Kevin Williams: How did you get involved in filmmaking?
Judd Saul: It has always been a passion. I got involved in filmmaking and it was just something that I always liked to do. It finally came to the point when I became a Tea Party leader myself and when I got politically active… God kind of slapped me upside the head and said, “Judd, you better use your talents for good. Use your talents for me and not yourself.” From then on out, everything I do is for the purpose of making a difference.
Kevin Williams: Why do you enjoy making films and being part of the culture?
Judd Saul: I enjoy making films and engaging the culture because it is a passion I have and it is just what needs to be done. There are very few of us in the Conservative movement who understand that and get that idea. We have to really keep at it and can’t give it.
Kevin Williams: Can you tell me about the film and the road to making it?
Judd Saul: Well, we were on our way back from filming for one of our other documentaries (“Unsustainable”) and that was when it kind of hit in the news that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had been targeting Tea Party and political groups. I am a Tea Party leader from Iowa. But I just couldn’t believe how badly this happened. I was following the Media and watching what was going on and thought, “You know what? Somebody needs to take this to the mainstream. Somebody needs to do a documentary on this subject.” But not just tell this story. Because it is time to explain to the American people that we really need to get rid of the IRS. Instead of having the argument of how much we tax this person? Do we do a Flat Tax? How much do we tax? Do we tax these people more than this person over here? The question is not how much we tax, but how we tax. We need to change the paradigm of thinking. And the best method I have and the best way I know how to do it is to do it with the media of film.
Kevin Williams: Did you interview people who have been actually targeted by the IRS?
Judd Saul: Yes. We’ve interviewed Tea Party groups, Pro-Life groups, Pro-Israel groups, Veterans who have been targeted. That’s the thing… that a lot of the American people don’t know. It just wasn’t the IRS targeting this [or that] political organization for being Conservative or Tea Party. They went after groups that politically they had no business going after. They had no business going after Conservative groups… but Pro-Life groups? And just the absurdity to the extent that the IRS went to say, “We won’t grant you your status unless you give us back-end access to your Facebook pages.” [They asked], “What do you pray about? What issues do you have opinions on and what is your opinion on those issues?” What business does a tax agency have in asking anybody those kinds of questions?
Kevin Williams: It is very KGB or Stasi-like.
Judd Saul: It is evil. It is pure evil. Rather than just make a movie that will scare you and not give any solutions… we give solutions with our movie. We give solutions at the end of the film and we do a call to action for people to get involved. We wanted to get this right and we wanted to do this the right way. In a way that can touch anybody that watches this film.
Kevin Williams: Was it very difficult for you to get people to talk on the record?
Judd Saul: Yes, it was. It was very difficult because some of them were afraid to talk because they were in a lawsuit versus the IRS and didn’t want to say anything. Other people were simply just scared. They had had enough… and they [the IRS] took politically active people and they pushed them underground.
Kevin Williams: Has that fear had an influence on your trying to raise money to make the film?
Judd Saul: It has had an influence. We have had people be very interested but they would say “I don’t want to get audited” [by the IRS] or “I can’t support your film because it is just too risky for us.” But the thing is very opposite… if you are politically active, if you want to change things, you have to risk it all if you really want to change this country. Our Founding Fathers didn’t cower to the British Empire. They knew that when they signed their names on the Declaration of Independence, that was treason. If the English Army got a hold of them, they’d be hung. If we really care about America, we have to risk everything to change it.
Kevin Williams: Where did you travel around the country to make UNFAIR?
Judd Saul: From Iowa all the way to California to Texas to New York. We went through twenty-eight states talking to people all over the country and it took us two months to film [UNFAIR] during production. We got most of our post-production in about five months.
Kevin Williams: What is it like being a filmmaker in the Conservative world?
Judd Saul: It is very interesting to be a filmmaker on this side of the fence. I think one of the biggest problems within the Conservative movement is that they don’t embrace culture. They’re kind of policy-heads, but the Left outspends us four billion to one in media. We need to start taking back our culture and providing a positive message. If we’re not involved in the media offering a Conservative image, who is? The Left!
Kevin Williams: Why are some Conservatives or the Establishment Republicans who have money afraid to get involved in Media and Culture?
Judd Saul: They just don’t understand it. And ninety percent of the people who are in the Establishment are in Washington, D.C., which is not the American culture. They aren’t in America and have no idea of what it is like to be in the grassroots. If you want to change the story, if you want to engage the culture… you have to engage the country. Because the Left does it and they own the culture now.
Kevin Williams: A lot of things have happened while President Obama has been President for the last five or so years… and you cover this very well in your film. Come 2016 and we have a Republican President take office… do you think those bad things that happened can be corrected and made sure that they never happen again?
Judd Saul: Only if a Republican is elected who has the political will and the guts to do the right thing. If we get a Republican in there who doesn’t have the political will to do what is good for this country, then nothing is going to change.
Kevin Williams: If Richard Nixon were still with us today, what do you think he would make of these actions by the IRS?
Judd Saul: If he were alive, he would be really mad for resigning because he’s watching Obama get away with murder [with the IRS scandal] right now. At least Nixon had the integrity to resign when he did wrong. But we have a President with zero integrity and that is the political culture we live in now. There is no accountability.