Celebrity Archive

Hollywood Lawsuit #1: Black Swan Interns Name Wrong Defendant?

October 4th, 2011. By AbiK

It’s a long-standing reality that the words “glamour and prestige” don’t find themselves in the same sentence with “unpaid intern” in just about any industry. But, when it comes to movie production gigs or landing a plum internship at a fashion mag, they never do.

And there’s a reason for that.

The reason is, you’re there as low-cost help—ok, exceedingly low-cost help—for which in return you get to learn, potentially come within 50 feet of the talent or score some swag—and—and here’s the biggie—you get to pay your dues. Why? Because if you’re going for an unpaid internship you’re most likely trying to rack up resume bullet points (or, nowadays, LinkedIn blurbs) and, btw, you most likely don’t have enough of those bullets and blurbs to actually land a paying gig.

Ahh, but that harsh reality has not stopped Alex Footman and Eric Glatt from filing a labor lawsuit against Black Swan movie production company, Fox Searchlight. Indeed, they’re seeking class action status. And back pay. And an injunction prohibiting Fox Searchlight from improper use of unpaid interns.

It seems both Footman and Glatt were given the opportunity to work as unpaid interns on the flick. But they were treated badly—badly as in having to get coffees and lunches. I don’t know what they expected, beyond what the FLSA outlines as criteria for an internship at a for-profit, but I’m sort of glad after seeing the movie that no one at the helm offered them an internship manning the camera, making final edits—or doing Natalie Portman’s makeup.

The FLSA internship guidelines include the following six criteria:

The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment;
The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern;
The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff;
The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded;
The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship; and
The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship.

It’s probable, or at least highly arguable, that Footman and Glatt got training & experience, got an incredible credit on their resumes, didn’t displace anyone, were supervised, probably got more out of the deal than the production company did, did not have any promise of a job ex post facto and weren’t paid.

Public sentiment (as in comments I’ve been reading across the web on this story) seems to support the notion that perhaps Footman and Glatt have been living in some self-entitlement fairyland in which they’ve interpreted an unpaid internship to equate something akin to an actual new hire program. You know—where the red carpet (no pun) is rolled out for that honeymoon phase of employment…the company’s vision statement handed over in colorful PowerPoint…the new hire welcome luncheon…the mentor program…the benefits enrollment…

I’m usually all for the down-trodden workers—those who are really being ‘used and abused’—like the alleged abuse going on over at that Amazon warehouse. But somehow, this Black Swan intern lawsuit just doesn’t seem to have enough going for it for me. Maybe I feel this way even more so as a result of Fox Searchlight’s official response to the lawsuit—a key excerpt of which is here:

“These interns were not even retained by Fox Searchlight and, in fact, were working for the production company that made Black Swan well before Fox Searchlight even acquired its rights in the film. These individuals were never employed as interns or retained in any capacity by Fox Searchlight, which has a proud history of supporting and fostering productive internships.”

If indeed true, it just makes a mockery out of things here even more—and may make plaintiffs Footman and Glatt black sheep of the film industry (ok, couldn’t resist that one). It sort of helps your cause when you sue the right defendant, right? And, I can only postulate that well, let’s face it, if you want your lawsuit to grab headlines, better to go with a bigger name defendant like Fox Searchlight, right? (ps, Fox Searchlight’s official response also stated that it was an attempt to grab media attention; it was reportedly director Darren Aronofsky’s production company who had initially brought Footman and Glatt on as unpaid interns).

We’ll have to monitor this one, but in the meantime, it’s been announced that Darren Aronofsky is set to direct the new film, Noah. Word to the unwise (and unpaid) interns who are chomping at the bit to be a part of this one: don’t forget your wellies.

