Deadline: Three months after his hoped-for Broadway comeback Paradise Square closed amidst bad box office, legal battles, a Covid outbreak and allegations of a toxic work environment, producer Garth Drabinsky is suing Actors’ Equity for $50 million, accusing the union of waging “an intentional campaign of harassment and abuse” when it placed the Canada-based Drabinsky on its Do Not Work list last summer.
16 comments:
I have tried to follow up this production since its chicago run. Frankly, everything I heard was concerning. The overall sentiments of cast and crew feeling uncomfortable, unappreciated, and the shambles of the pay system. At the end of the day, Garth Drabinsky shows that there is no such thing as permanent “consequences” for persons with money. Even though he was a known convicted fraudster, he was still able to produce a show. Being a producer is a lot of power and responsibility, to keep the production on track and make sure that artistic vision and the production’s needs are met. And when factoring the various crew members, cast members, and actor’s equity testimonies, I believe he did not follow through with his job. His lawsuit for defamation at actor’s equity just shows, to me, a level of audacity and self-righteousness that need not be found in a person that allegedly fostered a hostile work environment.
I remember reading the article about what a disaster this show was to work on. I am not at all surprised that it got shut down. I am tremendously shocked at the shear amount of money that Drabinsky is suing for. 50 million is way over the amount that Actors Equity and United Scenic Workers sued him for last summer combined. Like crazy amount over. Even if he had a chance at a reasonable case for suing the union I have no idea why anyone would think that 50 million was a reasonable amount of money to be asking for. Especially with Drabinsky's history of lawsuits and rocky producing I can't see a reason why Equity shouldn't come out of this law suit successful. Not to mention that members of IATSE and SAG-AFTRA will undoubtedly be behind Equity in this battle. Whether or not the unions themselves voice support for Equity, the members of both unions who work so closely with Equity actors will undoubtedly have a grudge against Drabinsky. I will be very interested to see how this law suit unfolds.
…the do not work list is defamation of character…but it’s not invalid. The list has people and companies on it that break equities standards codes and by entering any sort of agreement with equity (I think) they acknowledge the risk of being put on this list if they fail to uphold equity standards and thus signed away their rights on the matter. This dude is a bad one and deserves to be on this list. However, the points about equity not stepping in for the harassment and another dispute over hair and wigs is worrisome to me. I don’t see how his claims of the cast pressuring him to host an opening party will hold in court considering they did not force him to do so and he still willinging hosted it and invited 400 people. If you were that worried about covid…host a party that only the people who worked on the show were allowed to attend. No forced him to invite 400 people and host it in an indoor space.
Every new piece of news I hear about Garth Drabinsky makes me more interested and intrigued by the story behind all of it. From the very beginning, it has sounded like he was definitely in the wrong and this show as a whole had problems from the start. All of the stories I've heard have been horror stories about his past charges, his mistreating actors and other members of the team on this show, not paying people, mistakes he's made throughout the process, and continued problems. I am surprised that after everything that's happened, he is still pushing that he was in the right and suing Actors' Equity. It seems that this will only serve to dig him an even deeper hole and cause more problems. I will be very interested to see where this story continues to go and how it settles out at the end of it all.
The title just sounded kind of ridiculous to me. Suing Actors Equity for $50 MILLION?! Come on. I do not really see this holding up in court, to be honest. The COVID outbreak after the party? Danielle said this too: no one forced him to host a party with 400 people. Worried about COVID? How about a party with only the cast & crew/producing team? There are ways to prevent outbreaks like that, and we’re still in a pandemic. COVID is still spreading. The lawsuit honestly sounds like Drabisky trying to push the blame for a failed show onto anyone else that he can, and make some money while he’s at it. Also - his history? Doesn’t sound great. Yes, putting someone on a Do Not Work list is defamation of character but no way is it worth a $50mil lawsuit. And, sounds like the union had multiple good reasons to put him on that list.
