#overpaid ceos

[tomorrowusa]

Conflicts take lots of patience and determination to win. It also helps if you call the other side's bluff.

When the Writers Guild of America went on strike five months ago, the studios clearly thought they had the upper hand. They dismissed the majority of the guild’s demands without so much as a response. They taunted writers with anonymous threats about an admittedly “evil” scheme to impoverish us and drive us from our homes (a plot point so outlandish, the writers would have scrapped it). They bragged about all the cash they would save, as entertainment companies, by no longer making entertainment. And they confidently assured investors that they had nearly infinite libraries of film and television stockpiled, with one CEO insisting, “We have a lot of content that’s been produced,” and another boasting, “We’ve been planning for this … consumers really won’t notice anything for a while.” By late summer, the CEOs were berating guild negotiators to their faces about how generous the studios’ proposals were, and leaking the details to members in a desperate (and pointless) bid to go around leadership. Actors joined the writers on strike. Stars walked off red carpets. Picket lines swelled. Polls showed overwhelming support for the strikes among the general public. The stock prices of nearly all the major entertainment companies had taken major hits by then, with Disney shares falling below $100 to a nearly nine-year low. Warner Bros.-Discovery confessed to Wall Street that it would lose $300 to $500 million due to the strikes.

It certainly helps to gain public support and to encourage allies with a common interest to act.

Clearly, the studios had misjudged things. They came back to the table earlier this month. The two sides struck a tentative agreement this week. And the strike is now over as of Wednesday. [ ... ] Guild leaders have called this agreement “exceptional.” Variety reported that “the WGA prevailed in forcing Hollywood’s largest employers to address the guild’s major priorities.” And The New York Times wrote, simply: “The Writers Guild of America got most of what it wanted.” The lesson is clear: Strikes work.

It can be painful in the short run. But if you display solidarity and show intelligence in bargaining then you can win.

It was at that moment that I realized just how wrong the studio propaganda had been. We hadn’t picked the worst time for a strike; we’d picked the best time. Which is to say, any time that your bosses refuse to properly recognize your value as a worker, or offer you a litany of excuses for why you can’t have the fairness and dignity that you deserve.

We hope that SAG-AFTRA and the UAW stick to their guns and remind the super-rich CEOs that it's the workers rather than overpaid senior executives and shareholders who produce the actual products and services which make the companies profitable.

[sizzlingsandwichperfection-blog]

Some Personal News

Hi.

For the last several months, I have been the CEO of dftba.com, the Awesome Socks and Coffee Clubs, and Sun Basin Soap. This happened because my brother Hank was the CEO, but then he got cancer. (He is now, thankfully, in remission.)

I have enjoyed getting to know the over 50 people who work on these projects, and learning from them about the challenge and fulfillment involved in making awesome stuff. I am immensely proud that together we've kept the ship afloat during Hank's cancer treatment, even growing the company a little in his absence. I would not wish this experience on anyone, but I am still grateful for all that I've learned and the people I've been able to work more closely with.

However! This week is my last week as CEO, which means starting Monday I return to my DREAM JOB: Unpaid social media intern for the Awesome Coffee Club and Anti-Tuberculosis Propaganda.

Every child harbors a dream. For me, it was that someday I might be so overpaid for writing novels that I could devote myself to being an unpaid intern who hates tuberculosis and loves our extraordinary coffee. Next week, the dream resumes, and I will once again be the world's only ethically sourced unpaid intern.

[artistiafox]

I don't live near any major picket lines, so if I have to get on social media every day or every few days and further explain why this is an issue and that CEOs are overpaid then that's what I'm going to do. If they want to save money, get AI to do their jobs.

And don't forget that Zaslav is a Trump supporter and Murdoch supports white supremacists.

