3 1/2 years after Peggy called me to document a California Coastal Commission inspection; SINS OF COMMISSION debuted at the 2009 NATPE CONVENTION (National Association of Television Program Executives), in LAS VEGAS.

 

Even though SINS OF COMMISSION is not finished, we had no choice but to present it to the global film and television distribution community.

 

Time is running out for California.

One question each distributor inevitably asks is why a film dealing with a local “California” issue has global importance. It’s a darn good question. Here’s my response -

 

ERIN BROKAVITCH was a film about a powerful utility company called P G & E (Pacific Gas and Electric Company) and took place in the sleepy southern California town of Hinkley. Who ever heard of Hinkley?

 

SILKWOOD was about a local small and previously unknown company, Kerr-McGee. The story took place in a Kerr-McGee plant near Crescent, Oklahoma. Does anyone know where Crescent is?

Everyone knows where the California is.

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas….but what happens in California effects the world.

-Richard Oshen, Writer, Director, Producer

The events revealed in ERIN BROKAVITCH and SILKWOOD entered our national debate and shaped policy.

 

Although the corruption each film exposed occurred in a local context… it occurs in every state in our nation and universally.

 

Each film’s specific event is a template anyone living anywhere in the world can identify with.

 

Same with SINS OF COMMISSION.

Corruption is universally understood.

 

The dialog SINS OF COMMISSION ignites, will shape California state environmental policy and will also have a profound effect domestically and internationally for several reasons:

 

1) quasijudicial regulatory agencies operate in every state in our country and occur internationally

 

2) land use is an incredibly hot topic, and

 

3) the entire world is effected by the CO2 California emits each year from catastrophic wildfires

WE NEED YOUR HELP

 

SINS OF COMMISSION urgently needs your support to complete the film.

 

SINS OF COMMISSION is a fiscally sponsored film through the IDA – the International Documentary Association a 501 c3 Non Profit organization.

 

All contributions made thru the IDA are tax deductible.

 

Times are tough for all of us, but so are we…and they won’t get better unless we pull together.

Pacific Coast Highway Productions, Inc. announces the release of its first feature length documentary film, SINS OF COMMISSION .  

 

SINS OF COMMISSION is the first documentary film to expose decades of abuse of power by the California Coastal Commission, and the first documentary film to investigate the possible link between this abuse and the increasing intensity of recent wildfires in California.

 

A Sin of Omission is failure to do what one must do.
A Sin of Commission is to know something is wrong… and do it anyway.

 

Log Line: 

SINS OF COMMISSION slips behind the veil of secrecy into the invisible world of the California Coastal Commission to reveal how they have corrupted environmentalism and risk people’s lives while fueling California’s wildfires… and why no one does anything about it.

 

SINS OF COMMISSION was written, directed, and produced by Richard Oshen. 

 

For festival inquiries contact SINS OF COMMISSION directly at sinsofcommission@gmail.com