At first my mom was nervous about the prospect of any Jewish ritual becoming criminalized. My sister was kind of eye-rolly, and had a "circumcised men enjoy sex” and “this is not a pressing issue" attitude. To his credit, my dad pretty much agreed that circumcision is an antiquated blood ritual.

Dear backers of “American Secret”,

Thank you so much for your tremendous support between June 2nd - July 2nd during “American Secret”’s Kickstarter, and to many of you, for the months leading up to the launch.The help that you gave, whether financial, spreading the word verbally or through facebook, twitter, your own youtube channel, newsletters to groups that you moderate, all of these efforts added up to such a success. Every one of you has my sincere gratitude.

I am passionate about bodily autonomy, fascinated by the subject of cultural blind spots, and love being able to work through film and video to convey a point. The fact that you have all made it possible for this film to go forward fills me with a strong sense of responsibility and brings me a great deal of personal and creative satisfaction. Thank you for trusting me with such responsibility and privilege.

What’s ahead?

Just a little further down in this update you can read about ways to remain involved with “American Secret”, but first, a couple quick Kickstarter loose ends to tie up:

1) To anyone who has messaged me during the campaign, whether through Kickstarter, Facebook, or email, and has not heard back, I am very sorry. I have been catching up on correspondence but if you have received a response from me by now, please re-send or forward your initial message.

2) Please be on the lookout for survey information. We will need this in order to get you your rewards.

3) I have been contacted by a few people since the Kickstarter ended, telling me that they had intended to give during the Kickstarter but had lost track of time. Thank you. For the following 7 days, any contributions coming in through americansecret-themovie.com/support/ will be eligilble to receive the same rewards that were made available through Kickstarter. I can offer this from now through 11.59pm pacific time, Thursday, July 18th. I cannot go beyond this point because orders must be placed by then if I am to make our deadlines.

4) American Secret Loses $570 in unfulfilled pledges.
There were some errors with pledges. Several backers’ cards failed to charge. If this was the case with your card, both Amazon and Kickstarter would have sent you alerts advising that you would have one week to correct this, and some of you did, thank you. But when that week was up, over twenty Backers' pledges remained unable to be processed. We understand that the alerts may have gone to your spam folders. Unfortunately the, film was assessed a processing fee for each of these pledges.

Below is a list of initials of those whose pledges were unable to be fulfilled. If the following initials are your initials, please check and see whether you have a charge confirmation from Amazon on July 2nd.
If you did NOT receive a confirmation, then you were not charged. You can still pledge and receive a reward up until 11.59 Pacific time, Thursday, July 18th by giving through americansecret-themovie.com/support/.
Initials of unfulfilled pledges:
A C M A F A G A I A L S A P A M A R
A R B A H C Y D D G W H D H M J H
J T Jessica (no last name given) K M C L K M A Y
M M M M P H R A R L B T D T S

Please do not hesitate to reach out if anything about the pledging remains unclear.

***Ways to stay involved and help American Secret***

A) Share your Story
B) Provide shooting space
C) Provide medical consulting on Set and Script
D) Donate miles and points
E) Help with design and programming for the AmericanSecret-TheMovie.com website

Do you have resources or expertise to offer which could help “American Secret” to stretch the funds you’ve helped it raise? Below is a list of some of the film's most immediate needs.

A) Share your Story

We are seeking parents, health practitioners, and medical students.

1) We would really like to hear from parents who are presently proud and committed pro-intact advocates, but who circumcised one or more sons before recognizing that circumcision is a harm. If this describes you or someone you know, please email [email protected] and write “parent changes view on circumcision” in the subject line.

2) We are also looking for physicians and other health practitioners who once performed circumcisions but stopped due to ethical reasons. We are interested in all stories; whether you have carried out thousands of circumcision, or are still haunted by the lone one you performed as a medical student, we would like to hear from you. Please email [email protected] and write “health practitioner changes view on circumcision” in the subject line.

Rest assured that you will be portrayed in a very positive light. As has been stated previously, “American Secret” examines cultural blind-spots and cognitive biases. The film celebrates and makes a positive example of people who acknowledge missteps and set about correcting them.

