The comedy Queenpins, which is about two associates behind an enormous couponing scheme, relies on a real story. Queenpins reunites actors Kristen Bell and Kirby Howell-Baptiste — who appeared collectively in Veronica Mars and The Good Place — as Connie Kaminiski and JoJo Johnson, respectively. Within the film, Connie receives a coupon as an apology after she complains to an organization about stale cereal. This incident sparks an concept that finally ends up making her, and her greatest good friend JoJo, some huge cash. Queenpins’ true story relies on the couponing rip-off designed by three Arizona girls: Robin Ramirez, Marilyn Johnson, and Amiko “Amy” Fountain.
Queenpins’ forged of characters additionally contains acquainted faces like Bebe Rexha, Vince Vaughn, and Joel McHale in supporting roles. The $40 million coupon rip-off might look like a piece of fiction, however Queenpins’ true story is impressed by an actual true-crime story. In 2012, Arizona police did arrest three girls in possession of thousands and thousands of {dollars} price of faux coupons. Unlawful couponing might not sound like an enormous deal, however on a big scale, it will probably value companies thousands and thousands of {dollars} in misplaced income. Queenpins‘ true story rip-off impressed the film, nevertheless it’s not a wonderfully correct retelling.
Queenpins Is Primarily based (Loosely) On A True Story
Queenpins is a real story and relies on a real-life coupon rip-off orchestrated by three girls in Arizona: Robin Ramirez, Marilyn Johnson, and Amiko “Amy” Fountain. Ramirez, who was 40 years outdated on the time of her arrest, was thought of the ringleader of the group. Johnson, then 54, and Fountain, 42, assisted her with the operation, which made them thousands and thousands. The American true-crime story caught the eye of Sgt. David Lake of the Phoenix Police Division, who advised native TV station KPHO [via Coupons in the News]: “The opulence and the cash was the equal of drug cartel-type of stuff.”
Whatever the girls’s monetary state of affairs earlier than they began the scheme in Queenpins, by the point it ended, they had been dwelling in luxurious. The coupon rip-off was featured within the CBS documentary sequence Pink Collar Crimes in 2018, and Queenpins takes a extra comedic strategy to the story. Queenpins‘ true story alternatively is not comedic in any sense as the ladies needed to pay out a hefty sum and do some arduous time for the rip-off.
Actual-Life Coupon Rip-off: How It Labored
Coupons within the Information reviews that Ramirez began promoting pretend coupons as early as 2007. Within the Queenpins true story, her system concerned sending coupons abroad to be reproduced and counterfeited in giant portions. Much like different true crime films like Leonardo DiCaprio’s Wolf of Wallstreet, Queenpins‘ true story is considerably glossed over for the sake of time and the couponing rip-off itself was a sufferer of this. These coupons could be altered to wonderful offers. For example, an actual coupon for $1 off Pringles may very well be modified to $50 price of free pet food.
Some prospects within the Queenpins true story later admitted the offers appeared too good to be true, however they by no means needed to query such success. Johnson helped bundle and ship orders, and Fountain typically added hologram stickers to the pretend coupons to make them look extra respectable. The coupons had been then bought on eBay from a number of completely different accounts in addition to from the group’s personal web site, SavvyShopperSite. This website required an invitation to be able to entry, and in addition included a warning to not freely share the place prospects bought the coupons.
Who Are The Actual-Life Queenpins
Queenpins‘ true story ends with the couponing rip-off alone. The Good Place‘s Kristen Bell and Kirby Howell-Baptiste do not technically symbolize any of the three girls as an entire. Due to this fact, Queenpins is absolutely extra “impressed” by a real story relatively than based mostly on one. The true-life Queenpins had been three Phoenix, Arizona-based girls named Robin Ramirez, Marilyn Johnson, and Amiko “Amy” Fountain. Robin Ramirez is alleged to be the ringleader of the operation and was the one one which confronted jail time for the rip-off.
Ramirez began the couponing rip-off alone within the Queenpins true story, as she started promoting counterfeit coupons again in 2007 and was joined by Johnson and Fountain after seeing the financial potential of the rip-off. Whereas Connie and JoJo shared equal weight of their partnership, Queenpins’ true story has Robin Ramirez on the frontlines as she was actually the brains behind the operation. She would have respectable coupons reproduced abroad in giant portions after which promote them by way of her eBay account. In the course of the trial in 2013, each Amiko Fountain and Marylin Johnson agreed to testify in opposition to the ringleader, inflicting Ramirez to vary her plea to “responsible”.
Whereas Robin was the one one sentenced to jail within the Queenpins true story, all three had been pressured to pay restitution to Proctor and Gamble to the tune of $1.2 million. Because the state of Arizona forbids criminals from making a revenue off of promoting their tales, not one of the girls will make a dime off of the 2021 film Queenpins. Fountain and Johnson nonetheless dwell and work within the Phoenix space and appear to have put the incident behind them. Ramirez has had her probation prolonged a number of occasions, and based mostly on her scant month-to-month funds in direction of restitution, she’ll be capable of pay it down in about 120 years.
What Occurred To The Actual-Life Coupon “Queenpins”?
