Living%20in%20Silence:%20Toraichi%20Kono

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Living in Silence Toraichi Kono

• PRODUCERS
• Philip W. Chung, Clyde Kusatsu, Tim Lounibos
• ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS
• Sara Edel, Nancy Yuen

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS PROJECT
323.993.7245 or konofilm_at_aol.com
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Contents

• Cover and Contents page Slides 1-2
• Introduction Slides 3-4
• Who was Kono? Slides 5-8
• Story Treatment Slides 9-13
• Strategies for Success Slides 14-17
• Producers Bios Slides 18-22

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Introduction

• Documentary on Toraichi Kono who came to America
  with nothing, gained success and status by
  becoming personal secretary to international
  celebrity Charlie Chaplin, then lost it all in an
  environment of fear, accusations and paranoia

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Introduction

• Purpose
• Tell an untold tale of one mans struggle to
  attain the American Dream one that is
  compelling, enlightening and fascinating
• Reach a large audience and help keep history from
  repeating itself in the unfair treatment of
  individuals due to skin-color, media images and
  current events
• Reclaim a portion of Hollywood and U.S. history
  by emphasizing Konos story as one that is truly
  American

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Who was Kono?

• Japanese immigrant who came to America in 1900
  with nothing but dreams for a better life

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Who was Kono?

• Charlie Chaplins chauffeur, personal secretary,
  and closest confidant from 1916 to 1934
• Kono is my man Friday. He is everything muse,
  valet, private secretary, and bodyguard
• -Charlie Chaplin

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Who was Kono?

• Alleged Japanese spy arrested in 1941 and
  incarcerated before and after the mass internment
  of 120,000 Japanese Americans following the
  attack on Pearl Harbor

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Who was Kono?

• Loving Husband, Father, Friend, Community Leader

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Story Treatment Part I The Early Years

• Will explore Konos early life his colorful
  youth in Japan, the reasons for his immigration
  to the States as a teen, his initial struggles in
  Seattle, marriage, and the fateful move to Los
  Angeles that would lead him to the most famous
  man in the worldCharlie Chaplin. 

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Story Treatment Part II The Chaplin Years

• Will examine the eighteen years Kono spent
  working as Chaplins valet and closest
  confidant.  At a time when Asians were barely
  second-class citizens, Kono held power and had
  access to a world of wealth and privilege that
  few Americans could even imagine.  How did Kono
  maintain this position and what ultimately caused
  it all to go away?

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Story Treatment Part III The Post-Chaplin
Years

• After his acrimonious split from Chaplin, Kono
  made an attempt to rebuild his life but found
  that all the doors that had been opened to him
  before were now permanently closed.  Learning
  that life for an Asian man in America was much
  more difficult than he had previously known and
  reeling from the premature death of his wife,
  Kono struggled in vain to regain his standing
  unaware of greater tragedies to come.

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Story Treatment Part IV World War II

• Even before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Kono
  found himself caught up in accusations of
  espionage along with a Japanese naval officer
  named Tachibana.  Although charges were dropped,
  Kono was again arrested on December 7, 1941 and
  spent more than six years incarcerated at various
  camps as a potential alien enemy while his
  family worked tirelessly to secure his freedom.

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Story Treatment Part VThe Post-World War II
Years

• Finally released, Kono worked with Tex Nakamura
  and attorney Wayne Collins to help other Japanese
  Americans facing similar problems with the U.S.
  government. Eventually, he returned to his
  hometown in Japan where he would live out the
  rest of his days never to regain the glory of his
  early yearsa time he fondly considered the best
  of his life.

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Strategies for Success Distribution

• Submit to various prestigious film festivals,
  both Asian American and mainstream, drawing upon
  pre-existing contacts with a number of these
  festival organizers
• Secure global theatrical, cable, and video
  distribution deals via film festivals
• Target venues (proven receptive to similar
  projects) such as PBS, the History Channel, the
  Discovery Channel and the Sundance Channel, which
  has recently partnered with Docurama to launch
  the Sundance Channel Home Entertainment
  Documentary Collection
• Utilize membership base of community
  organizations like the JACL and Japanese American
  National Museum

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Strategies for SuccessMarketing

• Draw on connections with the Asian American
  Journalists Association, which has members at
  most major television stations and print media
  throughout the United States
• Utilize print media, drawing on pre-existing
  relationships with publications including the
  Rafu Shimpo, Korea Times, Asian Week, KoreAm
  Journal, the Los Angeles Times and L.A. Weekly
• Utilize pre-existing relationships with numerous
  organizations in the Asian American community
  throughout the United States
• Capitalize on mass medias heightened awareness
  and interest of all things Asian and Asian
  American during the month of MayAsian Pacific
  Heritage Month