B) Provide shooting space: doctors offices

If you are a physician and would be willing to allow “American Secret” to shoot a re-enactment scene in your exam room during non-business hours, (for instance, on weekends or evenings), this would be very helpful. The film carries liability insurance and would budget for clean up / sanitization after our use of your facilities.
Using a location which is “camera ready” saves us time and money otherwise required to assemble a set from the ground up. For more information please email [email protected] and write “shooting space” in the subject field.

C) Medical Consulting:

If you are a physician willing to consult on accuracy of the script, the set, or the props either in advance of or during a shoot, we would be happy to hear from you. General practitioners, internists, ob-gyn’s, urologists, and pediatricians are especially encouraged to reach out, as are physicians who have been in practice for multiple decades and have observed changes in medical protocol over time. For more information please email [email protected] and write “medical consulting” in the subject field.

D) Donate miles.

“American Secret” requires shoots in a variety of locations, some of which are international. If you have airline miles or other travel program points that you would like to donate, please email [email protected] and put “miles” or “points” in the subject line.

E) Help enhance the AmericanSecret-TheMovie.com website.

If you are a programmer and have between 5-8 to spare per month to assist with the AmericanSecret-TheMovie.com site and mobile site, that would be very helpful. You can be based anywhere in the world. Experience working with Wordpress is a definite plus. Please email [email protected] and write “programmer” in the subject line.

If you are a graphic artist or designer and would like to offer occasional help with the AmericanSecret-TheMovie.com site and mobile site, definitely let us know. You can be based anywhere in the world. Experience working with Wordpress would be an asset. Please email [email protected] and write “graphic artist” or “graphic designer” in the subject line.

Stay engaged!

I also really hope that you will all remain engaged. We will be sending out periodic requests similar to those above, and about rewards, and eventually, information about post-production and screenings. Sign up to receive updates at AmericanSecret-TheMovie.com. Also, check back here on Facebook.

Acknowledgements

One very final time, I would like to acknowledge the incredibly industrious Kickstarter support crew: Katie Hartman and Michael Keenan, for their design, programming, proof-reading, research, and organizational contributions.

Jason Levin, Geoff Anders, and Anthony David Adams for being incredibly generous with their time, coaching and advising on strategy and getting press.

Louie Helm for extra reinforcement on multiple fronts pre and post launch.

Kickstarter alum Teresa Gonczy and Mark Bower, who generously shared their experiences and let me glean and re-purpose all of their great ideas.

Anthony Bellotti and Laurie Wax, for editing written content.

Deb Brosseau and Simone Wilkinson for their refinement and suggestions concerning our Press Release.

Adam Lee, Hemant Mehta, Rebecca Wald, and again, Anthony David Adams, for the highly valuable media exposure they provided.

Carl "J" Schutt, Michael Dulin, Jeff Hazelwood, Ron Low, and CreditCovers.com for contributing rewards.

Associate Producers Steve Crozier, Danielle Gladding, and Thorstan “Thor” Osborne.

Executive Producer, T. Campbell Jackson.

For circulating and getting the word out "Boys Deserve Better", "The WHOLE Network", Doctors Opposing Circumcision, John Geisheker, Devon Osel, Jonathon Conte, Brother K, Greg Hartley, Lloyd Schofield, Gary Burlingame, Kevin Kopelman, Karen Kelly Glennon, Kira Antinuk, Brian Levitt, Olivier Zimmerman, Paul Mason, Larissa Boeck, Gillian Longley, Christina Love, Alfred Schram, Joel Smart, Michelle Marie Salch VanGurp, Marilyn Milos, and Georganne Chapin.

For all manner of support in helping me to get to this point and / or sustaining me through it, William Eden, Adam Widmer, Julia Galef, Divia Eden, Cat Lavigne, Spencer Greenberg, Alissa Schaps, Robert Wax, Andrey Wax, and Laurie Wax.

Once again, to Intact America for their extraordinarily generous match.

Thank you, again. Truly, words are not enough. Have a fantastic summer, everyone.

Francelle