Turnabout Musical: Virtual Edition Recovery Fund
Donation protected
Turnabout Musical: Virtual Edition (TM:VE) is an entirely virtual production of Turnabout Musical, a fan musical about Ace Attorney.
- TM:VE is now run by Gero Productions, under the leadership of Katherine Leister and Archer Wells. We have been in production since February 2022; however, until September 2022, we were under different management.
- The previous management and director was financially, emotionally, and psychologically abusive to our cast and staff. During the course of the past 8 months, they committed a magnitude of abuses against our production team. The summary can be read in this Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/PWMPTurnabout/status/1567553468205879305?s=20&t=_baexsTt7gvpAgDRfgcVXA
- In short, for equipment and costumes alone, our cast has spent almost $2,500, which the original casting call stated equipment and costumes would be covered. They gaslit low-income cast members to spend their food funds on their costumes, money which was not their responsibility to spend. Cast members have had to spend prices varying from $68-549 for themselves alone.
By donating to this GoFundMe, you will be helping a group of devoted actors recover from the debt their abusive ex-director sent them into, and should we recover that debt, potentially make sure they receive the originally promised pay as was listed on the CCC.
Laying out costs
- In total, for all of the individuals who requested aid from GoFundMe, the total amount of money accumulated from equipment and costume costs (which were kept as low as possible via Shein, Amazon, and thrift stores) was $2,452.20. The original call stated that costumes would be covered, however, the cast was only informed that was not the case upon being cast. Our base goal is to recuperate the equipment costs our previous management owed us all.
- Previous management also promised individuals to cover costs to go to the Minnesota Fringe Festival in August 2022, varying from entire flights covered to discounted hotel prices. This was one of their love-bombing tactics, as they canceled their trip far too late for people to change hotels to ones they could afford without the discount, and left people struggling to recover with paying for flights they were promised would be covered. Including Fringe, the total money that the previous management promised to cover for individuals becomes $3,259.40.
- The calls for both cast and staff were also listed as paid calls, leading our cast to believe we were involved in a professional production. The general opinion, especially from higher-ups who spoke with the previous director more often about financials, is that our staff and cast were never intended actually to be paid; rather, this was added to draw people in. Our cast and staff are insanely talented and to be lied to about this is infuriating. Without Fringe costs, the total of equipment/costumes and staff/cast pay comes to $3,352.20. When including Fringe, it comes to $4,159.40.
If we do not reach our total goal, any and all funds will be distributed to our cast as fairly as possible. This fundraiser is here to at least try to recuperate some of the debt previous management saddled us with, and if we recuperate ANY of it, we will happily accept any amount.
Rewards?
We want to treat anyone who financially supports us with some small perks! If you donate any amount you will:
- Receive early access to select songs from both casts' albums leading up to release!
- Receive exclusive access to custom trading cards featuring our cast!
The Impact
Turnabout Musical is a community-built and based musical. The cast that has formed for TM:VE has truly become a family of sorts for many and the hardships we went through have deepened our bonds with each other and TM as a whole. We all deeply care about this project, and want to see it through fruition. We want to break the ground and help lead the way and open the door for more virtual productions, as well as more creative and diverse interpretations of these characters we all know and love. We have been hard at work for the past 9 months and want to make sure our production release is completed and with finished costumes, without the financial worries of the debt we were forced to go to. We want to share our work with you and the world, as we all love our cast and what we have come together to make.
Other Ways You Can Help
If you cannot donate, do not worry! Here are some other ways you can help our production and crew:
- Follow and interact with all of the Gero Productions socials as well as the official Turnabout Musical pages! Hype up our cast and crew, and look out for any and all news from us!
- Directly spread the word about the GoFundMe to your friends and family and post it on your socials!
- Thanks for reading, and thank you for your potential support of Gero Productions’ Turnabout Musical: Virtual Edition! Please get in touch with us if there are any questions at all.
(Trading cards made and edited by Lily, Gero Productions' Lead Video Editor)
Organizer
Archer Wells
Organizer
San Diego, CA