[sreegs]

do you think the 2019 tumblr acquisition was made on a more optimistic note? In terms of how they thought the site could have been made profitable or at least self-sustaining.

yeah it felt good at the time because tumblr was owned by Verizon. switching hands to a company that was at least aligned with what tumblr does (blogging) and a private company made it feel like Tumblr had a chance to refocus and reprioritize, but Automattic was not a good fit for Tumblr culture

because tumblr was mostly nyc based and had things like, observed public holidays, and an office (this was pre-pandemic). there was this transitional period where tumblr was treated with some exceptions while they adjusted to the Automattic way of things. this strengthened the divide as seasoned Automattic employees saw us as getting special treatment like sub-competitive wages (as compared to absolutely not competitive wages) and a day off during national holidays.

this transitional policy was loosely documented and adhered to, and was unceremoniously ended by a decree from the top that Tumblr no longer has holidays off. i'm not going to say which national holiday triggered this change of heart but, lol, it's a doozy

additionally there were only a handful of automattic people who understood what tumblr was, and much less who understood the vibe of Tumblr's userbase. i know there were at least a few people who thought Tumblr was an analog of wordpress and didnt even know the dashboard existed

Tumblr employees started leaving en masse because their benefits and compensation were cut. Mullenwig's seagull style of management and the general disconnect between Automattic and Tumblr culture accelerated the exodus. I remember reading on Automattic's anonymous employee-only message board (yeah.) employees expressing their happiness that the "lazy overpaid Verizon acqui-hires" (the Tumblr staff, who had lower salaries than other tech companies and never identified as Verizon or Yahoo or anything except Tumblr) were being shed like dead weight and soon it will be Automattic in charge of everything

Also, side note: Automattic is weirdly anti-profanity as an unofficial workplace policy ordained from the CEO. How's that gonna fit with Tumblr?

So the initial feelings of freedom from Verizon and opportunity to work on things that might turn Tumblr around were dampened under the wet blanket of pay cuts, benefit cuts, cuts to time off (Automattic has "unlimited" vacation, lol), bad management, and an unwelcoming attitude from naysayers

The remaining old pre-2019 staff are very, very few in number. It's mostly Automattic's show now, and you can see how that's working out for them. i was once hopeful it would work out for Tumblr but that hope has long waned. it would not surprise me if the biggest advances toward profitability have been due to employees leaving Tumblr and not being replaced

[leveloneandup]

Christen Press on potential Angel City sale: ‘It allows the club to continue to professionalize’

Willow Bay and her husband, Disney CEO Bob Iger, are close to purchasing a controlling stake of Angel City FC. There’s no public timeline for when the deal will be done. Still, the new ownership group — and the numbers around their investment, somewhere in the ballpark of $300 million — has reignited discussions about NWSL club valuations and the rapid growth of women’s soccer here in the United States.

Angel City forward Christen Press, who was also the team’s first signing, spoke to The Athletic on her way to training on Wednesday morning. Immediately, she noted she was following the potential sale through media reports herself. Her reaction — and that of her fellow players — was one of excitement.

Press said those numbers shouldn’t be surprising to anyone. Not if you’ve been paying attention, anyway.

“When you start to see valuations as a player, and as someone who has a very vested interest in the business of women’s sports, there’s two things,” she continued. “First thing I think is, ‘Hell yeah.’ This is exactly how it should be, right? On our podcast, we just talked to Ali Krieger about how, as a novice broadcaster, she’s making more money than she did as a player. These types of sales and deals are working towards changing that.”

For her second point, Press said that Angel City has gotten a lot right through the first few years in the league. Whether that’s game day experience, business, or community, all of those things are already working.

“They also have a lot of things that they need to get right, and a sale like this is a lot of money to the club,” Press said. “It allows the club to continue to professionalize and push the envelope in terms of the expectations for women’s sports. I do think Angel City recognizes that they have a lot of room to grow on that end.”

Press called the team a “zero to one project,” but one that needs a different level of funding to go from one to two. That’s along the same lines as what one early investor told the Los Angeles Times in March when the news broke that Angel City was considering selling a controlling stake.

“What’s been built at Angel City in three short years is nothing short of incredible. And in high-growth companies, it is absolutely normal to step back and look at ‘what do we need to continue this growth?’” Sarah Harden, CEO of Hello Sunshine, said. “This board has determined that this is the right time to bring in a new major investor. That’s it. That is the story.”

Of course, Angel City hasn’t been the only NWSL team to explore a sale — though they have the more positive distinction of exploring a move willingly. Also in March, San Diego Wave FC made headlines for setting a new record, with the club’s principal owner Rob Burkle agreeing to sell to the Levine Leichtman family at a total valuation of $120 million. The valuations of NWSL teams are being watched on a global scale as well. For instance, Chelsea has started to explore the idea of selling a minority stake in their women’s team, using Angel City’s previous valuation of $180 million as their benchmark.