Tags: Black Swan, Black Swan Intern Class Action, FLSA, Fox Searchlight, Internship, Unpaid Intern
Posted in Celebrity, Class Action, Employment | No Comments »

Paris Hilton’s Bad Hair Day Could Cost Her $3.5 Million

August 19th, 2010. By LucyC

Photo: Hairtech

We’ve all had bad hair days—but Paris Hilton, in her usual fashion, has managed to take it to a whole new level. She is reportedly being sued (yes, hard to believe, I know) for wearing the wrong hair extensions. In fact, she’s being sued for breach of contract. And the company wants damages 10 times the amount of the contract…ummm

The suit, and I have not read it personally so caveat emptor, claims that Paris wore a competitor’s hair extensions in 2008, presumably out to an event, instead of those made by Hairtech International Inc. They apparently manufacture a line of hair extensions called “DreamCatchers,” (‘bad dream’-catchers might have been more appropriate) that Paris agreed to front beginning in 2007. The suit also claims that Paris missed a launch party for a new product in 2007 because she was in jail.

FYI, you can see Paris and the—er, her—DreamCatcher hair extensions on the DreamCatcher website. Yes, hard feelings aside, according to the website, it’s not just Paris lending her face to DreamCatchers—it’s “DreamCatchers by Paris Hilton”—which begs the question, Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Breach of Contract, Dreamcatchers, Hair Extensions, Paris Hilton
Posted in Celebrity | 2 Comments »

So Where are those Lilo Strip Search Pics?

July 27th, 2010. By LucyC

If it’s Tuesday, it must be time for a Lilo update! For those of you who do not follow TMZ on a regular basis—that would include me—Lilo is shorthand for Lindsay Lohan—God forbid we should use full names. (I wonder what birth certificates will read like in 10 years time or less). I digress.

So Lilo (which could read as Lie Low—a cryptic source of good advice that has clearly not met with success) is, as predicted in my blog last week, remaining front and center in mainstream media during her incarceration at the infamous Lynwood Correctional Facility.

The Lynwood facility has a couple of claims to fame, as it turns out, the first being that it’s housed celebutantes Paris Hilton, Nicole Ritchie and others, for similar convictions that basically involve too much alcohol, reckless driving, skipping rehab, blah, blah, blah…we all know the script.

But the jail’s second claim to fame is that it is involved in a class action lawsuit over allegations that prison staff illegally strip searched female inmates, strip and body cavity searches actually. Interestingly, a similar lawsuit was recently settled in favor of the plaintiffs, in Franklin County, MA.

According to TMZ, the Lynwood suit alleges that the “female inmates are strip searched in Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Lindsay Lohan
Posted in Celebrity | 2 Comments »

OMG Orange is SO not Lindsay’s color! Lohan off to jail…

July 20th, 2010. By LucyC

Girls behaving badly…and speaking of Miss Lohan, she’s off to jail today, a Los Angeles jail that’s attained a certain notoriety of late for having housed Nicole Richie, Paris Hilton and Michelle Ridriguez—role models all.

In fact, media reports indicate it was a mob scene outside the jail when Miss Lohan showed up—10 minutes late in a black stretch limo, family in tow—(they’re always around for the photo ops) to serve a 90-day stint resulting from a variety of charges which include violating probation by missing seven alcohol education classes in December 2009, which resulted from her pleading guilty to misdemeanor drug charges and no contest to three driving charges. Still with me?

I have to say, Lindsay was looking a little worse for wear this morning… but who wouldn’t be? It must be fairly harrowing to be recalled from Cannes to a Los Angeles courtroom to answer for violating probation, and then find yourself actually, really going to jail after all. That’s rather grown-up stuff. But then she is 24.

And the entire ordeal is taking place in mainstream media in real time. $Cha Ching$…TMZ was streaming live video from the jail entrance. Even her fans are prospering. One man outside the prison was wearing a pink T-shirt which read “Free Lindsay,” and the press lined up to interview him. So does this make it official—has Lindsay Lohan graduated from cause celeb to Cause?

Maybe there will be a telethon to raise awareness of the problems Lindsay and her Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Lindsay Lohan
Posted in Celebrity | 1 Comment »