RE: President Matt creates a stir not only publicy butamong his own.

[Guest guest]

Dan,

In response to you question about whether I signed an NDA?? ... It's a

great question so I'm going to give you a rather detailed answer.

Currently LPA is " involved " in weeding through over 16 different

reality/documentary/book/TV show projects. These " projects " are beyond

the everyday stuff...like the newspaper reporter that called us last

week asking what we thought of- 'the contest where someone stuffed a

dwarf into a suitcase'?-- We get those kind of calls almost everyday.

As far as the more substantial projects are concerned, we often just

toss them out... and literally say " No Comment " ! Other times we make

phone calls and send letters to their corporate office and strongly

discourage them from moving forward. Still other times, we sense that

the show (or book) is going to go forward with or with out us... so we

just try to stay as engaged as possible in order to make even the

smallest bit of positive influence on the outcome. We often stay

engaged, even if we prefer they never did the project in the first

place. (this most closely represents the category of the Littlest

Groom).

These are all very complex judgment calls that we, as elected officials

of LPA, are charged to make based on the best information available.

From time to time we decide not to engage unless we get more detailed

information about the script, etc.

I remember getting the script sent to me for a movie " tiptoes " ... We

decided to discourage their project and sent the script back with a

letter encouraging (actually begging) them to make substantial

alterations or cancel the project.

Sometimes this reviewing process requires me to sign an NDA (non

disclosure agreement)-- An NDA simply means if they give me details I

won't publicly disclose what I know.. I trust the reasons are obvious.

In my career as a software sales executive I signed NDAs on a regular

basis. Reality programs seem to have standardized on a $5,000,000

penalty if you break the agreement. I sign these as an individual NOT

on behalf of LPA in order to protect LPA from any liability. - This

process has been review by legal counsel. Because of the size of the

penalty I most often choose not to sign and simply stay away. Other

times I make the judgment call to sign and see what I can find out about

their intentions-- Signing these NDA's does NOT mean that I support the

show or cannot decide to fight/lobby against it. It simply means I can't

disclose certain trade secrets about the project. Signing the NDA in no

way guarantees I will have any influence over the outcome- It does

however give me more insight into what they are thinking. Regardless of

who likes/dislikes this Little Groom show LPA DID have a positive impact

on the final product. THEY DID ASK OUR OPINIONS- AND TOOK MUCH (Not all)

OF OUR ADVICE.

In the case of FOX Television (and their reputation) I am VERY MUCH on

guard and suspicious of all their intentions regardless of what I hear

from them. This is all part of the dangerous game we play every day

with the media -- Talk about playing with fire! I'm very aware of

this--- more than most of you may ever know.

Out of the 16 or so " projects " we are currently wading through, I've

signed a handful of NDA's. Some are book deals where the author is not

looking for LPA endorsement (which we NEVER give anyway) but simply want

us to read the manuscript and check it for " realness " and political

correctness as related to LP's. As officers, we do our best to provide

them the advice they're seeking.

I'll provide one specific example (not under NDA) and give you an

idea--- A college history professor and author who is asked me to

review a story he wrote. The book, part truth/part fiction, is about a

dwarf drummer boy in the civil war who wasn't allowed to carry a gun

because of his size. However, when all hell broke lose.. the drummer boy

took up arms from his fallen comrades and saved the day. I have a stack

of such work (most of which I find amazing) on my desk right now. We are

prepared to review this drummer boy manuscript and make minor

suggestions and input to help his story reflect the individuals with

dwarfism most realistically. Providing guidance to this author has

resulted in him correctly portraying how an LP would need to adapt to

using a firearm... and how the gun stock may have to be placed OVER the

shoulder (not underarm). Other projects are much more complex when

evaluating the intentions and exploitivness of the work.

LPA is currently going through a massive amount of media project

inquires including everything from; LPs considering law suits for the

Judge Judy show - to - a follow-up for the Travel channel documentary -

to - The Amazing Race. Many of these are TV shows we just reject out of

hand. Rest assured that we are not selling LP's 'up the river' but

instead making highly complex judgment calls on a daily basis for what

we believe is the best interest of the majority of our members.

Dan Okenfuss (LPA's VP of PR) will be conducting a TOWN HALL style

meeting with myself in San Francisco. This Town Hall is titled 'The

Media and LPA'. We will be soliciting input from our members on what

LPA's role should be in the media. Good, Bad or Indifferent, we will

be seeking our members advice in a town hall setting. I encourage you

all to attend or ask someone you know who is attending the SF conference

to give your input in this open forum.

I remain active on this list to listen, learn, interact, and form

leadership opinions. This list is only a SMALL slice of the total input

we get. In fact, the LPA staff and Board of Directors often recommends

that I drop my involvement on this list because they believe it does not

represent the best cross section of LPA. I have continued to insist it

does provide me a very valued balance of various opinions. The LPA

Board of Directors have been meeting in recent weeks sometimes as much

as twice a week for multi-hour phone conference calls on many of the

subjects you are all debating.

With that all said, we will continue to do our best to sift through

these " media opportunities " leveraging to do what we believe is in the

best interest of LPs and the big picture.

LPA as an organization, is currently working on its own opportunity for

a " reality/documentary " . This program has asked to document LPA

leadership as it debates our own message to society and then follows us

filming, editing, and eventually placing it on network television as a

public service announcement. We get to completely control the outcome,

messaging etc. In other words.. they will film us, writing, producing

and filming our own message to the world and underwrite the entire

project as well.

Please, keep your passion and opinions coming! I promise to do my best

to factor in as many of your thoughts along with others not on this

list.

Remember: " keep your friends close...but keep your enemies closer "

Respectfully of all your diverse opinions,

Matt

Re: President Matt creates a stir not only publicy

butamong his own.

Matt --

If you're bound by a non-disclosure contract, that suggests that you

signed something. Why?

Dan

===

[Guest guest]

Matt,

You never acually answered the question, Did you sign a NDA for the

Littliest Groom or not?

>

> Dan,

>

> In response to you question about whether I signed an NDA?? ...

It's a

> great question so I'm going to give you a rather detailed answer.

>

[Guest guest]

Iin Matt's post he makes it clear that he was bound by a NDA.

The question asked by Dan was " why would he sign one? " which Matt clearly

answered.

Bruce, Proud Grandpa of Brenden

Re: President Matt creates a stir not only publicy

butamong his own.

>

> Matt,

>

> You never acually answered the question, Did you sign a NDA for the

> Littliest Groom or not?

>

>

> >

> > Dan,

> >

> > In response to you question about whether I signed an NDA?? ...

> It's a

> > great question so I'm going to give you a rather detailed answer.

> >

>

>

>

> ===

>