LZ Sunday Paper Newsletter: The "Get A Move On" Edition
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Dear Folks,
A couple of pieces of advice:
--Keep your emails short
--Keep your relationships long
--Read Jodi Kantor & Megan Twohey's book.
If you have been reading this missive for a while, you know that I knew Harvey Weinstein from a business perspective, very well. He both bought and rejected movies that I produced for the first ten years of my career. During that time, he screamed at me and my co-producers on the street in Sundance and in his office in TriBeCa, and he screwed me out of net points (profit) like everyone else.
A decade later when I took over the rights to both Project Greenlight and launched the related property, Project Runway, he came back into sharp focus. Like many, many others, I knew Harvey was a bully. I knew Harvey was abusive to his employees, I knew Harvey had extra-marital affairs. I knew he spread malevolent bile about people who did not capitulate to his will. I knew Harvey was an asshole. I experienced each and every one of those depraved attributes first hand. But I did not have first hand knowledge of sexual abuse or rape, only the well-tamped-down rumors of the actresses who, it turns out, were definitively telling the truth, but who were shunted off for years until they went on the record with these New York Times reporters.
I have known one of them, Jodi Kantor, for years, since the time she was a reporter for the Arts section of the Times, then especially starting around the time that she was made editor-in-chief of the Arts & Leisure section, as it used to be called. So when I spoke to Jodi very early on in her reporting of this story I told her what I just said. Nothing to report, nothing to add, no firsthand knowledge.
Now, years later, reading excerpts and reviews of the book, I recently emailed Jodi. I had to tell her that, all of a sudden, just like people report being overtaken by a buried memory, I had recalled a specific recollection of an incredibly disturbing interaction, one that was not sexual in nature in any way. And it was different then the general verbal abuse I had been victim to in our regular movie and TV business interactions. Which wasn't great but it was easy to take it stride. This time was different because the insult wasn't business, it was angry and personal. But that didn't actually bother me much, either. I had come to realize a long time earlier that he was the asshole, not me.
It was that, immediately after his verbal assault, I saw firsthand the shutting down of the situation that had *just happened* and the fallout that was unfolding around me. Then, the whisking him away. Then the boomerang of his 'people' coming right back and their immediate, stringent denials of the reality that had just happened. I was adamant but unsuccessful in pointing out the exact course of events that 10 people had just witnessed and seen with their own eyeballs and heard with their own ears. Even my own team didn't know how to react. A very loyal, capable, and realistic team, they were swayed right away toward the side of just letting it go, not making waves. And ultimately doubting me, not him.
The specifics don't really matter. This is nothing in comparison to the physical and mental abuses that scores of women suffered. But the memory of it just came on me the way that those many others report those even more traumatic events. One day I will report this story verbatim, along with a gazillion other amazing stories of work and life. For now, I am filing it in the archive of The Book I Will Never Write.
P.S. @NYTimes, I didn't care for your second question to these two professionals (do you think the Washington Post would have asked Woodward and Bernstein a similar second question regarding Watergate?) but I really enjoyed this Q&A with Kantor and Twohey.
In the 4+ years that I've been doing this newsletter, I'm gratified that, frankly, the world has caught up to the importance of our stories. Each week, more and more -- relentlessly, in fact-- it's still important to read this wide array of perspectives on the news of the week about women. In politics, news, business, media, campus life, health issues, the arts, and pop culture. With a little dose of humor, to boot.
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Looking forward to the Jewish High Holidays-- next week already! It's always a heavy month for me, maybe that's why I recalled this whole set of events. Stay tuned for next week's missive and enjoy the Emmy's!
LZ.
THE PIC(K) OF THE WEEK:
The Selfie Line Life via Slate
NEWS:
Greta Thunberg's Army At New York City's Climate Strike via Outside Magazine
BUSINESS, MEDIA, & TECH:
Meet The New Wave Of Female Builders via The Washington Post
When Women Are On Boards, Male CEO's Are Less Overconfident via The Harvard Business Review
CAMPUS CLIMATE:
Over 60 MIT Female Staff Members Express Outrage Over Epstein Donations In Letter via The Guardian
HEALTH:
'Tip Of The Iceberg:' 1 In 16 Women Reports First Sexual Encounter As Rape via NPR
Treating The Incredible Shrinking Vagina via The New York Times
ARTS & CULTURE:
Queer Women Are Taking Over The 2019 Primetime Emmy Awards via Go Magazine
Madonna's 'Madame X' Is A Political Spectacle and A Test Of Fans' Indulgence via Variety
Museums Claim They're Paying More Attention To Female Artists. That's An Illusion. via ArtNet
This 88-Year Old Grandmother Was An International Jewel Thief via Medium
French Women Take On The French Girl Cliche via The New Yorker
This Is Your Phone On Feminism via The Conversationalist
SPORTS:
Australia To Brown: Meet Heather Marini, The Only Woman Coaching In Division I College Football This Year via NCAA
OBITUARY:
Cokie Roberts, Pioneering Journalist Who Helped Shape NPR, Dies At 75 via NPR
AND WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE ABOUT…?
Julia Louis-Dreyfus Sure Knows How To Accept An Emmy Award. Here's Proof: Every One Of Them. via The LA Times
The LZ Sunday Paperâ„¢ launched at the dawn of 2014. We expose and recirculate interesting content that is about, and frequently by, women in business, with a dose of ultra-relevant culture. We think that culture comes high and low, not much in between. Our audience is vast and not gender-driven. Every week we expect to deliver at least one good laugh. Send suggestions, clips, or names of people you think might enjoy this to LZSundayPaper@gmail.com.
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