Writer Turns Bad Experiences into Profitable Projects, including Sale of Book on Lying to China, Campaign to Stop Book Piracy, and Short Films - from Changemakers
San Francisco, California (PRWEB) July 11, 2013 -- Using the classic lemons to lemonade approach, internationally-known author Gini Graham Scott has found inspiration in a series of difficulties. The most recent problems were triggered by the mortgage meltdown, when her credit line was suddenly reduced and she sold her house when it was about to go into foreclosure. Then, she unexpectedly got a huge tax bill because of the increased value of her house. These experiences led to a series of books which have been published and film projects which premiered at a theatrical showing in San Francisco.
Scott began using this lemons to lemonade approach after a few people lied to her. Despite feeling betrayed, she drew on the experience to write the book The Truth About Lying, featuring interviews with people about how and why they lied. The book has become a classic after 20 years of sales and most recently, it was licensed to a publisher in China.
Later, after Wells Fargo, the Bank of America, and CitiBank suddenly reduced her credit limit though she had been making regular payments, she was inspired to develop The Suicide Party about a businessman who decides to have a “suicide party” with the help of friends to raise enough money so he can save his house and get back on his feet. Otherwise he’ll end it all, leading to a media frenzy and expected results.
The Suicide Party premiered at the Castro Theater July 6 as part of the Scary Cow Film Festival. It will be shown again at a gala public celebration at the Taverna Aventine in the Financial District of San Francisco, where key scenes were filmed, in early August. To help promote the film, an international Save Dave campaign, featured at Save Dave.Net, , is being launched with an international Save Dave video competition in which anyone is invited to send in a 10-30 second video on why we should save Dave, with rewards for the best, funniest, and most creative videos. The Save Dave website will also be featured in an IndieGoGo campaign to help fund the feature, with even more details on the Suicide Party film website.
The experience of having her credit suddenly reduced also led to two music videos – Bad Bad Banks and Credit Card Rap, which tell the author’s story to a country pop beat. The two videos are featured at her company channel at http://www.youtube.com/changemakersprod..
Her experience of having to sell her home of nearly 17 years or face foreclosure led her to write and publish Living in Limbo: The Beginning of the End and New Beginnings about her year of living on the edge before moving to a rental in San Francisco and discovering the Scary Cow film collective, with which she has made five films inspired by her experiences.
Then, after getting an unexpected big tax bill due to the sale – a bill that can’t be discharged for three years in a bankruptcy, unlike other debts, Scott realized that millions of once successful people might be similarly facing such bills after being forced to sell a house or losing a good job or business. The result was launching a Forgive Our Taxes campaign to change the tax and bankruptcy laws to be fairer to once successful but now struggling people. Already Scott has met with the staffs of state Assemblymen and Senators, and she plans meetings with members of Congress to push for changing the laws. A Forgive Our Taxes documentary has just completed filming and will premier at the Castro Theater in San Francisco in November.
So far, the campaign includes a Forgive Our Taxes website, a Forgive Our Taxes Facebook page and a petition posted at Change.org.
Most recently, after discovering nearly two dozen of her books offered for free or sold by pirates, Scott launched a campaign to stop Internet book piracy which affects millions of writers and causes billions of losses to publishers. Her latest book: The Battle Against Internet Book Piracy describes the battle to date against Internet pirates and outlines what writers and publishers can do about the problem. A [Stop Book Piracy Facebook page
features the latest developments in the campaign. A documentary will be filmed in August.
Gini Graham Scott is the founder of Changemakers Publishing and Writing and the author of over 50 published books with major companies, as well as 30 books published by her own company Changemakers Publishing. She also writes books and scripts for clients. She has spoken about the topics of her books to many groups and the media, including appearances on Good Morning America, Oprah, and CNN. She received a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California in Berkeley, a J.D. from the University of San Francisco Law School, and M.A.s in Anthropology, Mass Communications and Organizational/Consumer/Audience Behavior and Popular Culture and Lifestyles, and a M.S. in Recreation and Tourism at California State University, East Bay. She will be pursuing an MA in Communications there beginning in September 2013.
Nancy Parker, Changemakers Publishing and Writing.com, http://www.changemakerspublishingandwriting.com, (415) 571-8282, [email protected]
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