Yeah, if someone demonstrates contrition and a way to make amends, give them a chance to prove themselves. The idea of "well can't he do something else" is pretty laughable. If what he did is bad, not sure how not writing makes it "better", and telling a middle-aged person "just learn another way to feed yourself" is ridiculous.
If there's anyone out there thinking about opening a community-focused progressive cinema chain, now's your chance.
I'm not certain that forgiveness NEEDS to equal giving the man a paycheck again to do the exact same bullshit that afforded him the position to be the kind of shitheel he was for a very, very long time
Besides which, even if you wanted to set aside his sexual assault (which he never actually apologized for) - his behavior in his position had been toxic for fucking YEARS before that.
Can you elaborate on that inside baseball there, Bobby? What exactly has this guy done over the years? I only know of last year's incident (that actually happened ten years ago, if I understand correctly).
"Well can't he do something else" isn't laughable at all. Why would it be so. He probably should do something else for a couple reasons off the top of my head:
1) doing this only enabled him to be the piece of shit he ended up being
2) the audience is likely not going to let him do what he wants to do anyway
besides which, people seem to keep confusing the notion of "second chance" with "reloading the last save from the first chance and just running it again." It's like people are convinced "second chance" is irrevocably bound to the concept of doing exactly what it was you used to do, but now you're just sorrier about it. That's not how second chances have to work, and honestly, I don't know how valid it is to believe that's how they should work in every circumstance, either. It's kinda naive to think contrition (real contrition, not the sort of dishonest enabling his friends abetted) entitles a person to their prior position in life just because they'd like it.
I hope your wife didn't have to go through this bullshit, man.
In light of recent events, the makers of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, have decided not to participate in Fantastic Fest, a Searchlight rep said in a statement when reached for comment. The studio would not comment further.
In the wake of controversy surrounding Austin-based genre film festival Fantastic Fest, scheduled to run Sept. 21-28, Fox Searchlight Pictures has pulled a planned screening of Martin McDonagh's ”Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri," Variety has learned.
The move comes days after it was revealed that Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, which hosts Fantastic Fest, had quietly been employing disgraced former Birth.Movies.Death editor-in-chief Devin Faraci as a copywriter for months. Faraci made headlines in October 2016 when he was publicly accused of sexual assault and stepped down from his position at the Drafthouse-owned website.
”In light of recent events, the makers of ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,' have decided not to participate in Fantastic Fest," a Searchlight rep said in a statement when reached for comment. The studio would not comment further.
”Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" has screened at the Venice and Toronto film festivals so far. It tells the story of a small town woman, played by Frances McDormand, seeking justice for her raped and murdered daughter after months go by without an arrest.
Fox searchlight and that movie is a big one. What if other studios follow suit. God damn, what was that company thinking
A good blog post to read about Alamo:
http://wherethelongtailends.com/the-hypocrisy-of-alamo-drafthouse/
”In light of recent events, the makers of ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,' have decided not to participate in Fantastic Fest," a Searchlight rep said in a statement when reached for comment. The studio would not comment further.
Tim League said:I am very sorry.
I've let so many of you down.
Over the past few days, I've realized that decisions I have made over these past months have been problematic. I am concerned about what these choices may say about me and the values of this company to employees, customers and the community at large. I'm humbled and deeply sorry.
After getting past my defensiveness, I've heard so many perspectives, and I realize how I disappointed and hurt people. Going forward, my goal is to apologize and change course.
That's begun with the first of many open discussions with my team, and my primary goal is to listen and learn. Once I finish meetings here in Austin, I'll be hitting the road to meet with staff members at all of our locations. There's a lot of work to do and I'm committed to doing it - this is my immediate focus. I look forward to sharing what I take from these talks and the change resulting from them with everyone over the coming weeks, months and years.
From League's facebook just now.
I AM SO SORRY I WAS CAUGHT BUT ONLY NOW DO I WANT TO FIX IT BECAUSE OTHERWISE ALAMO/FF/BND ARE TOAST. How about you step down and quit Tim?
Step down from what? All of the things he's involved with?
From League's facebook just now.
I mean, who the fuck uses problematic in a statement like this
Dude needs to say what exactly he did wrong (as to convince us that he truly learned from this) and not just this "I made a bad, here's what the crisis management people said I need to do" BS.
I mean, who the fuck uses problematic in a statement like this
I think that's basically what he's saying, yeah. Take the money he's made with Drafthouse/Mondo so far, and walk.
I don't think he's going to do that, but I'm pretty sure that's what Vector is suggesting he consider.
Problematic is a "softener" word. Its a good one to have (because sometimes for the sake of polite discussion you really don't want to go into the exact specifics) but used like this it's just a straight-up weasel word.Dude needs to say what exactly he did wrong (as to convince us that he truly learned from this garbage fire) and not just this "I made a bad, here's what the crisis management people said I need to do" BS.
I mean, who the fuck uses problematic in a statement like this
I am concerned about what these choices say about me and the values of this company
EDIT: Just to be clear it seems like nothing Tim says at this point is good enough for anyone unless he steps down. It seems like there is nothing else on the table.
I used to work for Alamo. Tim is more involved than just Drafthouse and Mondo. He has his new movie studio. He personally owns a few of the Alamos and just isn't CEO.
I just want to be clear on what you guys think he should give up because hes pretty ingrained into the fabric of Alamo at this point.
Now I'm torn on whether or not I personally want to see him step down. I think if he continues to be transparent about this issue and shows us how he has learned from this and how he plans to fix this community then I think he should be given that opportunity.
