Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blake is a C-list nobody if we’re being totally honest. Swift has the most to lose here.

I’m sure I didn’t see all the texts, but the ones I saw didn’t seem bad at all. They were talking about their friendship. What’s toxic about that?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blake is a C-list nobody if we’re being totally honest. Swift has the most to lose here.

I’m sure I didn’t see all the texts, but the ones I saw didn’t seem bad at all. They were talking about their friendship. What’s toxic about that?

Anonymous wrote:Blake is a C-list nobody if we’re being totally honest. Swift has the most to lose here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Should he have apologized for things he didn't do? That would have been used against him. I think denying / no response was fine. Leaving would be better but perhaps they were blocked or forced to stay

PP here. I definitely don't think he should have apologized for anything he didn't do. That was Heath's phrasing, not mine. Heath said that he thought Baldoni should have apologized, or that that was the correct way to deal with the issue, and that Baldoni couldn't do that so Heath did. I also thought that was weird.

There's no indication that they were prevented from leaving. I think the concern was that shooting was supposed to resume the next day and that if they couldn't come to some agreement on the 4th, Lively would not return to set on the 5th. That's an expensive problem. However, knowing that this meeting was first raised in early November, it then becomes a question as to why it wasn't scheduled earlier, and why Wayfarer/Sony had not been working with Lively all along to make sure she was good to rejoin production on the 5th. That they apparently showed up to this meeting not even understanding it was going to be about Lively's concerns about behavior on set, even though the document her lawyers had sent two months prior literally says that she wants such a meeting, makes no sense.

I hope not all movies are run this way and that this is an extreme outlier due to Wayfarer being a tiny and disorganized studio, Lively being more demanding or difficult than typical, and the weird set up with Sony where they were trying to avoid getting involved even though multiple parties were begging them to. If this is normal, why does anyone want to make movies? Sounds like hell on earth. I would quit my job yesterday if this is how my workplace was run. I'd go get some $15/hr retail job before I dealt with this level of incompetence. Just a hard no.

One thing you missed between November 23 and January 5 is that they got permission after the strike to continue shooting. Blake refused to come on so they had to pivot and she other scenes so you’re sort of acting like they were sitting around with a lot of time on their hands really they were probably doing a lot to move direction to accommodate Blake not coming in. Believe she went to Europe with Ryan during that time. Sorry she’s a really a hole.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a great thread in popculturechat showing how the baldoni team campaigned against Lively. The text images are from the court exhibits.

https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/s/k922wuShdH

https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/s/16m0vTAIiN

Bad look for Baldoni and all including Jameela Jamil.

I don't know who that is. Context?

Jameela Jamil is a British actress/podcast host. She was in the show the Good Place but hasn't done much else in terms of acting in the US. At this point she's better known for hosting a podcast and being outspoken on a lot of issues, including celebrity, nepotism, and feminism.

Jen Abel reps JJ and some of their text exchanges wound up in discovery for the Lively/Baldoni things. I thought it was kind of weird because JJ is clearly just gossiping with Abel about it, they are both trashing Lively, etc. But it actually might have some relevancy for the case because, as I said, JJ hosts a podcast and also talks a lot about celebrity, and one could argue that Abel sharing not-public details about the conflict between Wayfarer and Lively with someone in that position could be part of a campaign to damage Lively's rep within the industry. I personally think that's a stretch because I don't think many people in the industry take her seriously at all and she's just not influential. Plus I don't know that she's ever weighed in publicly on the Lively/Baldoni thing. But I could be wrong.

Thanks for explaining.

I don't know that anything will come of it as far as seeding content if JJ never actually spoke on it in public, and her name is not familiar as far the lists of media influencers disclosed in RFPs. The Lively team does seem to be taking an angle that disparaging Lively privately to others was also part of retaliation. They mentioned at the hearing that Baldoni and Heath were talking crap about Lively to Hoover, and Hoover didn't like it, to which the judge retorted that the disparagement clearly didn't work.

