| Believe | |
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| Directed by | Loki Mulholland |
| Written by | Loki Mulholland |
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| Distributed by | Kaleidoscope Pictures |
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Believe is a 2007 mockumentary/comedy about the world of multi-level marketing (MLM). This is the first movie by director Loki Mulholland, who is also credited for the screenplay.
Believe was produced by Russ Kendall and Micah Merrill of Kaleidoscope Pictures.
Set in the town of Springfield, Believe tells the story of Adam Pendon (Larry Bagby), a struggling truck driver who was recently laid off from his job at the steel mill when it closed. Adam is approached by a salesman for a multi-level marketing company, Believe Industries. The salesman, Mark Fuller (Lincoln Hoppe), offers Adam a business opportunity.
Adam agrees to meet Mark at a local hotel for the business meeting. This meeting is filled with distributors for Believe Industries, such as Dan Bretenheirmer (Steve Anderson) and Sally Bretenheirmer (Ann Bosler) who are unable to succeed at Believe, even though they sincerely try to work the program. Tom (Brian Neal Clark) and Amy Hawks (Britani Bateman) are a focused couple who also meet Adam.
The owner of Believe is Howard Flash (Jeff Olson), who claims to have lived in a trailer park until the business of Believe saved his life and made him wealthy.
Adam decides to join Believe and succeeds unexpectedly. He is invited to be a speaker at a Believe convention. The crux of the plot is Adam at a crossroads of either enjoying wealth and fame from Believe or walking away because he believes he is misleading other people with his wealth and fame. [1]
For four years, Mulholland was a distributor for Amway, [2] one of the most well-known MLM companies in the world. [3] [4] [5]
Mulholland Drive is a 2001 surrealist mystery film written and directed by David Lynch, and starring Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Justin Theroux, Ann Miller, Mark Pellegrino and Robert Forster. It tells the story of an aspiring actress named Betty Elms (Watts), newly arrived in Los Angeles, who meets and befriends an amnesiac woman (Harring) recovering from a car accident. The story follows several other vignettes and characters, including a Hollywood film director (Theroux).
Amway North America is an American worldwide multi-level marketing (MLM) company, founded 1959 in Ada, Michigan, United States. It is privately owned by the families of Richard DeVos and Jay Van Andel through Alticor which is the holding company for businesses including Amway, Amway Global, Fulton Innovation, Amway Hotel Corporation, Hatteras Yachts, and manufacturing and logistics company Access Business Group. After the launch of Amway Global, it replaced the Amway business in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean, with the Amway business continuing to operate in other countries around the world. On May 1, 2009, Quixtar made the name change to Amway Global and fused the various different entities of the parent company.
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White privilege, or white skin privilege, is the societal privilege that benefits white people over non-white people in some societies, particularly if they are otherwise under the same social, political, or economic circumstances. With roots in European colonialism and imperialism, and the Atlantic slave trade, white privilege has developed in circumstances that have broadly sought to protect white racial privileges, various national citizenships, and other rights or special benefits.
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Usana Health Sciences, Inc., or USANA, is an American direct-selling company based in West Valley City, Utah. As of 2021, Usana was the 14th largest direct-selling company in the world by revenue. The company manufactures most of its nutritional products, dietary supplements, and skincare products at a West Valley City facility. Its products are sold in 24 countries via a network of independent distributors.
MonaVie is a defunct, American multi-level marketing company that manufactured and distributed products made from blended fruit juice concentrates, powders, and purées. The company was the subject of several controversies. Health claims for its products had not been scientifically confirmed or approved by regulatory authorities, and its chairman had been previously involved in false health claims concerning another beverage company. According to Forbes, MonaVie's business plan resembled a pyramid scheme. In 2015, the company defaulted on a US$182 million loan and went into foreclosure. Florida-based Jeunesse Global took over MonaVie’s assets when it purchased the note for $15 million.
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