically review the show or give an equal voice to members of the
Warlocks Motorcycle Club who think the show crassly commercializes the Warlocks
patch.
Now, or at least real soon now, back to the real news.