JJ is also a client with Baldoni’s PR team, so that’s another bit of relevance, at least to the landscape of it all. To me it takes the wind out of the sails about criticism with Libely texting with her friends. Meanwhile, Baldoni reps are like utilizing their client base against Lively? And Miss JJ, who presents herself as a feminist as gleefully attacking Lively…

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a great thread in popculturechat showing how the baldoni team campaigned against Lively. The text images are from the court exhibits.

https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/s/k922wuShdH

https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/s/16m0vTAIiN

Bad look for Baldoni and all including Jameela Jamil.

I don't know who that is. Context?

Jameela Jamil is a British actress/podcast host. She was in the show the Good Place but hasn't done much else in terms of acting in the US. At this point she's better known for hosting a podcast and being outspoken on a lot of issues, including celebrity, nepotism, and feminism.

Jen Abel reps JJ and some of their text exchanges wound up in discovery for the Lively/Baldoni things. I thought it was kind of weird because JJ is clearly just gossiping with Abel about it, they are both trashing Lively, etc. But it actually might have some relevancy for the case because, as I said, JJ hosts a podcast and also talks a lot about celebrity, and one could argue that Abel sharing not-public details about the conflict between Wayfarer and Lively with someone in that position could be part of a campaign to damage Lively's rep within the industry. I personally think that's a stretch because I don't think many people in the industry take her seriously at all and she's just not influential. Plus I don't know that she's ever weighed in publicly on the Lively/Baldoni thing. But I could be wrong.

Thanks for explaining.

I don't know that anything will come of it as far as seeding content if JJ never actually spoke on it in public, and her name is not familiar as far the lists of media influencers disclosed in RFPs. The Lively team does seem to be taking an angle that disparaging Lively privately to others was also part of retaliation. They mentioned at the hearing that Baldoni and Heath were talking crap about Lively to Hoover, and Hoover didn't like it, to which the judge retorted that the disparagement clearly didn't work.

Anonymous wrote:Everyone involved in this mess is completely insufferable. Every single one of them.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The deposition from the Sony executive about the meeting where Ryan berated Justin is chilling. Highly recommend that people find it and read it.

The Sony executive, Ange, confirmed that Todd Black the other executive said it was the worst meeting he had ever been to. Keep in mind Todd Black is 65 and I believe now retired so that is saying something.

The meeting was a total ambush. They were told they were going to talk about script. No one said that Ryan was going to be there and they were surprised. There were line producers there and they were dismissed. Blake then took out her list and started reading, and Ange said she was shocked as she had not heard any of those complaints before.

She was asked if Ryan acted aggressively or yelled at Justin and confirmed. Yes, his voice was raised.

She described Justin as “frozen.”

She said the meeting went on for five hours with no breaks.

I’m sorry, but that is completely unhinged.

I’m sure Blake defenders will be like he was standing up for his wife or whatever but in no universe is a five hour meeting where you blindside somebody acceptable or an adult way to handle. Justin should’ve had a lawyer or an HR rep available as well if they were bringing up HR issues it’s just not appropriate or professional and sounds insane.

I agree it sounds nuts. Five hours is completely bizarre -- I don't understand what was even said over that length of time.

I don't understand why no one in the room was able to diffuse the situation and say "ok, these concerns have been heard, let's stop and reconvene after people have had a chance to process." Even just to take a break for a few hours I think would have helped. Like the project manager in me just thinks this was an unproductive way to handle this.

But I hold them all responsible. Yes, Ryan sounds unhinged and Luke he wouldn't let up. I've dealt with people like that and it SUCKS. But it also sounds like Ange and Todd Black were fairly useless. Baldoni apparently just curled up into a ball and went into a fugue state. I know people think that is understandable but I actually don't. He's not a little kid. He's a man in his 40s who assigned himself the role of star/director/producer of a $30m movie. I am honestly surprised he couldn't stand up for himself or find a better way to navigate the situation than go catatonic. Of course you feel bad for the person being attacked in that meeting, but also -- Baldoni was the boss. I'm shocked he had nothing more to say for himself and that Jamey had to jump in and basically handle the whole meeting.

