I think I just laughed and barfed at the same time. John Textor apparently wants nothing to do with the press:
“I lost my job, too,” he says, standing in his doorway. ”It’s been a witch hunt.”
This man either needs a dose of reality or a reality tv show. The Palm Beach Post also came out with an article about the vetting behind the county’s deal with Textor and Digital Domain. According to John Textor, Michael Bay didn’t think Florida was a good idea:
Bay told The Post last week that he was no longer involved with Digital Domain and knew nothing of its plans in Florida when Beer wrote the report. “I wasn’t involved with any of the company’s decisions on anything (at that point) and I didn’t even know about Florida until it happened,” Bay said.
Textor dropped his former frat brother’s name, however, when promoting the company. In a Postprofile of Textor published in September 2010, Textor acknowledged that Bay dismissed his ideas for a Florida school and animation studio as “wacko Textor ideas.”
So many people lost so much and we should feel sorry for him?
Soldier On.
Intercourse Textor up the bottom with a painful object. I was directly affected by his bothersome antics. I will never completely recoup. To perdition with his cursed buttocks. With alacrity!!!
Seriously. Fuck this guy.
I suggest you try a fancy restaurant, dinner and dancing, then invite him back for ‘coffee’.
You may also then turn attention to ed ulbrich, mike Katzenstein and a whole group of others. Textor is a unique character, for sure, but technically he is right- he was also sacked. It was a group of other folk who were also involved, fronted by ulbrich and katzenstein… as they slip off into the shadows of the night …. but let’s see how they do with the communists now, cos those communist party loans for 20m probably ain’t no-strings-attached.
Still, we live in a culture of spectacles, song and dance, WWF wrestling goodies and badies. Someone should photoshop Textor into WWF spandex trunks so we can throw beer cans at him and shout boo! you suck! Seeing how there is only ever one Dr Evil mastermind behind such things. Apparently?
That’s also how I think that the Romney-Obama debates would be improved. Big arena, both oiled up in spandex wrestling togs, 20 rounds of wrestle mania. Then monster truck race-offs. Hell yeah!!
There’s colors on the street
Red, white and blue
People shufflin’ their feet
People sleepin’ in their shoes
But there’s a warnin’ sign on the road ahead
There’s a lot of people sayin’ we’d be better off dead
Don’t feel like Satan, but I am to them
So I try to forget it, any way I can.
(chorous)
Keep on rockin’ in the free world,
Keep on rockin’ in the free world
Keep on rockin’ in the free world,
Keep on rockin’ in the free world.
As noted several times in the past, when I provided links to the list of DDMG board members on the then-active DDMG website, Ed Ulbrich was never a member of the DDMG board or involved in decision-making for the DDMG Florida operation.
oh …. so it was another Ed Ulbrich who flew from L.A. to Flordia Friday 7th September 2012 to close the operations in person, as the company executive authority.
Strange …. the Delaware court documentation seems to say it was one and the same. But hey! The judge and the class action lawyers seem to be having alot of problems trying to chase down all the various company divisions and black-holes in the accounting. Wonder where alot of that Florida tax payer money went? Because some of it seems missing … even despite the losses racked up in all the studios across Venice, Vancouver and Florida. Well, we have to wait and see, I guess. Maybe you could drop them a line? You seem to have all the definitive information to hand there.
This is just not true. Ed Ulbrich did not fly to Florida on September 7th, nor did he close the Florida operations. The Delaware court documentations do not report this as it did not happen. Please provide your source.
I should clarify for you that I’m the communications director at Digital Domain. I can confirm (as can 700 others) that on Sept 7 Ed Ulbrich was in Venice delivering the news about the company to employees here on the west coast. Please feel free to contact me directly if you have other questions. jmiller@d2.com
err …. there are dozens of employees there who confirmed this here in previous posts. He was there, he signed off the closure in person, in a packed lobby entrance at Port st-Lucie. More can post here to confirm.
YOUR PREVIOUS STATEMENT IS INCORRECT.
(“incorrect” is a polite term used here)
http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/region_st_lucie_county/port_st_lucie/former-digital-domain-employee-sues-company-citing-warn-act
“When we were all gathered together and the new COO said we were not getting severance, immediately in my head, ‘Why don’t I ask about the WARN Act?’ I didn’t, because the anger in the room was already at such a high level, I was actually worried about physical violence happening if anybody brought anything else up at that time,” she explained. “I was more concerned about personal safety for everyone there because we were very closely knit together and I didn’t want anyone to catch on to something and just get so angry that a violent situation could happen. So I kept it to myself, I waited until we had all broken apart in our individual groups. Then I asked, ‘What about the WARN Act?’”