I have been aware of Paradise Square since its run in Chicago before going to New York but had not been following the show closely until after the Tony Awards. All I have heard about Pardiace Square is that disaster after disaster caused by poor management followed the show including crew and cast not being paid and treated incredibly poorly. This article and the actions of Garth Drabinsky just further solidifies that the poor management created an environment where a seemingly promising show could not thrive. My question is after a 17th month imprisonment due to fraud and many other skeezy business decisions who thought that Garth Drabinsky was qualified to lead and produce a show. Unfortunately it seems that Paradice Square was sent up to fail from the beginning of its run which is such a shame because there was potential for an innovative story to be told onstage.
Theo
This is pretty much my first exposure to this story since I don't typically keep up to date on my Broadway news unless something manages to leak through to the broader media platforms. Still, it already seems like it's been a complete cluster of a production. There have almost certainly been bigger flops, but the drama surrounding this production seems to rival even the largest of them. And honestly, this guy's suit tells me everything I need to know about him. I mean, you're seriously gonna sue Equity for $50 million when all they were after was like $300 thousand to compensate their people for lost wages due to the show closing prematurely? And, in your court documents, you want to play the "oh I was pressured into it" card (about the opening party). Come on, you are a producer on the show, and even more than that, you're an adult with tons of experience. If you held an opening party that ultimately led to a COVID outbreak, then the only one you can blame for that is yourself.
This whole law suit reeks of someone who is incapable of accepting the consequences of their own actions. His show is a failure for a multitude of reasons, but it's Equity's fault that COVID made it astonishingly difficult to keep doors open and butts in the seats, or that his cast and crew were disgruntled? Give me a break. He's a grown man (presumably) with a keen business sense (also presumably) and yet he was badgered into hosting an opening night part against his better judgment... please. As if. Even if it's true that cast and crew and whoever else wanted a party, he in no way had to bend to their will. Part of his job as producer is making the difficult decisions and that decision should have been to not throw a party. Especially a party for so many guests!
I'm also just astonished at this man's gall in suing Equity for 50 million. A suit that big could cripple the union, and who would suffer? The actors. Then again, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by his lack of empathy given that he can't seem take responsibility for creating a toxic work environment in the first place.
I didn't know about the problems that were already going on with Paradise Square and Garth Drabinsky, but I'm glad to have read this article. Just from the background on Drabinsky that the article provides, I think it's a really good move for Actor's Equity to put him on the Do Not Work list. It doesn't seem like Drabinsky makes the best decisions, to say the very least. Then, to sue Equity for $50 million? It's sort of unfathomable. Equity just responded to a bad situation - and did so in a very appropriate manner, too - so I don't see how Drabinsky can possibly think he can win the lawsuit. It's also very strange that Drabinsky chose to include the COVID outbreak in the lawsuit. It sounds like when I'm writing an essay and run out of good text evidence, so I have to use evidence that's barely related to what I'm writing about. All in all, I hope Drabinsky loses the suit, and I'm glad Equity has taken the steps they have to protect others from Drabinsky.
Our scheduled reminder that Covid is still very real and very much still going around and affecting our theatre! I’m glad we’ve found ways to keep our shows alive, but I hope that we can celebrate all the people who make this industry’s survival, especially those who currently are swings or understudies. The turbulence that they go through on a daily basis is simply jaw dropping, and that’s just what they post on social media. I hope that people continue to take these fluctuations and step-ins as the warning that they are that Covid is far from over, especially if you try to pretend that it doesn’t exist for the momentary gratification. It could end with you in bed with Demicron Variant 5 thousand.
They didn’t say this outright, but this seems an awful lot like a petty counter-suit. Equity is suing for unpaid wages and benefits and he is suing them for blacklisting him - which is just what they do when you stink to work for. It seems like he might be able to get out of paying the quarter of a million dollars because he isn’t actually financially obligated as an individual to pay the remainder of the contract because the production is an LLC. If that is the case, the LLC is the one who should fundamentally be sued. The claims about equity not penalizing actors is an odd one, because in a standard union contract if the employer has complaints about an employee, it begins a grievance process where the union represents the employee so it would be a clear conflict of interest if the union publicly criticized its own member.