EDIT: Just to be clear it seems like nothing Tim says at this point is good enough for anyone unless he steps down. It seems like there is nothing else on the table.
EDIT: Just to be clear it seems like nothing Tim says at this point is good enough for anyone unless he steps down. It seems like there is nothing else on the table.
This isn't necessarily true, it's just that the missed opportunities keep stacking up for dude.
He's a man not known for half-measures. He's made a name for himself by going big.
He needs to do that here. I think if he tackles this problem with the same sort of passion as he's tackled most every other aspect of his expansion into mini-moguldom, then people will start to come around and believe.
But facebook posts like those are not that.
I mean, shit, this is his second sentence:I mean the guy still can't even put in a public apology towards the victims in the second statement. Perhaps he's already doing that in private but Pandora's box has been opened since he made this decision to announce that Devin was working for them again and may have been for some time. And because of this decision, a long time programmer of FF has left already, and studios are pulling movies out of the fest. That's like starting to get toward really bad levels where the 'brand' is being hurt. He's pretty screwed in this day and age where this kind of stuff isn't tolerated anymore. I'm not saying this because I'm personally hating the dude, but realistically, his decision is really hurting the poor folks that work under him.
Basically saying he's REALLY worried about this affecting his image when he should be offering an apology to victims first and foremost.I am concerned about what these choices may say about me and the values of this company to employees, customers and the community at large.
I used to work for Alamo. Tim is more involved than just Drafthouse and Mondo. He has his new movie studio. He personally owns a few of the Alamos and just isn't CEO.
I just want to be clear on what you guys think he should give up because hes pretty ingrained into the fabric of Alamo at this point.
Now I'm torn on whether or not I personally want to see him step down. I think if he continues to be transparent about this issue and shows us how he has learned from this and how he plans to fix this community then I think he should be given that opportunity.
EDIT: Just to be clear it seems like nothing Tim says at this point is good enough for anyone unless he steps down. It seems like there is nothing else on the table.
What will the poor CEO do.
This is exactly the kind of sentiment Tim's ""apology"" is designed to elicit, btw. He (sort of, vaguely) apologized guys! Isn't that enough?
Wow. Honestly didn't see film cancelations coming. Just the one so far, but there could end up being more, right? That affects not just the fest, but the critics paid to review that film, and the fans who wanted to see it.
All this for Faraci... wow.
Seems like you would have him do nothing after stepping down.
Will the apology need to have improper grammar and typos for you guys to believe its not from PR?
Or will having those make you think that PR is just putting them in there to throw you off the trail?
Just want to know what you think is genuine.
Will the apology need to have improper grammar and typos for you guys to believe its not from PR?
Or will having those make you think that PR is just putting them in there to throw you off the trail?
Just want to know what you think is genuine.
If he does another half measure I would be inclined to agree with you to have him step down.
Will the apology need to have improper grammar and typos for you guys to believe its not from PR?
Or will having those make you think that PR is just putting them in there to throw you off the trail?
Just want to know what you think is genuine.
I didn't say he should step down, and I never actually agreed with that sentiment. I just clarified the question you were asking.
The thing is that "let's just see, you guys - but I don't think you guys will be satisfied until he falls on the sword" is kinda setting up a situation where you're basically in this thread specifically to vouch for Tim League, which you don't really need to do because I think a lot of people here are already familiar with him to some level. Granted, they probably never worked for him directly/indirectly like you did, I know I never have—but the level of disappointment you're seeing wouldn't be what it is if he was just a CEO.
But the continued mistakes & missed opportunities on his part, made in response to his misguidedly, and with the best possible intentions, enabling a sexual offender and serial asshole is going to naturally lead to a scenario where people aren't going to be super generous with that benefit of the doubt, yunno? It's making him into "just a CEO". It's making him a guy who values Devin Faraci's friendship over his business. Which is fucking weird. Nobody's saying he needs to utterly devalue Faraci's friendship first. Just that when its placed on the scales, it doesn't need to be anywhere near as equal as it appears to be, and has appeared for the last what, 10 months? 9?
And I don't know if the same defensiveness that Tim is speaking to in that (not great) apology is the best path in a defense of him.
Like - I'm skeptical that something's going to come of this tour that isnt' already evident, yunno? So the prospect of waiting for the tour to end doesn't seem super-necessary.
But who knows! We're gonna have to wait for it to play out regardless, so I guess we'll find out.
I think it's perfectly reasonable to expect well-off business execs to take accountability for poor action/lack of action in the form of resignation. It's as fair an expectation for people to hold as is his right to continue to not really own up to keeping Faraci employed on the low. He said sorry, but words aren't enough for everyone and the results of this tour probably aren't going to be easily verifiable from the outside looking in - League is talking about changing himself, not Drafthouse as a business.
So no, I'm not personally hell bent on him resigning, but I think it's perfectly fair to hold that expectation of him. He'd survive.
You need to appreciate that no one owes League anything whatsoever.
I just don't know how any employee can ever enter a trust relationship with a boss who had gone behind said employees back to ensure that the direct source of harassment remains on the payroll in secret with the hopes that one day he'll be able to slide right back in.
That is an inherent violation of trust that I can't see people overcoming. Why would anyone want to work for someone who has now proven they will stoop to that kind of thing? Shit, when a coworker at my job had her butt grabbed by another that dude was an instant memory. If he was allowed back secretly it would be the most heinous shit.