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Taj Jackson's MJ Documentary - Updates and Discussion [MERGED]

AlwaysThere said:
Genuinely, what’s the status of this doc? It’s been in the works since 2019, and I’ve heard nothing yet of it.
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In early Jan I posted a summary in this thread of what Taj shared in an MJCast episode in late December 2022. A couple weeks ago I listened to an interview he did with a YouTube channel and much of it seems to be the same, so I don't think the status has changed from that. He is still claiming it will be finished and the goal is to have it distributed by the end of 2023. How? No idea.

In the MJCast episode I summarized he goes more in depth into why he doesn't want to update on certain progress-related questions. At this point, unless there is some kind of legal reasoning to continue holding back progress, I think sharing ANYTHING that shows real progress is so beyond necessary. Beyond that, I still don't understand why he implied a press release would come late 2022/early 2023 and it hasn't yet, either. He "explained" why the promised press release didn't come on Michael's birthday. I don't know why he never announced anything since though.

Having listened to I think every available interview about this, I do believe it's actually happening. However, do I trust the time frame? Ugh. Idk. I became a fan after 2019 and I didn't personally contribute any money to his gofundme. My fascination with this topic is more distant, but mostly just as an eager fan. But with the Chris Rock special being such a mainstream call-out against Michael, it really sucks that this not only isn't out but doesn't have a release date.

Anyway, here is my summary if it's helpful:

staywild23 said:
Ok, so I listened to the latest MJcast episode and wanted to share what Taj said about his docuseries:

They asked him some pointed questions, specifically, how many interviews he has done for the docuseries so far. He said he could answer that, but would rather not because of the impression it would give about his progress, implying, to me, that he hasn't completed too many yet. However, he followed this up by saying that what is unique about his docuseries is that rather than the narrative being built around interviews with people who knew Michael, he is building the narrative using archival footage instead, with the interviews supplementing and supporting that narrative. This is the first time I've heard him actually talk about the narrative structure of the project and, honestly, I kind of love what he said. I would much rather see archival footage of Michael that tells the story of who he was, plus I imagine he has enormous access to footage and I think a narrative structured in such a way could really be beautiful. As Taj explained, he thinks the best way to show people who Michael truly was is to actually show Michael to them. He also mentioned that Charles Thompson is a member of the team working on this documentary and implied that he is playing a crucial role in helping to structure the narrative effectively. I found this especially interesting because earlier in the episode they discussed the Thriller 40 documentary, which Charles T had a fair amount of criticism about specifically in terms of narrative structure (or lacktherof). Either way, an interesting update that has me kind of excited.

They also asked Taj what his thoughts are on fans who are in doubt about his plans to complete this or who believe it won't happen. They named some specific prominent fans and quoted some of what they have said about Taj. Taj's response really wasn't all that defensive. He expressed that he genuinely can understand why people feel that way, especially if they donated, but he really hopes that when the docuseries comes out and achieves everything he said it would, that those fans will help promote it. He also said he knows he sounds like a broken record by saying that it is coming, and he realizes how frustrating that might be, but that he is extremely tight-lipped on saying anything about the progress in order to protect the integrity of the project. I can't help but wonder if there are possibly some legal components to this as well, especially if the estate is involved in some way after all (though I have nothing in mind when I say this).

Finally, Taj talked about how constructing the team for this project was very time-consuming with a significant vetting process because it was obviously important to him that everyone on the team supports Michael and believes in his innocence. However, he also stressed the importance of getting the best possible people involved in terms of talent. He said several times that he thinks the quality of the project will far exceed anyone's expectations. As a writer/creator myself, I can honestly say I would never promise that level of quality if I wasn't extremely confident in what I was doing. So I'm inclined to believe him, but who knows.

He opened and closed his update with a mention of how important it is to him that this is released in 2023. My guess at this point is that we are looking at late 2023. I actually think it would be amazing if he timed it for an October/Halloween release. I suppose we will see.

I think that is all! I hope this saves those with interest some time. I do like quite a lot about the MJ Cast, but I also find them a little grating at times. Parts of the episode as a whole annoyed me, but Taj's bits were quite interesting and I appreciated his perspective on things like the Victory Tour, the possible museum and casino in the works, etc. So if it interests you, check it out! It is the Christmas Special and it just came out a few days ago.
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No station or media service will want to air or stream Taj’s doc anyway. It is the media who have proclaimed Michael guilty, they are not going to backtrack. This in the end was just a waste of money and hope. The narrative has been set and cannot be altered anymore. I see that now, I didn‘t (want to) see it yet in 2019.
 
filmandmusic said:
No station or media service will want to air or stream Taj’s doc anyway. It is the media who have proclaimed Michael guilty, they are not going to backtrack. This in the end was just a waste of money and hope. The narrative has been set and cannot be altered anymore. I see that now, I didn‘t (want to) see it yet in 2019.
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(Assuming it happens) it's not a waste of time or money if people see it. The mainstream media doesn't control the world anymore. For better or worse, I see that most industries follow the money. Michael brings a lot of money. I would be surprised if a streaming service wouldn't pick up something that would generate massive viewership.