“All of the measures of women’s sports right now are growing, and I think the NWSL is at the forefront of a lot of that,” Pete Giorgio, who leads Deloitte’s global and U.S. sports practice, told The Athletic in March. “Those large valuations and these large transactions validate both the foresight, but also the investment that a lot of people made in the first place.”

As women’s soccer analyst Kim McCauley pointed out, Michele Kang received plenty of questions when she seemingly overpaid for the Washington Spirit in 2022. Kang had originally offered $21 million for the controlling stake in the team. She closed the deal at $35 million, which only two years ago seemed like an absurd number.

Seattle Reign FC finally wrapped its sale last month, with the Seattle Sounders and Carlyle Group taking over the club for $58 million (that club’s sale was the result of John Textor’s takeover of Lyon and a sole focus on the men’s team, with Olympique Lyonnais also sold to Kang). Before that, the sales of the Chicago Red Stars — a total bid of $60 million, with $35.5 million as the purchase price — and Portland Thorns FC at $63 million were also finalized, with both of those changes coming following the league’s abuse scandal.

“If you have an ownership group that needs to be out, it’s actually really hard to compartmentalize, and I think we’ve seen that in the Chicagos and the Portlands, how it’s affected the players,” Press said. For her, it’s different in Los Angeles, as she pointed to the regular presence of owners and investors at games. “For this, it’s only positive. We know our ownership group.”

The NWSL is going through an incredible transformation. Even with the positive impact of some of those changes and investments, it’s not hard to understand why some fans and supporters might get a little nervous about this much money coming in and how it might change the sport. Some of those changes are deeply necessary and some will absolutely affect the culture of women’s soccer in America.

Press has been part of what she called “a generation of change”, whether that’s on the USWNT with their fight for equal pay and a new collective bargaining agreement, or her NWSL career, which started in 2014 with the Red Stars. “I can’t even remember what that first field that I played on in Chicago was called, but I was driving out of the city for an hour and a half to get to some turf field.” The Red Stars’ home field was at Benedictine University; in 2014, the team had an average attendance of 2,949.

“I don’t think we want to hang on to those memories,” Press said. “There is absolutely a connection between those of us who have been fighting for improved standards in the league and our fans because the fans have had so much influence in that fight and our success. It really has bonded us with our community in a way that it feels like we’re all doing this together.”

Press isn’t worried about that bond being lost. She believes it’s trending in the right direction, especially as players have a lot less to worry about off the field and can step directly into stardom. Players that turn into superstars have to be supported though, by brands, by teams, through marketing and the media.

“That’s storytelling and that’s investment, so as it continues to grow, there is a huge opportunity for the relationship with the fans to transform. And because we continue to find ourselves in a fight for legitimate valuations and for fair pay and for equality, we’ll be able to maintain such a strong tie to the fans that help us achieve these things.”

There are more immediate goals for Angel City to accomplish, even with the potential sale to the Bay-Iger group in the works. On the pitch deck, acquired by Semafor, the first of the new ownership group’s guiding principles is “Improve team performance, player support and retention,” which also includes the tangible goal of building a new facility that could serve as the team’s HQ and training site.

While Angel City is currently in 11th place in the NWSL, they’re only three points off the playoff line cutoff. They’ll face Gotham FC in their final match before the league takes an extended break for the Olympics.

Press said the team can rely on the existing trust between the players and ownership group to allow the sale process to play out as it should and not have it overshadow the urgent need for three points on the field — at home — this weekend.

“The entire focus of the group is on the game,” she promised.

