With regards to the lawsuit...
If your assertions are correct, then I will eat humble pie. I may be an ass, but I'm not that big of one to be corrected.
Let's see about that.
The only scenario that would result in a positive outcome for her is if her dismissal violated her contract.
Actually, no. The dismissal itself is probably the one thing that didn't violate the contract. The producers had every right to dismiss her. What they don't have a right to do is steal her intellectual property, and no pay her what she's entitled to.
First of all, your basic premise is incorrect, as are almost every statement you've made on this suit in this thread. Which would be fine, except you slandered this woman in very personal terms in the process.
The suit, at its heart, is not a "wrongful termination" suit, as you continually imply. That may be part of it tangentially, but really it's a breach of contract suit. This isn't some hourly employee being fired.
In most states there's a thing called "at will employee". You are working "at will". You can choose to quit with a moment's notice if you so desire and your company cannot do anything about it. Conversely, the company can dismiss you and not even provide you with any reasoning. They just don't want you there. That's what "at will" means - they let you work at "their will" and you work at "your will".
Plus, I believe NY is an "at will" state - meaning they can fire at will.
All of this business about "at will" employment is irrelevant. The issue is not whether the producers were within their legal rights to separate Taymor for the production. The issue is whether before that, or after, they violated, and continue to violate, part of their agreement with Taymor.
So there didn't have to be a reason to fire here - they just could.
Again, all irrelevant.
Taymor had an agreement that called for, among other things, her having complete creative control over the production. Her suit alleges that the producers violated this when they started to make changes to the book, and hold rehearsals, without her consent.
Another issue is the royalties, which Taymor is clearly entitled to, and the producers flat out refused to pay her for after she was separated. This was in clear violation of her contract. In any event, that part of the lawsuit....regarding her current royalties, was recently
settled in her favour:
Under the deal, producers will pay Taymor full royalties as director from the beginning of previews in November 2010 through the run of the Broadway show, however long that is.
This settlement pays her royalties pays her royalties as
director, which the producers originally refused to pay her and you would have advised her not to sue over. The Federal Lawsuit for copyright infringement...which will impact additional royalties, including paid for a touring production...stands. But if you would have bothered to read the suit, you'd see that the Taymor's finger prints are still all over that production (for good or bad). For the producers to be "off the hook" to her, they would have completely had to scrap her book and start over...which they didn't do. Whole sections of dialogue she wrote, and scenes she wrote, are still there with little or no changes. Her 2004 agreement specifically said she had to approve ALL changes to the book...something the producers ignored when they made changes to the book without her consent between December 2010 and February 2011.
Indeed, she's still listed on the Playbill, and her name is mentioned in some adverting for the production, if I'm not mistaken.
With regards to her copyright claims - I don't know enough there. But it sounds like this new show is nothing like her show. So she'll probably lose there too.
Are you sure about that?
Still think she's a bitch for standing up for herself, and "suing her boss"?
Speaking of which, this comment is just stunning:
And suing your former boss is never a good thing
Really? Really? So if your "boss" screws you over, breaks his contract with you, and refuses to pay you, you should just shut up and keep quiet? So if your boss promises to pay you, then doesn't like the work you do, so fires you then refuses to pay you, that's OK? You're just supposed to to take it?
Suing is "never" a good thing? Again, remember that next time you're screwed over by your employer.
As for this...
I'm not some big shot Broadway producer, but if I was, I wouldn't hire her no matter what experience she has. She's proven that if you want changes she won't do them and if you dismiss her as a result, she'll sue you. Yeah - that's a catch.
...and this...
I realize her reputation is hurt, but she's pretty much flat-out destroyed it now. She had a zillion chances to act professionally - she's blown all of them. This law-suit may create such a negative vibe that she might not work in Broadway again (or at least not at that top level).
...and this...
Still, I think this show and her handling of this show will ultimately reflect on her. B&E took the early heat. Now the show is doing well, everyone's quiet. But in the years to come, will others be willing to take such a chance on Taymor? "Spider-Man" wasn't a career killer. She just wanted it to be her "masterpiece" done at any cost. And that may prove to be her career downfall.