It adds to my perception that the movie was a rudderless ship, which does make me more sympathetic to the idea that Blake wasn't trying to "steal" the movie so much as put a hand on the till and straighten it out, even as the way she did it was pretty hamfisted.

These are pretty serious allegations that sounded like were shocking to everyone sexual harassment and some of the things that she was implying are the allegations that put careers at risk. He should’ve been there with a representative from HR. I don’t blame him for freezing.

If he had stood up and met Ryan tone for tone, would that have been the mature way to handle it? Imagine the story that would’ve been then if he had gotten angry or upset or lashed out. Or even tried to defend himself - and how do you even do that if he felt the claims were baseless or taken out of context . I think freezing is actually pretty normal and pretty measured response. He also should’ve had legal representation. I understand this wasn’t a crime scene, but he was really being back to the corner.

Not suggesting he match Ryan's tone -- Ryan was being ridiculous. But saying look, I'm hearing what you are saying but it is a lot and doesn't match my own memory. Let's take a beat and talk through this. To just say nothing at all... maybe this set Ryan off more, or maybe it made him seem more guilty.

I also don't get why this was treated as coming out of nowhere because it honestly seemed like there was enough discussion of problems on set with Baldoni, Heath, and Ange at that point that none of them should have been that surprised that it came up at this meeting, even if the scope was bigger than they expected. They act like they though everything was great and were blindsided, but it's very obvious things were not great based on the texts and emails we've seen in the months leading up to this meeting.

To be fair, we don’t know. There’s one line in the deposition that said he froze. I don’t know that that means he didn’t say anything for five hours. We are speculating a lot with information that we don’t know.

And it was Ange who she said they were blindsided. So I’m willing to take her word for it and you can read the text Blake sent to Justin about this meeting. It was very cordial. I hope he had a nice holidays, etc. and could he come to the penthouse. And they were told they were going to be talking about script changes and they were weren’t told that Ryan was going to be there.

So maybe he wasn’t shocked to hear all the complaints but it sounded like no one was prepared to have an HR meeting. I also think it’s so unprofessional that she kept having meetings in her penthouse. I’m not sure why that was allowed, but I guess if she had all the power and then they just did that.

And I’m sure Justin will be blamed for allowing that to happen or not pushing back on that. But it simply seems like by that point everyone was giving Blake a lot of power. We keep crediting Justin for having total accountability for this movie, but Sony had a say and they let Blake get pretty far.

No, read Heath's depo -- he speaks at length about this meeting. He also says Justin froze and just could not speak. Heath says he wound up handling the meeting (yes the five hour meeting) because Justin just could not. Heath even talks about Justin becoming like a child, just unable to respond. I believe Justin also talks about this in his depo. We have way more than the one line in Ange's depo.

I absolutely think Sony fumbled the ball on this. I also think Todd Black and Ange were playing both sides all the time, and also that they were trying to "stay out if it" well past the point when that made any sense. They should have intervened much sooner. Like well before this January meeting. They knew the production was a mess.

Setting aside every other issue in this case, I cannot imagine how frustrating it would be to be working for a boss -- producer, director, star... literally running everything -- that curls up into a ball, reverts to a child-like state or is unable to handle (depending on whose deposition's wording you use) a meeting on incredibly important HR matters. Like, what? Obviously Baldoni was not ready for the big time. (And, yes, clearly Blake and Ryan aimed to take advantage of that for their own purposes.)

Again, we got one line from the deposition that says he froze. The meeting was five hours so I don’t think she literally means he didn’t say a word for five hours just that he was not prepared which is pretty much how they set it up right?

I’m sure he was frustrating to work with. I’m just not sure that that qualifies as sexual harassment.

And she was getting paid $3 million so I don’t have a lot of sympathy for her being frustrated.

The more I learn about this industry the more every movie set sounds like hell. It’s a bunch of self indulgent a-holes being given millions to pretend.

You could say the same for Justin, can’t imagine how frustrating it is to be called into a random meeting at somebody’s penthouse and be berated for five hours. So both sides had some lessons to learn.