[shivroy]

i'm curious abt hibs' relationship with greg... has that been smth you've thought abt??

sometimes the two most overpaid and tall men at waystar are sent to go get a single cup of starbucks coffee for CEO tom wambsgans. i think theyd feign a sort of haughty jovial civility as greg babbles about the state of the company (mostly as a way of casually, insistently asserting his genuine degree of influence) and hibs leans in to see if he can catch any hint of interestingly biased gossip in what he considers to be intellectual drivel. they do not discuss how greg is & has been fucking tom (but hibernian persistently refuses to talk about any of the men his dad sees) and at actual family gathering events they avoid each other entirely. they both consider the other to be a complete idiot

im not going to mention greg in the shiv pov fic about hibs because i think it is a shiv move to just not fucking include him at all in any of the personal history she's recounting

[theliterarywolf]

I wanna fucking know what they smoked at the pitch meeting though."We could make a movie about black wizards." -Oh yes sounds nice. "We could have heavy influences from different cultural..." -And we're gonna make it about secret magic group consisting of black wizards policing white people, and play it serious, not a single joke no satire. "What?" -And we're gonna call it /The American Society of Magical Negroes/ "Oh fuck off I quit. What the fuck." -GREENLIT!

Anonymous said: That movie sounds like it belongs in a category with that gay movie "bros"? the one where the producer was majorly butthurt, and literally no gay person outside of the middle of California would be able to relate to (I think it was Cali) We're missing one more shitty movie to fulfil the trinity.

To anon 1: But anooon, your first mistake was assuming that most Hollywood studios would actually allow someone with legitimate creativity and a passion for storytelling into the pitch-meeting in the first place.

You know, rather than a bunch of overpaid CEOs and investors who think hashtags are the same thing as genuine audience desire (lest we forget how Sony was tricked into releasing Morbius TWICE)

To anon 2: I could have sworn that Bros was made to cater to New York gays rather than West Hollywood gays... I mean, the point of the matter is that the producer went into making a movie with the smallest portion of his potential audience in mind and had the gall to be upset that it bombed.

[tomorrowusa]

We stand with WGA and SAG-AFTRA!

The highly profitable studios with their grossly overpaid CEOs are the epitome of avarice and hypocrisy.

All they can do is make essentially the same movies and TV shows over and over and over again. Their production of cliched formulaic blockbusters is falling flat with audiences. Instead of spending $250 million making one film they could use that to make ten $25 million films. And the irony is that they would probably make more money and wouldn't have to treat actors and writers like livestock.

Parasite (2019) was out of the ordinary in many ways. It was not another predictable and flashy superhero sequel. It cost just $15.5 million to make but has brought in $262.7 million – so far. That lesson is lost on Hollywood which is in a deepening creative rut and wants to make things even worse by stifling imagination with AI.

Daring to be different and relying on quality can be quite profitable. Star Wars and Game of Thrones were not typical sci-fi and fantasy works but they paid off amazingly well.

Perhaps it's time for writers and actors to start their own studio and give the bloated big guys some badly needed competition.

–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-

For those who still don't get what these strikes are all about, the bottom line is fair pay for honest work.

The 1 cent paycheque: here’s the awful truth about being an actor in the 'golden' age of streaming

[collapsedsquid]

Well, many of those users don’t seem very happy about the IPO and are expecting Huffman to run the site into the ground. “I don’t really see any good that can come from Reddit going public,” Dan M. told me. “Not to sound dramatic but it kinda feels like the final nail in Reddit’s coffin after years of degrading quality.” Kevon, who told me he was thinking of investing, says he thinks Huffman was overpaid. (In the filing, Huffman is listed as making $193 million in 2023.) He was surprised Huffman made so much while the company was operating at a loss.  u/itsreallyreallytrue was more succinct. “Tech narcissist CEO vibes,” he said of Huffman. “Fuck Spez, Fuck Elon, Fuck Sam Altman.”

How embarassing if reddit dies before tumblr

[fromthestacks]

I can’t be kind or hopeful right now, so I’m going to be petty and small for just a minute. Maybe I’ll delete this eventually when I’m filled with less absolute fear.

I hope every Tesla gets a forced update that lasts several hours at a mildly inconvenient time. I hope every overpaid CEO gets stuck in line at a coffee place behind a pack of teenagers ordering complicated drinks. I hope every blue collar worker who voted for this literal criminal gets stuck in heavy traffic on the way home from work. I hope every man who voted for this hateful imbecile can never get it up again.

I hope everyone who voted for a rapist understands that they just fucked the whole country over.

