'A journalistic no-no': Filmmaker reveals main reason George Santos documentary 'fizzled' out
A filmmaker who was poised to create a documentary featuring embattled Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) is revealing the one reason that led to the project being abandoned.
During an appearance on MSNBC News' "The Beat with Ari Melber," filmmaker Blake Zeff revealed the Republican lawmaker wanted to be paid after he spent "several hours over a course of several months” working to build the project.
According to Zeff, Santos wanted a substantial payout and the filmmaker argued that the request is "sort of a journalistic no-no where you don’t really pay for stories."
Zeff also insisted that the entangled New York lawmaker is “looking to monetize the office.” During the news segment, he recalled his interactions with Santos that led up to the project being scrapped.
“We had meetings about a documentary. They sort of fizzled,” Zeff said. “Then in talking with him, it became clear that he was interested in, you know, ‘How big was the budget? I can’t talk about money while I’m in my congressional office so I’ll have to call you separately when I’m not in my office to talk about that kind of stuff.’”
Zeff added, “We never got to that point as my team and I were not interested in giving him a dime."
Then Zeff took to Twitter with another statement revealing he nixed the idea when the lawmaker insisted that he would "want millions of [money] to be in it.”
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\u201cJournalist Blake Zeff behind on \u201cThe Santos Tapes.\u201d\u201d— The Beat with Ari Melber \ud83d\udcfa (@The Beat with Ari Melber \ud83d\udcfa) 1683759856
