Sony executive Amy Pascal apologizes for embarrassing e-mails that have leaked
Sony executive Amy Pascal apologizes for embarrassing e-mails that have leaked
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Amy Pascal, the co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment whose embarrassing, sensitive internal e-mails have been leaked to the public after a massive hack, apologized Thursday, breaking her weeks-long silence.
You’ve really made it in Hollywood if a caricature drawing of you lands on the wall of the iconic restaurant in town, The Palm. And when The Palm opened its new location in Beverly Hills last month, Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal was picked for a drawing showing her striking a “Charlie’s Angel” guns-ready pose.
“The content of my e-mails to Scott were insensitive and inappropriate but are not an accurate reflection of who I am,” said Pascal in a statement, referring to her exchanges with high-profile producer Scott Rudin, which have been among the most damaging notes to emerge. “Although this was a private communication that was stolen, I accept full responsibility for what I wrote and apologize to everyone who was offended.”
Pascal was an obvious choice. She is among a handful of top power players in a male-dominated industry who decide which big films get released to the world. Her studio’s movies — including “Spider-Man” and “Casino Royale” — have won numerous awards and brought in billions of dollars in box office sales over the years.
The hack of Sony Pictures became public last month and has escalated into a humiliating public crisis for the company as deeply held secrets — including business practices, pay disparities and ugly personal feuds — continue spilling onto the Internet in ways that experts say could damage the Hollywood studio for years to come.
But all that success was overshadowed this week with the devastating leaks of private e-mails revealing often unsavory — and deeply offensive — thoughts never intended for public viewing.
A slew of devastating e-mails, in which Pascal and Rudin write about an upcoming fundraiser for President Obama, were reported late Wednesday by Buzzfeed. The two start guessing what movies and actors Obama might like, each one with a tie to African Americans.
In the latest batch of leaked notes, Pascal and movie producer Scott discuss a fundraiser for President Obama, according to e-mails reported by Buzzfeed late Wednesday.
The two start guessing what movies and actors Obama might like, each one tied to black characters and movie makers.
“Should I ask him if he liked DJANGO?” says Pascal, according to the reported e-mails. Rudin writes back: “12 YEARS.” Pascal responds: “Or the butler. Or think like a man? [sic].” Rudin: “Ride-along. I bet he likes Kevin Hart.”
“Should I ask him if he liked DJANGO?” says Pascal, according to the reported e-mails. Rudin writes back: “12 YEARS.” Pascal responds: “Or the butler. Or think like a man? [sic].” Rudin: “Ride-along. I bet he likes Kevin Hart.”
The architects of the attack have shown little interest in the traditional targets of cyber-intrusions, such as credit cards, choosing instead to use information as a weapon of vengeance for supposed misdeeds by the company. The massive troves of stolen information have found a voracious audience online, where Sony long has been a favorite target because of its aggressive anti-piracy efforts.
On Thursday, Pascal apologized, breaking weeks of silence on the damaging leaks.
The consequences for Sony have been swift and devastating since the attack was revealed in November, exposing the company to potential lawsuits and backlash from key Hollywood players.
“The content of my e-mails to Scott were insensitive and inappropriate but are not an accurate reflection of who I am,” said Pascal in a statement, referring to her exchanges with Rudin not only on Obama but about various movie proejcts, as well. “Although this was a private communication that was stolen, I accept full responsibility for what I wrote and apologize to everyone who was offended.”
Another inside drama revealed this week was the unraveling of a high-profile project at Sony to produce a biopic of the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs — the movie was eventually lost to a rival studio. Reams of e-mails were released showing Pascal embroiled in a fight with a powerful movie producer, with the producer at one point calling actress Angelina Jolie a “minimally talented spoiled brat,” according to e-mails published by Gawker.
It was a late response to an ongoing disaster that is just picking up steam and unfolding in real-time after a hacker group that calls itself “Guardians of Peace” released data illustrating every conceivable aspect of Sony and its business, from sensitive salary information to personal feuds.