[creachurecomforts]

twitter meme that's been passing around, no idea who they plan on killing but my bet is on some corrupt overpaid CEOs (it's not like we're short on options there)

this was quickly sketched on one day and painted in about two more days, so it may be a bit rougher than usual, but I still managed to complete it much faster than I usually work, so I'm still pretty happy with that

[artistiafox]

Bob Iger( $27 mil a year), CEO of Disney everyone, says actors and writers are being unreasonable. Always post how much these people are being overpaid.

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT ECOMMERCE NEWS (INCLUDING ETSY), Early June 2024

I am really slammed at the moment, so instead of a long intro, I'll hop right into the latest ecommerce news, including a ton of things going on at Etsy.

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

Incorrect Etsy shop suspensions continue at a hot pace right now; I wrote about another one here on LinkedIn, and made an Etsy forum thread. The shop was reopened within 24 hours of my post. There was also good news in the story of HeatherJordanJewelry. Etsy has decided to refund her the money she lost on the 2 cases opened after Etsy closed her shop. 

Still think Etsy isn’t serious about sellers who ship after their processing times? The corporation is now sending shop owners warnings that they will be deindexed in a month if they do not improve their shipping metrics before then.  

I’ve reached out to the seller for more details but haven’t yet heard back. 

eBay is testing Venmo as a payment option. They are also removing American Express as a credit card option.

ETSY NEWS 

A small number of Etsy sellers are reporting their items showing as sold out when they are actually available; Etsy is looking into it, but upping the quantity (when available) seems to fix the issue. 

In what may have been an accidental early release of a new Etsy feature, sharp-eyed sellers noticed that Etsy was inserting a video slot into some shops’ listings even when there was no video. Here is a screenshot (courtesy PriddeyThings):

When sellers clicked the “Request a video” button, they were told a request had been sent, but the seller did not receive anything. This is such a bad way to encourage more videos. Some sellers already receive pretty disgusting Messages asking for shots of them posing with/wearing the product for sale, and now they get to deal with video requests as well? 

Etsy Ads costs are all over the place for some sellers recently, oscillating back and forth by day [post by me on Patreon]. 

Etsy is testing AI overviews of reviews, and they are about as popular with sellers as you might guess [Reddit thread; includes screenshot]. The good news for OOAK and most vintage sellers is that they only appear on items that are listed in multiples. 

While non-US sellers have been reporting issues with Etsy’s new listing page and the domestic pricing tool for a year now, there are now some US sellers complaining of both listing price changes not sticking, and of shipping profile errors. 

No, the Etsy "new shop boost" does not last very long - and I have the citations to prove it. [post by me on Tumblr]

If you are having trouble installing the latest version of the Sell on Etsy app, make sure all previous versions have been removed from your phone 

Sellers in the EU who have been unable to opt out of Offsite Ads should try again, as this seller in France managed to get Support to help out.

Etsy is surveying sellers on their shipping practices and marking items shipped, but it is unclear why [post by me on LinkedIn]. Some sellers who were asked about specific orders are concerned they might be in trouble due to carrier delays or errors.

An Etsy staff member posted what can be described as a “newbie guide to Etsy Messages” in the Etsy forum. About a year too late to prevent many of the scams…

Sadly, this NPR podcast [podcast with transcript] has a lot of errors in it - e.g., vintage and supplies were on Etsy since the beginning - but it is correct that the fight between investors and sellers is at the core of what is wrong with the site today. 

Any Canadian seller wondering how Etsy deals with GST/HST, provincial sales taxes and even income taxes will find this article useful. My older blog post on the GST debacle is still valid on the GST/HST questions, but it is rather long due to highlighting the issues rather than just explaining what a seller needs to do. 

Is Josh Silverman overpaid compared to CEOs of similar-sized companies? We’ll see what happens at the next AGM. 

ECOMMERCE NEWS (minus social media)

Amazon

Amazon has FAA approval for flying its delivery drones longer distances. “Amazon is set to “immediately” scale its operations in College Station, Texas, so it can fly more drones and make deliveries in more densely populated areas that are farther out.”

eBay

eBay is testing AI searches; at least they admit it may be inaccurate. 

As of July 8, eBay is banning use of Bluecare Express and Aquiline as shipping carriers, which some sellers have used to circumvent dropshipping rules. 

Coming soon: the ability for US sellers to use eBay’s International Shipping services to ship domestically to Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico. 