As others have correctly pointed out, what utter nonsense. For one thing, many talented directors have reputations for being difficult to work with. For another, suits like this over royalties are common place on Broadway and Hollywood. Peter Jackson recently sued New Line over royalties for Lord of the Rings (again, settled). If every time a producer refused to work with a director, or actor, who sued over royalties, not a lot would get done in Hollywood or Broadway.
Taymor is an Academy and Tony award winning director. B&E sought her out for this project. She's going to have plenty of opportunities to work when a project that interests her presents itself. As long as her productions sell tickets, and are creatively captivating, producers will flock to her.
Perhaps it's the producers who should be concerned that other high-profile directors won't want to work w/them b/c of the way their treating Taymor. Whose name do you think draws people in...Julie Taymor, or the Spider Man Broadway (not B&E) producers? Can you even name any of them?
I'm a Team Leader at my job. If I go over budget or miss a deadline, I will get heat. One could argue that this is where my bosses could step in. In reality, my bosses are juggling a lot - they trust ME to get this work done. And if my team and I do not, we take the heat. If anything, my bosses play the role of calming a situation and figuring out how to move forward.
Taymor is not a salaried employee, she's a fucking creative professional..she was hired for her artistic vision, not for her people skills. She had total control of the project, via her contract. If the producers didn't like what she was doing, they had two choices...work with her to change things, or fire her. Not go behind her back and undermine her vision. Again, she was hired for her artistic vision. Later they decided they didn't like the vision her artistry was producing.
What ticks me off most about Taymor is her lawsuit where she not only feels she was wrongfully dismissed (she lost millions in investor money, refused direction and missed every deadline possible - yeah, good job trying to convince a judge that you were dismissed for no reason), but she now wants to prevent the show from going on the road. Bring this act to other cities and it could make some real money. So now she's even selfish, potentially costing a lot of jobs. What a class act.
For one, in this suit she's not trying to convince anyone she was "dismissed for no reason."
And as I said previously, she doesn't want the show shut down. Not really. Ultimately, she wants the show to go on b/c that's more royalties for her...but first, she wants to make sure she gets paid what she's due. It's not about being 'selfish'. If the producers gave a shit about those jobs you refer to, they would have not played these games in not paying her. They know they have no case to stand on, which is why the've settled that part of suit.
After they fired her, the producers knew they'd have to pay, but obviously they want to pay as little as possible. So they just refuse to pay, knowing that she will sue. They also know that ultimately she'd probably end up settling the case for less than what the contract calls for. Which is exactly what will happen in this case. They will pay, but less than their technically liable for. And if it came to it, a judge or jury may (or may not) take into account the Taymor's performance when awarding her a judgement. But it won't come to that. Neither party is going to want a drawn out lawsuit. Not Taymor, and certainly not the producers, who have a lot of money to lose while the touring production is on hold.
Once again, I
agree that Taymor was rightly separated from the project. Everything you say about the creative and production difficulties is to some extent, maybe even a great extent, her "fault". Yes, her story sucked, she went over budget, missed deadlines, etc. All was at least in part her fault. But not completely, and in any event just because the producers decided to separate her from the production doesn't mean that the don't have to pay her what they owe for her work. They likely should have gotten rid of her a lot earlier in the game...but for as long as they kept her on, knowing what was happening, they shared responsibility.
I'm really thinking this Taymor woman is a true b-word.
I don't blame you for not understanding the case, or perhaps reading inaccurate news reports. If it was just a matter of spouting uniformed nonsense, I would have let it slide. But next time you call a woman a "bitch" and "ass" for standing up for her rights, along with badmouthing her repeatedly, you might want to acquaint yourself with the actual facts before you do so.
Enjoy your pie.
not surprising in the least - Patrick Page is very good! i'm amazed he's stuck around this long actually...
And I'm willing to call out another ass when I see one.
