News Lasseter taking leave of absence

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
His nervousness is understandable, but I think there's good reason to hope for a bright future with the new leadership. Provided corporate heads at Disney stay out of the creation process and allow them proper freedom and don't continually force sequels onto them.

I'm especially optimistic about Pete Docter. Jennifer Lee has less experience, but I really loved Zootopia and Wreck it Ralph so there's very good reasons to be optimistic about her as well.
 

Sir_Cliff

Well-Known Member
Ugh. I'm glad he's gone...ish.

Her comments about Pete Docter do give me some hope:
The decision to replace Lasseter with Jennifer Lee at Disney and Pete Docter at Pixar provides hope for meaningful change moving forward. Docter is known for being a gifted, inclusive filmmaker, and his gracious approach to leadership promises a vast improvement to the openly lecherous, boys club environment that Lasseter was paramount in cultivating.

A few years ago, Docter played a large part in advocating for the talent of a young story artist who has since become Pixar’s first-ever female short-film director, which is an amazing step in the right direction for lady storytellers...
 
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Magenta Panther

Well-Known Member

Good god. That was stomach-turning. Bravo to that brave lady. She's risking her career, no doubt about it, by stepping forward. Being a whistleblower makes you a pariah in the rotten halls of Hollywood, or in any bastion of power. How ironic that such "inclusive" people are hypocrites and liars in their actual dealings with people.

THIS. HAS. TO. STOP.

Public posturing isn't enough. Bear in mind that Robert Iger was WELL AWARE of this stuff but said and did nothing until it was exposed. Until there is a cleansing of the culture within Pixar, damned if I'll ever watch another Pixar film.
 

kurtk

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the links.
I didn't realize what he did was that bad. I kept hearing the story of too much hugging and it didn't sound so bad. Now I understand that he deserved to be let go.
It is sad when someone who had so much talent does such stupid/bad things.
 

rael ramone

Well-Known Member
Good god. That was stomach-turning. Bravo to that brave lady. She's risking her career, no doubt about it, by stepping forward. Being a whistleblower makes you a pariah in the rotten halls of Hollywood, or in any bastion of power. How ironic that such "inclusive" people are hypocrites and liars in their actual dealings with people.

THIS. HAS. TO. STOP.

Public posturing isn't enough. Bear in mind that Robert Iger was WELL AWARE of this stuff but said and did nothing until it was exposed. Until there is a cleansing of the culture within Pixar, damned if I'll ever watch another Pixar film.

There are two standards here when it comes to the various types of corporate and/or public wrongdoing.

The question as to which one applies depends on the answer to this question:

Is what this individual did Iger Enabled?

If yes, you get a 'publicly announced mutually agreed timeout' followed by a 'publicly announced consulting transition' that's paired with a farewell statement...

If no, then you get what Roseanne and John Skipper got.
 

the.dreamfinder

Well-Known Member
There are two standards here when it comes to the various types of corporate and/or public wrongdoing.

The question as to which one applies depends on the answer to this question:

Is what this individual did Iger Enabled?

If yes, you get a 'publicly announced mutually agreed timeout' followed by a 'publicly announced consulting transition' that's paired with a farewell statement...

If no, then you get what Roseanne and John Skipper got.
Well, if you, as Bob did, have knowledge of a settlement payment and John continues to work for the company, is that not enabling? Or Steve Jobs’ concern about Lasseter’s professional conduct at pre-buyout Pixar?

They knew for years this was a problem and they kept it quiet to keep making money off him.
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Public posturing isn't enough. Bear in mind that Robert Iger was WELL AWARE of this stuff but said and did nothing until it was exposed. Until there is a cleansing of the culture within Pixar, damned if I'll ever watch another Pixar film.

Also bear in mind that Bob Iger has a direct report who is in charge of all HR issues for the entire Walt Disney Company.

Jayne Parker, Chief Human Resources Officer, Walt Disney Company has worked for Disney for 30 years. She reports only to Bob Iger, and every HR executive in the Company around the globe reports to her. She is based in Burbank, and would have known full well about Lassetter's sexist shenanigans, or at the very least his instances of public drunkenness at official corporate events. Anyone who watched the D23 Expo videos last summer know Lassetter was a public drunk, that's no surprise to us.

It's Jayne's job to make sure all HR policies are being followed, especially by top senior execs like Lassetter. She quite clearly failed here. If you are going to crucify Iger, you need to put his top HR exec on the same cross. Jayne Parker. Basically, she sucks at her job obviously.

All that said, I went and read the Variety article that was salaciously linked as the "first to speak". And I have to say I was underwhelmed. Too much of Ms. Smolcic's tale reads as a mediocre employee upset at her mediocre annual reviews and mediocre career advancement.

"When I received a perplexing performance review after finishing my fourth production, it felt I’d never be equally recognized as a valuable asset by the company. The lengthy negative column listed things like, “designs too many options; seems like she’s trying too hard; asks too many questions.”

Is it possible those criticisms on her performance review were valid?

And her examples of sexism and harassment in the workplace were very vague and underwhelming when taken at face value. Stuff like...

"But Lasseter didn’t need an intimate setting to make female employees uncomfortable. He would give me, and countless other women, lecherous up-and-down looks (or unwanted hugs and touches) almost every time we crossed his path on campus. These tactless encounters made it clear that we were sex objects to him. The entire Pixar workforce witnessed the sleazy spin that John brought to Pixar’s Halloween bash. If he found a woman attractive when she got on stage, he’d ask her to spin around while he made suggestive comments, turning the event into yet another lewd spectacle."

Okay. Taking her for her word, the "lecherous" looks is one thing. But Lassetter MC'ing the PG-13 rated company Halloween party where people dress up in costumes and parade around on stage? It sounds like Ms. Smolcic has absolutely no sense of humor, or ability to laugh at herself and her peers. Or at best, she simply couldn't come up with a good Halloween costume. What were the other ladies dressed up like? We'll never know, but it sounds like adults being adults and knowing how to take a joke. Whatever, as vague as these examples are we can only take Ms. Smolcic for her word, but quite frankly I was expecting more when I heard this article was going to be "Stomach Churning".

And again I say, did Ms. Smolcic ever report any of this to HR? If this truly drove her from her dream job, I would imagine she must have made at least a couple of official HR reports. Or at the very least on her last day fire off an email to Jayne Parker, whose only job it is to create a safe and equitable workplace at Pixar.
 
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SorcererMC

Well-Known Member
There are two standards here when it comes to the various types of corporate and/or public wrongdoing.

The question as to which one applies depends on the answer to this question:

Is what this individual did Iger Enabled?

If yes, you get a 'publicly announced mutually agreed timeout' followed by a 'publicly announced consulting transition' that's paired with a farewell statement...

If no, then you get what Roseanne and John Skipper got.

I disagree about the double standard. It's not unusual for execs to negotiate a consulting contract as part of a separation agreement, ie, even when they are fired. To me - JL had no leverage in this scenario, and Iger's public-facing comments were to avoid a wrongful termination suit (given what's known about JL's alcohol problem). California doesn't honor non-compete agreements, so I think JL had something akin to 'garden leave', then a no-office consulting contract.
He got let go very publicly = fired.

As far as Iger goes: Enabling - yes, but I doubt he'll be held accountable for it. Any public acknowledgement of JL's behavior is an invitation for lawsuits and more headlines. He still has an obligation to protect the company and do his job. It pains me to say this - but I think he has managed to do so. (I think that is as close to a compliment as I've ever given Iger.)
 
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