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Strategies for Success School Outreach

• Explore the possibility of raising the funds
  necessary to distribute copies of this film to
  schools throughout the country similar to
  efforts that were made to distribute 10,000 video
  copies of the film Farewell to Manzanar
  throughout the California public school system
• Under the sponsorship of then-Lieutenant
  Governor Cruz M. Bustamante, producer Clyde
  Kusatsu participated in the distribution of the
  film to California school libraries and is able
  to draw upon that experience as well as
  connections made throughout the process

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Strategies for SuccessWebsite

• Simple but effective marketing tool to reach and
  nurture a mass audience
• Take advantage of various marketing techniques
  and access the large network of Asian American
  websites and email lists before, during, and
  after production
• Provide interested users with information about
  the documentary, production updates and progress
  reports, viewing information, and links to other
  related websites

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Producers Bios

• PHILIP W. CHUNG (CO-PRODUCER)
• Asian American history and literature teacher
• Journalist for numerous Asian American and
  mainstream publications
• Written, produced or directed over 60 plays,
  workshops and readings
• Writing credits include Lois and Clark The New
  Adventures of Superman and a number of Warner
  Bros. Television pilots, as well as writing and
  directing two short films
• Currently developing several film scripts and
  projects
• Co-founded and co-artistic directs the highly
  acclaimed Lodestone Theatre Ensemble

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Producers Bios

• CLYDE KUSATSU (CO-PRODUCER)
• Graduate of Northwestern University's famed
  theatre program
• Professional acting career spanning 32 years in
  film, TV and theatre
• Acted in films including The Interpreter and
  Paradise Road, on TV series from Magnum P.I. to
  Ally McBeal, and played Judge Lance Ito in the TV
  movie American Tragedy
• Starred in Farewell To Manzanar the first movie
  to deal with the internment camp experience on
  network television
• Affiliated with groups like Visual
  Communications, Japanese American National Museum
  and East West Players as an actor, producer and
  teacher

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Producers Bios

• TIM LOUNIBOS (CO-PRODUCER)
• Produced My America the Sept. 11th memorial
  event in New York City The Ammy Awards, and The
  Ovation Awards
• Executive produced the short film Harlequin
• Currently producing the indie films The Sensei
  and way leads onto way starring Sandra Oh
• Was Development Manager for aOnline (named Best
  Asian American Community site of 2001 by Yahoo
  Internet Life Magazine)
• Professional actor who has starred, guest starred
  or appeared in 100 films, tv shows, videos,
  commercials and plays over a fourteen-year career
  
• Co-founded, co-artistic directed and board member
  of Lodestone Theatre Ensemble
• Participant on numerous panels discussing the
  image of Asian Americans in the media

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Producers Bios

• SARA J. EDEL (ASSOCIATE PRODUCER)
• Currently a grant writer for the Haight Ashbury
  Free Clinics, Inc., San Francisco, CA
• UC DIGSSS Fellow.  UC Diversity Initiative for
  Graduate Study in the Social Sciences.  Los
  Angeles, CA 2005.
• Phi Beta Kappa.  Alpha of Maine 2002.
• Experience in conducting extensive, in-person
  interviews with community-based and governmental
  workforce development service providers.
• Published First Source Hiring Agreements An
  Overview, Fresno Works for Better Health, part
  of the California Works for Better Health
  Initiative, in 2005. Funded by the California
  Endowment and the Rockefeller Foundation.

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Producers Bios

• NANCY WANG YUEN (ASSOCIATE PRODUCER),
• PhD. candidate in Sociology at UCLA
• Spearheaded a study of Asian Pacific Islander
  Americans in Primetime Television in Fall 2004
  (downloadable at www.napalc.org), and will follow
  up with a study for the Fall 2005 season
• Recipient of the prestigious National Science
  Foundation Graduate Fellowship  
• Published "Performing Race, Negotiating Identity
  Asian American Professional Actors in Hollywood,
  as a chapter in Asian American Youth Culture,
  Identity, and Ethnicity, edited by Min Zhou
  (UCLA) and Jennifer Lee (UCI), in 2004
  (Routledge)  
• Currently working on a dissertation study of
  Hollywood actors and whether their experiences
  vary by race and gender