Scott Rudin takedown — Page 13

It seems important to add a few facts that people either don't know, have forgotten, or are willfully ignoring:

Investment in entertainment projects is defined legally, by all applicable U.S. state and federal laws, as a high risk investment. Only legally defined risk capital can be invested, and only qualified investors may make such investments. There is a very substantial chance of losing all monies invested in a show, and they need to be made very aware of it and totally okay with that possibility, to say nothing of able to eat the loss, tax write-off or not. What do I mean when I say "qualified investors"? According to the law: a qualified investor must have individual net worth of not less than half a million dollars -- $500,000 -- U.S. (if single; a million, if married or married with a family), and an equal amount in cash or other liquid assets to the amount they invest.

That means investing in Broadway shows is a rich person's game. Most likely a rich white person's game. Almost definitely -- no, definitely -- a rich white man's game. And if you haven't noticed in your Playbill, even they are having trouble getting it up lately. The reason there's a multitude of producers above the title of your fav (and a more than incidental amount below it, for that matter) is that the days of "[One Guy] Presents" are over. At every world media center right now, not just Broadway, it's taking more and more cooks to come up with smaller and smaller portions of the recipe, which means a producer who is still raising capital for their show at the eleventh hour cannot afford to step on toes attached to an ass they may have to kiss to cross the finish line.

Additionally... and this second point is way more brief... no man is an island, least of all Scott Rudin. For this to go unremarked, you have to realize there are more like him. Waaaaaay more.

Why won't fellow producers, theater owners, investors, landlords, ad agencies, production shops, unions, openly condemn him? There are two reasons, and they are "yes, and," not "either/or."

1) Many of them no doubt have skeletons in their own closets, and if you pull one card, the whole house can collapse.

2) They don't have to like him as a person, so long as they secure the needed funds.

Updated On: 4/15/21 at 10:28 PM

I'd love to accept the acclaim, but all the credit is due to Mavis Staples, who received advice from Quincy Jones not to step on toes on the way up attached to an ass she might have to kiss on the way down.

sorry gdelgi but almost everything you say is wrong either legally or in my experience. Some of your underlying points are valid but it does not help you to make them on a false foundation. I am not inclined to go into detail here but most shows are financed under an SEC exemption and include unaccredited investors who can and regularly do invest in shows. Moreover, the threshold for accredited investor qualification ($200k in income OR $1mil (not a half) in net worth) is not "rich" in 2021. So there's that. Second, I think you will be hard pressed to find a single person in this business who thinks there are "more like" Rudin. And it may disappoint you to know that most high level producers are not scumbags in the sense you are thinking. Which is not to say that they want to get in the middle of this issue, and yes that's a huge  problem. 

ETA: I read the following post and I just want to add that we are dealing with multiple things that can't really be lumped in one pot, but right now the "Rudin issue" which I would say is sui generis needs to be dealt with or it is going to debilitate the ability to address some of these other more systemic issues.

Updated On: 4/15/21 at 11:42 PM

Joshua Rosenthal said: "poisonivy2 said: "Because it needs to be said again and again: "tough" and "demanding" =/= abusive.

Tough, demanding bosses demand the best work and they usually get it.

Abusive bosses cause people to shut down and quit. "

He smashed a laptop on an intern’s head"

Yes and I'm saying his behavior goes way beyond "tough." It's simply abusive.

ctorres23 said: "Joshua Rosenthal said: "He smashed a laptop on an intern’s head"

Hand, not head. Monitor, not laptop. Assistant, not intern. You got all the nouns wrong."

none of those "corrected nouns" make the story any better/different.

 

short of the individuals directly impacted pressing charges (or trying some civil suit that i dont think would succeed) there is no legal recourse here. its not illegal to be an asshole (and it shouldnt be). the Big Names avoiding him/refusing to work with him (in Hollywood as much as NYC) is the way to go. 

 

Brandon Uranowitz just posted this to his Instagram story:

EDIT: My brain isn't working today to figure out how to get this image to load, but here's a link:

https://imgur.com/a/e0TzTi9

At this point I think the Meredith Wilson estate needs to pull the rights. Sure it will be come a legal battle, but eventually the production may be able to proceed with Hugh & Sutton leading it, but without Rudin.

Updated On: 4/16/21 at 01:43 PM

@g.d.e.l.g.i. Re the exemptions and non-accredited investors etc, let me point you to the SEC's regulations  A & D (which differentiate between two ranges of capitalization with A, in effect, necessary for many/most musicals). I am sure you can find a plain English explanation on the SEC website. If you still have questions, feel free. Before I leave this, though, as I said you do have valid points because many (but not all) productions set minimum investments that push the opportunity out of reach for many. 

Re the "non-rich" affording an investment, I don't have a number but there are many. Risk aversion is not popular in some non-rich precincts. But yes, of course, an investment is more of a no-brainer for a hedge fund billionaire but a big deal for the owner of a successful chain of local coffee places. 

Re scumbags, I don't share your opinion but you are of course entitled to yours. 

 

In this video Robin De Jesus talks about the Weisslers

I agree that the Bob Roth thing raises some red flags in terms of the trustworthiness of its source. I can't claim to say either way that it definitely is or isn't real, but we should all take it with a grain of salt. But then again, if you were going to make up this story, why on earth would you choose Bob Roth of all people?  

 

And I also agree that the "who is silent" game can get super toxic, super fast. You don't know who's on vacation, who's dealing with a family emergency, who's on a Twitter hiatus, who's coping with mental health issues, or a million other things. Alternately, some people could be taking time to process all of this, and find exactly the right words to say, and the right steps to take - which might even involve having a million private conversations a day with members of the community. However, I do think there's something to be said for pointing out (a) the broader trends of which segments of the community are staying silent, and which aren't, and (b) the small subset of specific people who happen to have a significant amount of leverage due to their proximity to Scott Rudin. I don't think Judy Kuhn meets those criteria. 

IdinaBellFoster said: "Brandon Uranowitz just posted this to his Instagram story:

EDIT: My brain isn't working today to figure out how to get this image to load, but here's a link:

https://imgur.com/a/e0TzTi9

At this point I think the Meredith Wilson estate needs to pull the rights. Sure it will be come a legal battle, but eventually the production may be able to proceed with Hugh & Sutton leading it, but without Rudin."

Maybe I'm biased because I'm a Sutton/Hugh fan, but it doesn't seem fair to me that they are the two expected to take action on this. I understand that having a big name has responsibilities, but this shouldn't be their mess to clean up. We have no idea what's happening behind the scenes, especially with contracts and whatnot. Do I hope they speak up? Sure. Do I blame them if they don't? Of course not. And while I love Brandon, it's easy for no-name people to try and throw blame around because there's literally zero consequences on them. It's easy for anyone to say, "If I were Hugh, I would..." because they're not and never will be. 

Jordan Catalano said: "How many actors/musicians/backstage/tech etc will “Music Man” employ for however long it runs? How many jobs are people suggesting be effectively taken away from those who’ve been out of work for over a year, for the sole reason Rudin is attached to this?
"

There will be another show at the Wintergarden. TMM is not the only show in town.