Shopify

Shopify’s “Shop” app - which allows consumers to look through many different sites that run through Shopify - had  a “Shop Cash” promotion in the US last week, allowing users to earn extra credits towards future purchases. The Shop app is getting successful enough to start being counted as a marketplace-equivalent. 

Shopify now owns “Checkout Blocks”, an app that helps with easy customization of the checkout process. It will now be free to all Shopify Plus members. 

All Other Marketplaces

GoImagine has been sending out invites to lapsed sellers, boasting of better dashboards, and offering 2 months free. They still do not seem that interested in seller concerns about poor traffic, as this Reddit thread demonstrates. [It's worth noting that Etsy had only 7 million sellers in the first quarter; GoImagine seems to be using figures based on all 3 of Etsy's marketplaces (including Depop & Reverb), but badly out of date ones, as active sellers on all 3 marketplaces were 9.1 million in the first quarter, not 8.3 million. Not exactly inspiring confidence!] 

Temu’s user numbers mean it now will have to comply with the EU’s Digital Services Act as a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP). “DSA obligations for VLOPs include assessing and mitigating systemic risks related to their services such as the listing and sale of counterfeit goods, unsafe or illegal products, and items that infringe intellectual property rights.” This might be good news for businesses who have had their photos stolen and posted there.

Payment Processing

PayPal is building its own ad network. “The company plans to expand [“Advanced Offers”] to sell ads to brands outside of its merchant network that could be displayed across the web and connected TV.”

Do you have any hot ecommerce and Etsy news you would like to see me cover? Email me, and I promise to keep the source confidential if you want me to!

Get these updates plus my website blog posts via email: http://bit.ly/CindyLouWho2Blog Get all of the most timely updates plus exclusive content by supporting my Patreon: patreon.com/CindyLouWho2

[aromantisk-fagforening]

"Jesus is the CEO of the aroace community". Ah yes, three things I definitely like, Jesus (I'm atheist, and while not anti-theistic, am anti-christian), CEOs (they always seem to be overpaid, not exactly a role to talk positively about), and having a Leader in the aroace community (can't we let anything be non-hierarchical)

TLDR: no. stop.

[miraculousfrenchculture]

What's the rule of thumb regarding hiring your spouse in France. I know french politicians are banned from doing so, but what about French business owners or French PDG's?

Hi!

It really depends on the type of business, the timeline of the hire, and the method:

There's nothing in the law that forbids someone from hiring their spouse, even in politics! But it needs to be done fairly, through a standard hiring process, and with a real job at the end (i.e. there must be a real position, with real tasks and responsibilities).

Favouritism towards the spouse (or prejudice against the competitors for a position) in the hiring process is a criminal offence that's punished by 3 years of imprisonment and a 45k € fine. This is especially scrutinised in big companies/corporations to avoid nepotism or embezzlement.

The same applies to favouritism in terms of treatment of the employees, for instance in terms of pay: that can be justified by seniority, professional experience, a type of position (for instance an employee vs an intern), or e.g. if a position needs to be filled and no one's applying; if there's a suspicion that the CEO's spouse is being overpaid for no valid reason, an investigation can be initiated.

If you take a small-ish, family-owned business, the rule is the same, but people also might not particularly bat an eye at family being hired (e.g. if Tom and Sabine were to hire their son-in-law in the bakery).

Hope this helped!

[sleepymarmot]

Sanctuary (2022/2023)

[Watched on September 10th]

Okay so my new year’s goal for 2023 has been to watch more weird horny movies and by god I am doing it!

*takes a deep breath* GASLIGHT GATEKEEP GIRLBOSS I SUPPORT WOMEN’S WRONGS!!!

Ahem.

Letterboxd: “thriller”, “drama”; Wikipedia: “erotic thriller”, “psychological thriller” Me: uhh what?? This is obviously a romcom

For real, the tone of this movie was so weird I couldn’t tell if it was humorous on purpose or overly cheesy by accident, but I laughed at least as much as I do during actual comedies, maybe more. Funniest title drop of the decade?