I guess time will tell. It's all just conjecture until there's a product and there's not yet. And there lies the frustration of this entire situation.
 
staywild23 said:
would be surprised if a streaming service wouldn't pick up something that would generate massive viewership.
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Not so sure about this, right now I’m not holding my breath for the media to pick this up

I think at this point it is better to wait out the biopic, after that film the interest in the subject might change. That film is the most important factor in the future of MJ’s legacy. If the film manages to redeem Michael then the doc should get picked up and get in big viewership numbers.
 
filmandmusic said:
Not so sure about this, right now I’m not holding my breath for the media to pick this up

I think at this point it is better to wait out the biopic, after that film the interest in the subject might change. That film is the most important factor in the future of MJ’s legacy. If the film manages to redeem Michael then the doc should get picked up and get in big viewership numbers.
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I can't disagree with any of this. I have hopes for it to be different. But again, only time will tell. I'm cautiously optimistic lol.
 
I think blocking people who ask genuine questions is always childish. This also counts for the estate with regards to the Thriller 40 doc. It's just frustrating how much lack of transparency there often is with these types of projects. There's a reason I haven't been very invested in this project (or the Thriller 40 doc for that matter, though there are other reasons for that one as well).

Meanwhile, the biggest problem Jin Chohan is currently facing is a shortage of funds. But we do know he's working very hard with what's available. Mind you, I am not saying Taj is a scammer, nor the estate or anyone, really. I've seen situations like this happen in other communities I'm in, and oftentimes it was simply because those who were involved bit off more than they could chew, rather than outright bad intentions. But if we don't know what's up, all that's left is guesswork, and I'm not entirely sure that's entirely professional or desirable. Even just being honest about shortcomings and roadblocks is already better than nothing.

Just my two cents.
 
DangerousGal91 said:
Meanwhile, the biggest problem Jin Chohan is currently facing is a shortage of funds.
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This is the part that's actively killing me. He's so transparent and is seeming to be making a legitimately quality project. I almost guarantee it would be complete or nearly complete by now if funds weren't the constant struggle. It sucks.
 
staywild23 said:
This is the part that's actively killing me. He's so transparent and is seeming to be making a legitimately quality project. I almost guarantee it would be complete or nearly complete by now if funds weren't the constant struggle. It sucks.
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Yeah, I'm considering donating myself because of this. Perhaps other people should consider doing so as well, if possible. I'm often very careful with donating to fundraisers, but the big problem here is exactly because he doesn't have enough money yet. And there's really only one solution to that...
 
DangerousGal91 said:
Yeah, I'm considering donating myself because of this. Perhaps other people should consider doing so as well, if possible. I'm often very careful with donating to fundraisers, but the big problem here is exactly because he doesn't have enough money yet. And there's really only one solution to that...
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I've donated a few times over the past year to Jin's project and will likely continue to. He is the only person making a doc about MJ who has shared actual footage and regular progress updates, so I feel good about doing it. He creates digital content for a living and I feel confident enough in his skill level based solely on the few clips I've seen. At this point, there are no other MJ projects I'd want to donate to. But as always, people shouldn't feel pressured to donate, or feel bad about where they do or don't donate their hard-earned funds. But if we are inclined to financially support any project right now, Jin's makes the most sense to me.
 
It's too late now in my opinion. Public opinion has settled again, the Chris Rock Netflix reaction shows you this.

