Sidney,
Your repeated ineffectual attempts to harass, attack and bait me over and over again are uncalled for. You have also aimed your harassment at everyone from film production personnel to members of the Universal publicity team. I have tried again and again to be positive and professional. Myself, my team and Universal’s staff have gone out of our collective ways to bend over backwards to make Monique feel comfortable and respected during every step of this process. You have rejected reasonable attempts at positive and proactive communication. Monique is an immensely talented actress who deserves better representation than that. And to think that you have directed your vitriol at someone who was an advocate when it was time to cast this film even though I was warned by numerous people around the industry about hiring Monique (primarily because of the transactional costs of dealing with you), I pushed for her. Your reputation precedes you and I still advocated whole heartedly to have Monique involved in this production. I said I will not allow what others are saying about my “sister” to keep me from giving an opportunity to a tremendous talent. And now here you are being true to past form, attempting to swindle additional money from a production/studio/producer.
I haven’t been receiving your emails, texts, calls, carrier pigeons or whatever other method you’ve been using to try to reach me with your weak attempts to bait me that exhibit your “unique” understanding of the English language. The last thing I have time to do is read your needlessly long emails spewing your mindless drivel. You lost the ability to communicate with me directly long ago. While you may have hours and hours of free time to sit behind a keyboard and spread poorly worded negativity…I do not. Any further correspondence you deem necessary please communicate via your attorney, Ricky Anderson, who has managed to maintain strong relationships in this industry despite often being on the opposite side of the negotiating table. Imagine that.
I understand you have brought up issues with production. Let’s spend a moment there. Your accusations are unfounded. You took major issue and exception to the number of white people on the crew, despite the fact that I pointed out how extremely diverse our film crew was and that we had an overwhelming majority of black department heads. You and Monique treated many of the various hourly employees of the crew horribly. It got so bad that I needed to remind you both that you should direct your irritation and angst -not at PAs, EPK videographers or assistants-to me. Thus the HNIC comment was born when I felt the need to let you know where the buck stopped. We all laughed about it and agreed to move forward in a spirit of positivity. Then something changed. You smelled an opportunity. Your subsequent faux outrage around that phrase (even going so far as to spell out the N-word and forward it around in an attempt to make it seem that much more egregious) is disingenuous. Especially coming from one of the funniest and foulest comedians of her generation who has jokingly even referred to me as the “N-word”. But even still, once you expressed that you took issue with that phrasing I apologized immediately. We should have moved on but that would not have helped your agenda of trying to get additional money any way that you could.
Let me cut to the chase…you have been trying to renegotiate your deal since you made it. You tried any and everything to get additional money from production and now you’re doing the same with marketing. Your reputation precedes you so I understand this is your modus operandi. You are trying to get rewarded for your bad behavior. Your client has been asked to do less than many of her castmates that are working their tails off to promote the movie, while still being given (at your demand) more than anyone else. We are ecstatic to have Monique be a part of the Almost Christmas campaign and hope that she will continue to do so in an effort to help ensure the success of her movie, without expectation of additional compensation.
Sometimes you have to sit back and look at yourself for the reason why your career is where it is…sometimes it’s not the “industry”…it’s not Lionsgate…it’s not Universal or Lee Daniels or Will Packer or white people…sometimes you have to say…maybe it’s me.
W