The session at the beginning was kind of silly and dragged a bit too much; I was very impatient to get to the real deal. Plus, I wasn’t feeling any power or charisma from Rebecca when she was just going off the script. I mean, what do I know, but she was honestly giving the energy of that one old Tumblr gif of a guy ineffectively whipping his bed; and she looked so young and fragile (does her mother know that she’s out?). It’s only when she became genuinely unhinged I started buying it. Her actress also overacted, imo, and combined with the contrived script and the kind of cheap music and camera work that made it hard to take the movie seriously. On the other hand, I don’t think I was supposed to.

More about the opening scene – I felt frustrated by the revelation that Rebecca was just acting out what he wrote the entire time, and assumed that frustration was shared by the character herself, that she couldn’t wait to stop being an actress and start improvising her own lines. So I was surprised by her confession at the end that she wanted to keep the status quo. It’s so clearly unbalanced – he got to act out his fantasies down to the tiniest detail but she was supposed to be satisfied catering to him? I guess she was just reaching for whatever was available, and getting a different job where she’d get to be mean and bossy on her own terms as an actual boss was the real fulfillment that she could not even imagine at the beginning of the story.

Rebecca’s occupation provides only an illusion of power or stability (is it even legal in the US?), and her happy ending is a promotion to one of the most powerful and prestigious jobs one can think of. But that “happy ending” is also the epitome of capitalist selfishness: the literal elevator pitch is that she can and should be as mean and as self-serving as she wants, “and it doesn’t matter if you're right or wrong”, with no thought given to the great responsibility this great power entails. As a woman, I’m cheering for Rebecca’s empowerment; as someone tired of overpaid and shortsighted CEOs, I’m disturbed.

It’s interesting that Rebecca gives herself credit for teaching Hal how to ask for what he wants – but fails to do the same until the last act of the film. Was this intentional? On a similar note, the seductive threat that Rebecca makes to Hal in the middle of the film is that she will leave the confidential confines of the hotel room and take over his real life. He denied that the sex they’d been having had any real impact on him – now it would have unavoidable consequences. She had been his dirty secret – now she would be the father of his child. He’d been a self-hating son living in the shadow of his father, it had been a defining part of his identity — now he would not be allowed to be that anymore, because it would be his turn to be a responsible father taking care of his own son, to be a role model to him. In the middle of the story, all of this is merely a taboo fantasy. At the end, it’s reality: Hal declares he “was meant for” the job of being Rebecca’s full-time “slave” (direct quotes), and is about to give his business to her and to introduce her to his family as his romantic partner. What both of them wanted all along was for their relationship to become real.

The two leads felt pretty balanced in terms of being fucked up / being the one to root for (unlike, say, Phantom Thread). While I was duly sympathetic to the mortifying ordeal of the enormous trust and privacy breach, overall this is the closest a recent movie viewing had me to being on the team “eat the rich��.

The plot feels so classic – a clever and vicious lower class woman refusing to let go of a rich heir both for pragmatic and romantic reasons… Or, to put it another way, a sex worker falling for her client and proceeding to do the same stuff as before but for free — which has got to be an ancient wish-fulfillment trope. I’m sure there are tons of centuries old stories with this kind of premise out there. Especially stage plays. Surely I’m not alone in feeling this was a stage play slightly adapted for the screen?

Speaking of the stage, another aspect of this movie that feels very familiar is an actor whose role bleeds into their real life and personality, and the power struggle between an actor and the demands that the director makes towards them. And here’s where the connection with the film I saw before this one comes in! (This time it’s entirely accidental, unlike my usual attempts to set up a slow marathon of thematically overlapping movies.) Both in Vertigo and in Sanctuary, the man in a traditional position of power enters a relationship with a woman who operates on the border of polite society, and the man idolizes the woman, but only within a specific fetishized role tailored to his taste. The approaches of the two films to the same premise are of course entirely different, so there’s not much point in comparing them, but the coincidence is fun. I have an idea what to watch next to keep the daisy chain going: apparently I need to look up the genre of screwball comedy, I don’t think I’ve seen a single one of those.

Anyway, the material here would benefit from an approach that explored gender, class, labor, and the border between performance and reality more seriously — but it’s unfair to blame a film for not doing what it never aimed to do. I like 90 minutes films, I like characters balancing on the border between performance and sincerity, I like low budget stories about two people stuck in a room together and driving each other insane, I like power struggles and elaborate mind games, and I was definitely entertained.