Like within the ending of Queenpins, the ladies’s fortune finally got here to an finish in Queenpins‘ true story. One of many victimized corporations, Procter & Gamble, launched an investigation after they found a few of the pretend coupons throughout a routine audit. Forty companies finally filed fraud complaints, alerting the Coupon Data Company and native police. Non-public investigators labored with the Phoenix Police Division who went undercover to trace down the three girls concerned. The investigation lasted eight weeks, throughout which officers pretended to be prospects buying a few of the counterfeit coupons. The 2013 American true-crime story was initially forgotten about till Queenpins introduced it again into the sunshine.
Queenpins’ true story is far much less comedic than Kristen Bell and Kirby Howell-Baptiste’s rendition. A police raid discovered greater than $40 million in pretend coupons together with $2 million in different property together with 22 weapons, money, 21 autos, and a velocity boat. Ramirez, Fountain, and Johnson had been all arrested. Fountain and Johnson finally pleaded responsible to counterfeiting, and Ramirez pleaded responsible to counterfeiting, fraud, and unlawful management of an enterprise. She was sentenced to three years in jail and 7 years probation whereas her associates served 3 years probation. Queenpins’ true story isn’t fairly the laughing matter that actress Kristen Bell and Kirby Howell-Baptiste make it out to be.
All the pieces The Film Adjustments
Queenpins’ true story is markedly completely different than the film. In Queenpins, authorities first turn out to be conscious of a possible drawback when a Loss Prevention Officer working for the grocery retailer chain known as A&G Household Mart receives quite a few complaints of fraudulent coupons. He initially goes to the FBI for assist, however the case will get transferred to a U.S. Postal Inspector because the coupons are being bodily mailed out (making the rip-off mail fraud). This angle permits the movie to be extra comedic in the way it coated the investigation; it additionally takes focus away from the hurt the rip-off did to corporations.
Though Queenpins does point out Procter & Gamble by identify, the companies are portrayed as not likely being affected by the rip-off — as a substitute, the occasion is framed as “only a write-off” for them. Inspector Simon Kilmurry (performed by Combating With My Household‘s Vince Vaughn) would’ve suffered much more in actual life. In actuality, P&G acquired monetary compensation for the losses in income. Different corporations additionally requested for reimbursement, however couldn’t show their merchandise had been concerned within the coupon scheme. Queenpins selected to not embody the reimbursement the ladies had been court-ordered to pay, more than likely to make them appear extra sympathetic to the viewers.
It’s a lot simpler to root for characters whose actions do not really trigger any lasting hurt. Different key modifications in Queenpins are additionally meant to additional endear the 2 lead girls to audiences. Connie chooses to take full duty for his or her crimes to guard JoJo. But, in Queenpins‘ true story, Johnson and Fountain turned on Ramirez in trade for lighter sentences. The film additionally offers Frozen actress Kristen Bell’s Connie a tragic backstory. Being pregnant problems are the reason for her and her husband’s monetary struggles, which lead her towards excessive money-making schemes. The film simplifies Queenpins‘ true story and the ladies’s counterfeiting system as nicely.
In actual life, they might ship actual coupons abroad to be altered and mass-produced. In Queenpins, they merely stole extra coupons from a manufacturing unit in Mexico. All of their “pretend” coupons had been in actual fact actual, simply being distributed in a lot bigger portions than corporations needed. Queenpins additionally reduces the ladies’s sentences. JoJo receives 10 days of jail time and one-year probation whereas Connie receives 11 months of jail time. Neither of them learns their lesson from this although within the film Queenpins as a result of the movie ends with Connie and JoJo planning to begin their coupon rip-off once more, this time abroad.
How The Queenpins Administrators Turned A Rip-off Into A Story
Administrators Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly sat down with SlashFilm for an interview and laid out how they turned a real-life rip-off into Queenpins. Pullapilly spoke up first, saying that she first heard a few $40 million couponing rip-off on a coupon weblog, and he or she occurred to have the identify of the Phoenix, Arizona detective that labored on the case. Shortly after studying in regards to the crime she contacted Gaudet, questioning if one thing so obscure was actual. The pair then known as the detective and located themselves knee-deep in analysis for what would quickly be the story of Queenpins, regardless of the duo by no means making a comedy earlier than.
Regardless of the movie being a comedy, Gaudet and Pullapilly reiterated {that a} super quantity of analysis went into making Queenpins. Gaudet talked about that the duo took “deep dives” into the psychology of couponing, postal inspectors, and a lot extra to get the story proper. Whereas Pullapilly talked about that social points had been additionally layered all through the story, Gaudet actually hammered dwelling that the story wanted to have authenticity, saying, “We researched loads as a result of, once more, we handled it the identical approach and we needed it to really feel simply as actual and genuine and layered. We might by no means need to do a comedy that is only a surface-level foolish comedy.”
Gaudet and Pullapilly additionally realized loads in regards to the psychology of coupons and the postal service to make Queenpins. Gaudet mentions that individuals do get a small “excessive” from utilizing coupons and that there’s a “complete psychology behind any purchaser after they choose up what they need to purchase.” Analysis into the postal service revealed that postal inspectors are the oldest department of American regulation enforcement, one thing that Pullapilly needed to pay homage to and “write this love letter to the put up workplace.” The Queenpins true story actually is stranger than fiction, and quite a lot of work on Gaudet and Pullapilly’s half went into making it successful.