I understand why he's kept it quiet, but the focus should now be on the musical, the biopic and positive productions. A family made LN reminder is just not good.
 
staywild23 said:
I've donated a few times over the past year to Jin's project and will likely continue to. He is the only person making a doc about MJ who has shared actual footage and regular progress updates, so I feel good about doing it. He creates digital content for a living and I feel confident enough in his skill level based solely on the few clips I've seen. At this point, there are no other MJ projects I'd want to donate to. But as always, people shouldn't feel pressured to donate, or feel bad about where they do or don't donate their hard-earned funds. But if we are inclined to financially support any project right now, Jin's makes the most sense to me.
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Oh certainly people shouldn't feel bad if they can't donate! But it's something worth considering if one has the money and wants to see the project succeed. Especially because this seems like such a trustworthy initiative.
 
dam2040 said:
It's too late now in my opinion. Public opinion has settled again, the Chris Rock Netflix reaction shows you this.
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Can you give me a short synopsis of what you're talking about? Is this about the Will Smith slap? What is the reaction like?
dam2040 said:
A family made LN reminder is just not good.
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True. I don't understand why I did not see this before.
 
staywild23 said:
In early Jan I posted a summary in this thread of what Taj shared in an MJCast episode in late December 2022. A couple weeks ago I listened to an interview he did with a YouTube channel and much of it seems to be the same, so I don't think the status has changed from that. He is still claiming it will be finished and the goal is to have it distributed by the end of 2023. How? No idea.

In the MJCast episode I summarized he goes more in depth into why he doesn't want to update on certain progress-related questions. At this point, unless there is some kind of legal reasoning to continue holding back progress, I think sharing ANYTHING that shows real progress is so beyond necessary. Beyond that, I still don't understand why he implied a press release would come late 2022/early 2023 and it hasn't yet, either. He "explained" why the promised press release didn't come on Michael's birthday. I don't know why he never announced anything since though.

Having listened to I think every available interview about this, I do believe it's actually happening. However, do I trust the time frame? Ugh. Idk. I became a fan after 2019 and I didn't personally contribute any money to his gofundme. My fascination with this topic is more distant, but mostly just as an eager fan. But with the Chris Rock special being such a mainstream call-out against Michael, it really sucks that this not only isn't out but doesn't have a release date.

Anyway, here is my summary if it's helpful:
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Thank you so much! I completely missed this!

I still feel very strongly that a pro-innocence documentary should be produced and funded by a fan/journalist, not a Jackson family member. Nobody is going to take this documentary seriously because it’s being executive produced by one of MJ’s nephews. The upcoming biopic has already gotten a fair amount of heat because the estate is involved; the rebuttal documentary won’t do anything else.

On top of that, it’s just been too long. People are still discovering Leaving Neverland (my coworker’s mom just watched it for the first time last week), and there’s no immediate, top-of-the-line response available.

I appreciate Taj being a ride or die for MJ, but I have no faith or interest in his doc.
 
Since the beginning of this fundraising project it was bothering me…
Why does it need to be paid by fans? The Jackson’s must have enough money to throw in the missing funds..

Let’s be realistic.. the documentary won’t be produced anymore. It has been 4 years..
 
dam2040 said:
Public opinion has settled again, the Chris Rock Netflix reaction shows you this.
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I haven't heard anyone on the side of Chris Rock. If anything the more he talks the more likely he is to get canceled.

For the record, canceling doesn't work. Blackballing does. Only blackballing does. And they love blackballing the Jackson's. Nobody else really gets it like that consistently.
 
AlwaysThere said:
On top of that, it’s just been too long. People are still discovering Leaving Neverland (my coworker’s mom just watched it for the first time last week), and there’s no immediate, top-of-the-line response available.
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What was her opinion?
 
kai said:
Since the beginning of this fundraising project it was bothering me…
Why does it need to be paid by fans? The Jackson’s must have enough money to throw in the missing funds..

Let’s be realistic.. the documentary won’t be produced anymore. It has been 4 years..
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Why are you saying this? We got regular updates on the progress from Taj during his livestreams. Charles Thomson is confirmed to be onboard to help with the script. We got Taj crying in live streams thanking fans for their support. We got the release date confirmed to be during 2023. Taj has been a major defender of MJ since Leaving Neverland in contact with fans via twitter etc.

Taj becoming a repeat guest on the MJ-Cast and actually making alot of sense in what he is saying on there, even being more objective than some of the hosts on the MJ-cast.

Why would Taj risk all he has built up within the community for 4 years and risk becoming the most hated figure in the MJ community if the projects is not released. I see no reason at all to believe this series will not be finished. I am curious to hear why you believe that it wont be released?

Myself I see the only risk of this not getting released is if Taj has a heart attack for some other health related problem!
 
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Lightbringer said:
Why are you saying this? We got regular updates on the progress from Taj during his livestreams. Charles Thomson is confirmed to be onboard to help with the script. We got Taj crying in live streams thanking fans for their support. We got the release date confirmed to be during 2023. Taj has been a major defender of MJ since Leaving Neverland in contact with fans via twitter etc.

