Museum of Government Waste

Museum of Government Waste is an upcoming documentary produced by American Film Renaissance that follows Florida resident Greg Knapp on his mission to obtain an earmark from Congress to construct a museum dedicated to careless government spending. The film aims to show citizens how “elected officials spend [their] money, as painful as the truth is.”^[1]

Synopsis

Concerned about the future of the U.S., Knapp heads to Washington D.C. to address his problems. When he had difficulties accomplishing his goals, he decided to alter his strategy and to pursue his own earmark. Knapp hired a lobbyist and set out to obtain government funding for his project, which was to construct a museum of government waste. The idea for the project came from filmmakers Ellen and Jim Hubbard asking themselves "why can't Congress get a handle on wasteful spending?," "how could we become a part of the process to see how and why Congress makes spending decisions?," and “what’s the ultimate ridiculous earmark that we can come up with?’”^[2]

Knapp spoke privately with people from members of Congress, to their staff, to lobbyists, in order to get an idea of what goes on outside the public eye. The film follows Knapp as he visits places like North Carolina's Sparta Teapot Museum, which received $500,000 from the federal government in the Transportation Budget, the offices of high-profile lobbyists, and a prominent politician’s private fundraiser.^[1]

Production

Ellen and Jim Hubbard spent five years following the pursuit of a Congressional earmark. When meeting with members of Congress, the crew opted to not use traditional cameras and sound equipment. Instead, they used hidden cameras, hoping to capture footage revealing unexpected places that tax dollars are going.

After filming, the group has pursued opening an actual Museum of Government Waste.^[1] The museum would be run by David Williams of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance.^[2]

The film is set to be released in the fall of 2012.^[3]

References