Dylan Avery - Director, Editor, Founder.
In May 2002, after spending three months doing construction work on Vines, I had a half hour conversation with James Gandolfini at the opening party. To make a long, drawn out conversation short, James told me, If you want to be a successful director, you have to have something to say to the world.
It was that month that I began writing ;Loose Change; a fictional story about my friends and I discovering that September 11th was not a terrorist attack, but rather, an attack by their own government.
Upon researching for the movie, it became apparent that the subject matter may not have been entirely fiction. Over two years time, adding more and more information, the fictional movie evolved into what it is today; a documentary.
In May 2004, I moved down to Washington, DC, at the time when Loose Change was beginning to take shape. Bouncing from couch to couch, technically homeless, eventually landing a job and an apartment in Silver Spring, Maryland, the entire time I worked on the documentary with every spare moment and dollar to my name.
In January 2005, DJ Skooly moved into my apartment fresh out of Los Angeles, and donated a rich soundtrack and recording equipment which is responsible for Loose Change's unique presentation.
In April 2005, after a financial boost from Phil Jayhan of Letsroll911.org, a 1,000 DVD pressing of the original Loose Change was released on the internet, mostly on a whim.
Approximately 200 pre-orders, from the course of the past two months, were hand-addressed and packaged by my girlfriend Jessica and I. Orders started to come in at anywhere from 1 to 5 a day, something which at the time was alarming in its own right.
Eventually, word spread, and the movie started collecting a grassroots fanbase. Whenever I wasn't waiting tables at Red Lobster, Jessica and I were in the living room, addressing and stuffing envelopes, one by one. The people at the post office became curious as Jess and I put stamps on hundreds of individual orders at once, creating an assembly line inside the Post Office.
In June 2005, my best friend Korey departed from the United States Armed Forces to come support the cause, and by July 2005, after a trip to California to visit KPFK 90.7 FM and Sofia Shafquat, it was apparant that Loose Change had taken on a life of its own.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Loose Change and Loose Change 2nd Edition were edited on a $1500 Compaq Presario Laptop, using Adobe Premiere Pro 7.0 and After Effects 6.5 (2nd Edition).
The original Loose Change, including the laptop, footage, and other expenses, cost only $2000 to make, and its success is responsible for putting us where we are today.