Taj becoming a repeat guest on the MJ-Cast and actually making alot of sense in what he is saying on there, even being more objective than some of the hosts on the MJ-cast.

Why would Taj risk all he has built up within the community for 4 years and risk becoming the most hated figure in the MJ community if the projects is not released. I see no reason at all to believe this series will not be finished. I am curious to hear why you believe that it wont be released?

Myself I see the only risk of this not getting released is if Taj has a heart attack for some other health related problem!
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Where is it confirmed that Thompson is doing the script? When the hell did this become such a fan orientated project? (Aside from financing the f*ckin thing that is) Absolute bullshit if true.
 
innuendo141 said:
Where is it confirmed that Thompson is doing the script? When the hell did this become such a fan orientated project? (Aside from financing the f*ckin thing that is) Absolute bullshit if true.
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On the christmas MJcast episode its confirmed Thomson is helping the project with that. Thomson wrote a script for a TV-series or documentary about the 2005 trial for some other media company already years ago, which was then cancelled by covid.

Thomson is doing the research for the parts about the child molestation and trial matters. Something he has covered for 30 years, so there is probably nobody on the earth with more knowledge about the issue. I am not sure why you have a problem with an investigative multiple award winning journalist providing facts for a fact based documentary? If you have a fan with kind of expertise and experience in the field, I do not have any problems using him, it will ensure the quality of the project!


Clearly nobody neutral is interested in doing a fair Jackson documentary, nor do half the research Thomson has ever done. Facts are facts regardless who presents them!

For the people critical of the Taj producing this? Would you rather have nothing done at all? Thats the alternative. This is a pro piece Michael Jackson series. Leaving Neverland was an anti-MJ film. If you watch both, it balances each other out, thats the way I see it!
 
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Lightbringer said:
Thomson is doing the research for the parts about the child molestation and trial matters. Something he has covered for 30 years,
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I don't think he's been covering it for that long. He's in his mid-thirties, afaik, based on things he's said on MJ Cast. Wiki has his year of birth as 1988 (although not confirmed) and that does tally with comments he himself has made on the podcast.

Lightbringer said:
so there is probably nobody on the earth with more knowledge about the issue.
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He definitely is incredibly well-informed and being the meticulous, diligent journalist that he is I can't see it as anything but good to have him on the project. He's articulate, intelligent, he understands a lot of the legal issues and is able to explain them really clearly. I can't see him as anything but an asset to whatever is eventually produced.

innuendo141 said:
Where is it confirmed that Thompson is doing the script? When the hell did this become such a fan orientated project? (Aside from financing the f*ckin thing that is) Absolute bullshit if true.
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The project will definitely get loads of flak if fans are involved just as it will bc of Taj being the main driver. That's why I've never understood Taj's argument about the crowd-funding. The family shouldn't finance it bc that will undermine its credibility? But surely the same argument applies if it's been crowd-funded by fans? I'm not seeing the difference.

But Charles Thomson as a consultant or whatever his role is? Well, he knows his stuff and, as a journalist, has a platform from which to defend himself from any nonsense. I'm dubious about this whole project, tbh. But Charles being involved seems like a good thing to me.
 
Lightbringer said:
On the christmas MJcast episode its confirmed Thomson is helping the project with that. Thomson wrote a script for a TV-series or documentary about the 2005 trial for some other media company already years ago, which was then cancelled by covid.

Thomson is doing the research for the parts about the child molestation and trial matters. Something he has covered for 30 years, so there is probably nobody on the earth with more knowledge about the issue. I am not sure why you have a problem with an investigative multiple award winning journalist providing facts for a fact based documentary? If you have a fan with kind of expertise and experience in the field, I do not have any problems using him, it will ensure the quality of the project!


Clearly nobody neutral is interested in doing a fair Jackson documentary, nor do half the research Thomson has ever done. Facts are facts regardless who presents them!

For the people critical of the Taj producing this? Would you rather have nothing done at all? Thats the alternative. This is a pro piece Michael Jackson series. Leaving Neverland was an anti-MJ film. If you watch both, it balances each other out, thats the way I see it!
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Well I think it's a very poor sign if after $250k of fans money that the best Taj can come up with is an MJ fan podcast host, if I'm honest. Ah well. We'll see if this actually gets released anyways.
 
innuendo141 said:
Well I think it's a very poor sign if after $250k of fans money that the best Taj can come up with is an MJ fan podcast host, if I'm honest. Ah well. We'll see if this actually gets released anyways.
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What do you mean? Charles is not an MJ fan podcast host as his profession! He is an award winning investigative journalist who sometimes joins the MJ-cast as a hobby, perhaps you should look into his work that is not related to MJ and see that he actually does quality stuff.