Read more: http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/region_st_lucie_county/port_st_lucie/former-digital-domain-employee-sues-company-citing-warn-act#ixzz29Q58l7dd
(The new COO mentioned here was Ed Ulbrich).
Former employee Minnie Frye and another former employee are the people citing the WARN class action through Outten & Golden LLP law firm in New York. You should consult them because you have been fed incorrect information.
The securities class action involves John Textor and other, former executives. The Florida state class action involves again the same executives, investigating appropraition of taxpayer funding, some of which may have been used to prop-up the ailing west coast operations. The WARN class action is unditified to individuals as of yet. The court investigations are identifying any other executives, officers or representatives who may have been compilicit in a conspiracy to pursue a rushed sale in a personal profit self interest and break federal employment laws. That does not affect the new post chapter-11 coporate entity but could affect individuals as they can then be pursued by civil action for personal wealth assets (property, invetsment holdings, etc.,).
Of course, these are investigations at this time and the court and law firms have some months yet to establish the timescales and events, complicated by the fact that soon afterwards much paperwork seems to have gone missing from the original operations.
The new DDMG COO you reference was Michael Katzenstein. I think this article clarifies both your confusion about the DDMG COO and Ed Ulbrich’s role as CEO of Digital Domain Productions. The quotes and stories you cite mention simply a ‘new COO.’ This story actually names that new COO.
http://www.studiodaily.com/2012/09/digital-domain-closes-florida-studio-ceo-textor-resigns/
“DDMG issued another press release to clarify that the company’s board of directors and the interim COO, Michael Katzenstein, who was named earlier this week are running DDMG. “The company is weighing its options with regard to appointing a new chairman and CEO,” the release said. Digital Domain Productions, which is now headed by Ed Ulbrich, is DDMG’s VFX-services component.”
If you have any further doubt please reference the publicly filed court document here: http://www.kccllc.net/Docket/SearchResults.asp?T=3376 dated 9/11/2012 “Declaration of Michael Katzenstein” which states (for the record) “I am the Chief Restructuring Officer of Digital Domain Media Group, Inc. (“DDMG”), et al., the debtors and debtors in possession in the above-captioned cases… On August 29, 2012, I was appointed Interim Chief Operating Officer of the Debtors.
Boohoohoo! hey pal wanna compare savings accounts?!
One of the greatest things that ever happened as a result of the economic crisis is when Dick Fuld got knocked the f out by someone who was really unhappy with his handling of Lehman. Just sayin’.
I’ve been around the world
Had my pick of any girl
You’d think I’d be happy
But I’m not
Ev’rybody knows my name
But it’s just a crazy game
Oh it’s lonely at the top
Listen to the band they’re playing just for me
Listen to the people paying just for me
All the applause all the parades
And all the money I have made
Oh it’s lonely at the top
Listen all you fools out there
Go on and love me I don’t care
Oh it’s lonely at the top
Oh, it’s lonely at the top
ahhhhh Randy Newman….. always the right thing to say.
Sorry Ion — I believe Ed Ulbrich is the former Chief Creative Officer, and is now the Chief Executive Officer, at DDP. He is not, and never has been, the COO.
Julie Miller is a straight shooter, you can take what she says to the bank.
Ion…. maybe it was a “Virtual Ed Ulbrich” that you saw? Or maybe you are completely misinformed (I’m choosing the latter).
Because the real one wasn’t there.
This is petty and childish. I lost respect for VFXSoldier after this post.
What about having respect for the workers in Florida who lost their job?
Respect for them is one thing. You don’t show it the way you’re doing it. Want to respect them? Hire them. Otherwise, its’ out of your hands.
@Jonavark- Uhhhh… Whut?
Just like the sub heading of this blog “march to the bottom” it’s a self full filling prophecy. Check the links on all the other blogs on the right of this one. How many are still active? The ship has sailed, the iron has cooled, the dog has shit, or whatever other phrase you can think of.
All this madness with DD was the perfect opportunity for people to get the hell up and do something. Instead we as a community continue the nonsense of anonymous blog posting and the frat boy mentality by strangely “flying flags” of support for a company and not the back bone of industry, the talented, struggling workers.
Textor and the massive shit ball that was Florida was a festering boil that is this industry. No matter what feeling of belonging you may get by working at “company x” the truth is, the only people that care about you, the artist, are basically, no one. So I am just baffled, time and time again at the overall contempt, disrespect and passive aggressiveness that permeates the community. Personalities aside, the general “I got mine” tone is ultimately the demise of our field.
As I’ve said for a LONG time, the problem isn’t the institution, it’s the community and the large blinders we wear. Everyday this business gets worse, not better. Who’s fault is it when people are just letting it happen?
When will people stand up? Ah, fuck it.
Ive seen the enema and it is us.
Excellent anonymous post. Well said. Anonymously.