Yeah I don’t think Drabinsky has a fighting chance of suing Actors Equity for FIFTY MILLION. He’s just making a sad jab back at the equity for initially suing HIM for owing his workers compensation after the show he was the PRODUCER of flopped. Fair I don’t know every detail of the story and the articles I’ve read following this have their bias, but it all reads to me like he’s just not accepting responsibility and needs to just back off. If everyone in theatre who was affected by covid tried suing each other for failed productions then everyone in theatre would go to court. Covid affected every production in it’s wake but it’s no big excuse for a $50 million lawsuit of “defamation.” Also his bit about his production workers just not wanting to hold up to their contracts so they got covid and sued to get out of working seems like a weak accusation considering its rarer on bigger scale productions that go to New York that everyone just wants to quit not express their art or take the opportunity to just get compensation contract money.
How ironic that this producer chooses to file a defamation lawsuit after numerous issues within his production that he could have avoided. The Covid outbreak is much to be expected. I’m often surprised that so many shows are having them now in the crucial moment just after opening. Give the show some time to get on its feet, and then maybe consider a small event. But going from no party to a 400-guest party seems like quite the leap. In regard to the Equity ‘Do Not Work’ list, it’s there for a reason. As an actor or a crew member, I feel like it would be hard to pass up a Broadway paying gig no matter who the producer is. So who pays attention to it in this case? Do investors care? Do they even know about it? We’ve heard of so much abuse in this industry, I feel like producers might want to pay attention to it if they want the show to succeed.
I am sorry but this suit is ridiculous. This guy, Drabisnky, is just trying to cover his own ass and get money. I vaguely recall when he was first put on the actor’s equity “do not work” list. The reasons for his placement here were entirely valid and with reason. He simply seems like he is just a terrible person based on everything I have heard of about him. And now this – he certainly isn’t helping his own case. When it comes to theatre and film/tv production, the producers are the ones who oversee everything, most notably, they handle the financials, with a lot of money coming out of their own pockets. The actors, crew, and everyone else involved pocket very little compared to the producers. The fact that the big rich guy is trying to sue actor’s equity is like a slap in the face. I am almost certain that Drabinsky has more than enough money to live a comfortable life for the remainder of his days. It is almost like life is a joke to him. Truly just disgusting and disappointing.
When reading this article, it comes as no surprise to the reader that this production was hit with COVID, a sad but likely conclusion to a show when reading articles from the past couple of years. My main source of curiosity with this text is this: what makes an actor/designer/artist a worthy suspect to put onto a “Do Not Hire” list, and does having such a list allow for discrimination against people within minority groups? To start, I believe that a “Do Not Hire” list is a reasonable thing to have when considering people with sexual misconduct charges, or other criminal charges that would risk the safety of the rest of the crew. I think, going off of a similar basis, people with a history of racism, homophobia, sexism, etc., could also be subject to the discretion of a “Do Not Hire” list. A list built off of these principles would not allow for discrimination against minorities unless otherwise proven, and would allow for fair and equitable hiring practices. However, it is important to note that a system like this can still be manipulated to directly affect members of minority groups.
This dude is saying that he was the lead creative producer and had nothing to do with finances or employment. I think the fact that he was listed as having troubles with Actor’s Equity and United Scenic Artists means that he most likely isn’t in the right. He can sue all he wants but Equity rules are pretty clear about consequences when their contract is broken. The situation does seem a bit rough but if you aren’t going to pay people and there are multiple accounts of mistreatment then it’s not looking good. Also I think if his argument is that he felt that Equity didn’t do their job about a specific harassment situation. Although not great, I think that is hardly his concern in the current situation. I also would like more details about the “hair and wig issues” and if the actors dispute was founded on fair concerns. Seems to be pretty messy if they are going to be playing the blame game.
Post a Comment