The 250 000$ will not be spent of Thomson helping with scripts but for other production costs of course. I assume that will be a drop in the ocean of the overall total budget in the end as it has expanded to an 11 part docu series instead of a film.
 
zinniabooklover said:
I don't think he's been covering it for that long. He's in his mid-thirties, afaik, based on things he's said on MJ Cast. Wiki has his year of birth as 1988 (although not confirmed) and that does tally with comments he himself has made on the podcast.

He definitely is incredibly well-informed and being the meticulous, diligent journalist that he is I can't see it as anything but good to have him on the project. He's articulate, intelligent, he understands a lot of the legal issues and is able to explain them really clearly. I can't see him as anything but an asset to whatever is eventually produced.

The project will definitely get loads of flak if fans are involved just as it will bc of Taj being the main driver. That's why I've never understood Taj's argument about the crowd-funding. The family shouldn't finance it bc that will undermine its credibility? But surely the same argument applies if it's been crowd-funded by fans? I'm not seeing the difference.

But Charles Thomson as a consultant or whatever his role is? Well, he knows his stuff and, as a journalist, has a platform from which to defend himself from any nonsense. I'm dubious about this whole project, tbh. But Charles being involved seems like a good thing to me.
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Yes, the 30 years was a bit off, but the point remains he has been invested in the details of the cases as soon as he became old enough to understand whats going on and has since studied the cases in detail as he has done journalistic pieces on it.

As for the project, of course its going to get flak, since people will want to refute whatever comes out in the series that goes against the medias narrative against MJ! But there was no option, as no one else has done this piece on MJ despite soon to be 15 years since he passed.

I do agree it should not matter if the fans or the family has funded the project, its would still count as biased pro-MJ. Would it have been possible to hire someone neutral for money and hand him a project to release in his name? I doubt that would be possible without it getting out. So the way I see it was Taj doing it or nobody.

From this situation Taj has a mountain to climb as the public will not welcome his release with fireworks like with Leaving Neverland, but he does his best anyway which I appreciate!

You know Taj himself has scrapped the idea of this being an objective piece of art, its MJ viewpoint of his life as told by those who knew him up close, not the medias or his accusers story. If the facts are presented correctly it will still have 100s of times more credibility than Reeds TV-show.
 
Lightbringer said:
Yes, the 30 years was a bit off, but the point remains he has been invested in the details of the cases as soon as he became old enough to understand whats going on and has since studied the cases in detail as he has done journalistic pieces on it.
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Oh, I'm definitely not questioning Charles' ability to handle this stuff. He's been reporting on and investigating sex abuse cases in the UK for years quite apart from his years of studying and writing about Michael's situation. I have always said, for anyone who is not sure of all the details of this part of Michael's story, start with the stuff Charles has written and listen to him being interviewed. He's really good.

Lightbringer said:
From this situation Taj has a mountain to climb as the public will not welcome his release with fireworks like with Leaving Neverland, but he does his best anyway which I appreciate!
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As I said, I continue to have massive doubts about all aspects of this but I don't doubt Taj's intentions and I do admire the way he still seems to be committed to the project. I would have expected to see more evidence of progress by now - even allowing for Covid complications - but this was never gonna be an easy project to get off the ground.
 
Good intentions or not, people are still allowed to be critical. I don't think dismissing people's concerns is the right thing to do, especially since there was crowdfunding involved. Again, I don't believe Taj is a scammer, but that doesn't mean we can't criticize how the whole thing is being handled.
 
zinniabooklover said:
Oh, I'm definitely not questioning Charles' ability to handle this stuff. He's been reporting on and investigating sex abuse cases in the UK for years quite apart from his years of studying and writing about Michael's situation. I have always said, for anyone who is not sure of all the details of this part of Michael's story, start with the stuff Charles has written and listen to him being interviewed. He's really good.


As I said, I continue to have massive doubts about all aspects of this but I don't doubt Taj's intentions and I do admire the way he still seems to be committed to the project. I would have expected to see more evidence of progress by now - even allowing for Covid complications - but this was never gonna be an easy project to get off the ground.
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Me personally I could care less about evidence of progress, I will judge the project when the final result is here! Until then I just wait and relax :) The only reason why anyone would need to provide visual & evidence of production updates on progress is if they want more money, which Taj does not need. He has updated people via his livestreams and the MJCast.

He could have updated the GoFundMe page as well with the same info. I dont know what reasons he has to not do that. Thats a fair question to ask!
 
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