In one exchange between Pascal and Rudin, the producer who brought the Jobs project to the studio, the two are arguing over Jolie, who wants director David Fincher to direct her movie on Cleopatra, rather than the Jobs biopic. Rudin is adamantly against letting Jolie have her way.
The episode casts doubt on the future of one of corporate America’s most powerful women, whose decades-long relationships with Hollywood insiders have helped Sony Pictures secure some of its biggest film deals.
“She’s a camp event and a celebrity and that’s all and the last thing anybody needs is to make a giant bomb with her that any fool could see coming,” writes Rudin.
Pascal’s rise is the stuff of movies. After graduating from UCLA, she entered the entertainment industry as a secretary to BBC producer Tony Garnett at Kestral Film. As she forged relationships and learned the trade, she became an insider and was named vice president of production at 20th Century Fox in 1986. Her strength was the creative side — dealing with moviemakers and actors to find and develop films.
Beyond the gossip about movie stars and failed projects, Sony now faces real-world financial and business threats. Leaked health information, Social Security numbers and other personal data about employees and actors could invite lawsuits under California’s strict laws on data protection. Information on employees’ and actors’ pay could be used in labor disputes and may ripple across the industry. Just last week the hackers, calling themselves “Guardians of Peace,” sent threatening e-mails to Sony employees.
When she joined Columbia Pictures in 1988, she oversaw such hits as “Groundhog Day,” “Little Women” and “Awakenings.”
But perhaps the most damaging will be harm to Sony’s reputation. With only a small portion of the documents — some reports put it at more than 100 terabytes — now online, the drip, drip, drip of revelations could continue for months or years.
In 2006, after a string of critically acclaimed and financial successful movies, she was named co-chair of Sony Pictures Entertainment. In an unusual arrangement, she shared leadership with co-chair Michael Lynton. But their division of labor was clear: Pascal oversaw the creative side, Lynton led the business side.
“There is a ring of fire around the trade secrets of Hollywood, and the value of executives is in their ability to keep confidences and secrets and to maintain a level of distance,” said Jeremy Goldman, an entertainment and intellectual property attorney for Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz.
When Culver City-based Sony Pictures renewed her contract in 2010, Sir Howard Stringer, chairman of parent company Sony Corp. said, “There is no doubt Amy is making Culver City the center of creativity, and a home away from home for Hollywood’s finest.”
The Sony hack has underscored the vulnerability of corporate computer systems in an increasingly connected world. At a time when even powerful U.S. government agencies have experienced large-scale theft of secrets, private companies often seem overmatched by hackers. The damage to Sony, which did not reply to a request for comment, could spur copycat attacks against other major companies, cybersecurity experts warn.
She continued to release hit films including “The Social Network” and “The Amazing Spider-Man.” Last year, the studio’s biggest hits were “Zero Dark Thirty,” “Evil Dead,” and “Cloudy With a Chance Of Meatballs 2.
“I think it’s bad times ahead, and for the most part, people are not prepared for it,” said Haroon Meer, founder of South Africa-based Thinkst Applied Research, which warned clients about the risk of similar attacks in a recent report.
“It was an honor to put Amy Pascal on the wall,” said Bruce Bozzi Jr., executive vice preisdent of The Palm restaurant chain. “She is a trailblazer.”
Yet Sony long has been something of a favored target of hackers, enduring several significant intrusions. The most serious came in 2011 after the company sued a prominent hacker for developing a way to breach the security on his Sony PlayStation.
This year, though, Sony Pictures has lagged, ranking fourth behind 20th Century Fox, Disney’s Buena Vista, and Warner Bros. for total box office sales.
The company has endured a wave of criticism — bordering on ridicule — in recent days for a reportedly lax approach to cybersecurity. In one widely mocked remark, Sony’s top information security official told CIO magazine in 2007 that it was “a valid business decision” to accept some cybersecurity risk because preventing an attack could be more expensive than simply enduring it.
Leaked e-mails showed Pascal and movie producer Rudin agonizing over the making of a Steve Jobs biopic. Sony eventually lost the contract to develop the film to rival Universal.
“The phrase ‘blaming the victim’ is not a good one,” said Parker Higgins, director of copyright activism for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group. “But there are people who are willing to do that when the victim is Sony.”
In other emails that have been publicized, Rudin disparaged actress Angelina Jolie, calling her a “minimally talented spoiled brat.”
Investigators say they believe the Sony hack probably emanated from North Korea, perhaps in retaliation for the company’s role in producing “The Interview,” a comedy built around a fictional CIA plot to assassinate that country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, say people familiar with the probe. The movie, which North Korean officials have publicly denounced, is due for release on Christmas. North Korean government officials have denied responsibility for the hack.
Aside from Pascal’s short statement, the company has remained silent as leaks of new sensitive information emerge. Public relations experts say Pascal needs to step forward as the crisis unfolds.
Investigators have identified seven proxy servers around the world that the hackers used to route their attack, one of which was based at a hotel in Thailand. The others were in Poland, Italy, Cyprus, Bolivia, Singapore and the United States, said a person familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the probe was incomplete.
“I would go on a national interview after the statement and apologize to the public and make herself available to explain herself,” said Jarvis Stewart, chairman of crisis communications firm Ir+media, a Washington-based consulting firm that specializes in diversity.
The FBI, which has been investigating the incident, has not yet publicly fingered a culprit.
There is also pressure for the company to ensure investors, employees and others in the industry that it’s taking every possible step to control the growing damage.
“Before we attribute a particular action or a particular actor, we like to sort the evidence in a very careful way to arrive at a level of confidence that we think justifies saying ‘Joe did it’ or ‘Sally did it,’ and we’re not at that point yet,” in the Sony case, FBI Director James B. Comey said in a roundtable session with reporters Tuesday.
“Sony needs to convince talent that they can and should be trusted with content at all,” said Janet Janjigian, a managing partner at The Carmen Group and former senior vice president of communications at MGM Studios.
Some movie producers and actors have jumped to Sony’s defense. “Lego Movie” producer and writer Philip Lord wrote on Twitter that the hack is “terrorism.” He said publishing the massive amount of information obtained by hackers “aids terrorists.” Director Judd Apatow also tweeted: “in life we all decide what is right and I think printing private information because evil people leaked it is wrong.”
But the vast exposure of the inner workings of Sony has disoriented an industry built on confidentiality and relationships.
Actor Seth Rogen was paid about $2 million more than his co-star James Franco in “The Interview,” according to Bloomberg News . Such information can be used by other actors in future negotiations. Sony documents on film expenses also included costs that are normally kept hidden but deducted from the pay of actors and directors.
“It opens the veil for Hollywood lawyers, filmmakers and actors who will now have information they can say they are entitled to,” said Jonathan Handel, an entertainment lawyer and professor at the University of Southern California. “This is really important access, because Hollywood studios are always claiming poverty and that they don’t make money on their movies, but then they go to Wall Street and say otherwise.”
Data on Sony’s employee pay revealed a huge gender gap among the highest-paid U.S. employees. According to data on 6,000 employees, 17 U.S. employees are making $1 million or more, and only one is a woman.
The leaked e-mails by Pascal cast a dark cloud over one of corporate America’s most powerful female executives. The movie career of Pascal, once named one of Fortune Magazine’s most powerful women, took off in the late 1980s when she developed “Groundhog Day” and “Awakenings” for Columbia Pictures. She became co-chair of Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2003 and has overseen the development of such box-office hits as “The Amazing Spider-Man” and several James Bond films.
“To see very candid and rather brutally expressed opinions out there in the public is definitely going to hurt relationships,” Handel said.
