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The Alex Billington blackmail scandal - Page 2

post #51 of 111
8/2/10 at 9:38am
Billington has next to no interest in film as an art form. He's just a whore. He just saw FARGO for the first time three weeks ago, if his feed is correct.
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post #52 of 111
8/2/10 at 9:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Eaton View Post
It's because he gives places like CHUD or Collider bad names.
Sidebar from a total outsider, meant in the most genuinely inquisitive way possible: does he really? Ten years into this thing, is this still an accurate statement? I know a lot of writers whose work I enjoy are friends with Harry Knowles, but didn't he give the whole profession a "bad name" a while back with the Godzilla reviews and the Oscar leak and the "pwesents" meme? At this point, don't the studios and readers know the good from the bad? And if they don't, is that even fixable by now?

Not throwing down a gauntlet; honestly curious how web journalists see themselves at this point. And after the shrug heard 'round the world over Robert Sanchez, I have to wonder if anyone in the "real world" would know anything about the seedy underbelly of the movie blogging world if the good ones weren't shining the light.
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post #53 of 111
8/2/10 at 9:58am
Honestly, I think the studios like the infighting. Exclude one guy, let another person in, then the studios feel like they can subtly influence the exposure they get for a film. They haven't played fair for years and I doubt they'll start anytime soon. The hard thing for online film journalism is that they just have to deal with it if they want to cover anything.
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post #54 of 111
8/2/10 at 10:09am
Isn't this sort of unethical behavior kinda common in Hollywood? I thought the whole issue with something like the Golden Globes is that the Hollywood Foreign Press is susceptible to bribery/asskissing. And general whorish behavior from the movie blogosphere just seems like an updated version of that. Nordling's got an interesting point about how the studios play all the internet writers off each other in order to fish for the best coverage. Seems like the politically savvy thing to do. Even though the Golden Globes have little cred, stars and studios still line up and kiss their ass on live TV.
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post #55 of 111
8/2/10 at 10:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan "Nordling" Cerny View Post
Billington has next to no interest in film as an art form. He's just a whore. He just saw FARGO for the first time three weeks ago, if his feed is correct.
And this guy gets to attend Cannes. Boggles the mind.
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post #56 of 111
8/2/10 at 10:14am
I know next to nothing about Billington personally. Aren't his parents wealthy and that's how the site was formed? I don't know, and don't care really, I know who I like and read online, and his site ain't it.
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post #57 of 111
8/2/10 at 10:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan "Nordling" Cerny View Post
Aren't his parents wealthy and that's how the site was formed?
"Studios are a superstitious cowardly lot -- so I have to wear a disguise that will strike terror into their hearts! I must be a creature of the night, black, terrible, like a... a... a douche!"
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post #58 of 111
8/2/10 at 11:04am
The Twat Man.

Sorry.
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post #59 of 111
8/2/10 at 11:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil View Post
Sidebar from a total outsider, meant in the most genuinely inquisitive way possible: does he really? Ten years into this thing, is this still an accurate statement? I know a lot of writers whose work I enjoy are friends with Harry Knowles, but didn't he give the whole profession a "bad name" a while back with the Godzilla reviews and the Oscar leak and the "pwesents" meme? At this point, don't the studios and readers know the good from the bad? And if they don't, is that even fixable by now?

Not throwing down a gauntlet; honestly curious how web journalists see themselves at this point. And after the shrug heard 'round the world over Robert Sanchez, I have to wonder if anyone in the "real world" would know anything about the seedy underbelly of the movie blogging world if the good ones weren't shining the light.
I genuinely think he does. I think to a lot of people Billington represents what 'Internet Journalism' is (If you could really assign that name to him), mainly that any asshole with an Internet connection can start a website on Movies or Music and not come from a place of experience or love for the medium. All of us here tend to know who the good writers online are, but to other people, Billington is just a continuation of what Harry Knowles started.

The only difference is that while Knowles is a shitty writer, he's genuinely enthusiastic about film. Billington just seems like he saw what Knowles was getting and thought "I want that". Like a lot of the Internet age, he has a sense of entitlement that doesn't come with any discernable talent.
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post #60 of 111
8/2/10 at 12:54pm
Agreed, Knowels is a crappy writer and a terrible shill sometimes but the passion he has for movies is undenable.

I think Billington is one step above Perez Hilton.
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post #61 of 111
8/2/10 at 1:02pm
I can't stand Knowles, but I'd take one of him (obligatory fat joke) over Billington.
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post #62 of 111
8/2/10 at 1:06pm
So the heirarchy goes Knowles>Billington>Manny The Movie Guy.
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post #63 of 111
8/2/10 at 1:07pm
I'm not trying to unduly slag Knowles, but he's weathered some sketchy shit on his own site and the only perception of him is still "lol moviegeek". And along those lines, the only splash Billington seems to be making is an insular one. He runs a site, and he doesn't know anything. He will never be looked at as an authority, or a pop culture pundit, or a validated persona of any kind. I think maybe Ben Lyons is the only clueless guy who's come close, and he was quickly spotted as a joke.
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post #64 of 111
8/2/10 at 1:15pm
Studio PR still doesn't get online. I met one of the heads of studio marketing at Comic Con last week, and she was there 'learning' about online and Con. Just now learning about it. She didn't know any of the players, didn't know how Con worked, etc.

The problem is that while the PR people who work with onliners daily get us, their bosses don't. And Billington's method isn't just to blackmail the publicists we work with, it's to go to their bosses.
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post #65 of 111
8/2/10 at 1:24pm
How could a marketing department not know about Comic-Con? That's crazy. I don't envy your fight.

Is Billington going to suffer for this, is what I want to know. We can talk shit about First Showing all we want, but they do have a substantial following, unfortunately.
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post #66 of 111
8/2/10 at 1:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan "Nordling" Cerny View Post
Is Billington going to suffer for this, is what I want to know. We can talk shit about First Showing all we want, but they do have a substantial following, unfortunately.
Knock on wood.
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post #67 of 111
8/2/10 at 3:13pm
I work for a major festival, and last year I was processing tickets for the public and the press in one line. Billington is in my line, shows up late, flashes a shit eating grin and is extremely pissy and huffs away like I ruined his night. Another writer for a big online player is behind him and sheepishly apologizes.

He's an asshole. To everyone.
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post #68 of 111
8/2/10 at 9:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan "Nordling" Cerny View Post
How could a marketing department not know about Comic-Con?
Beats me. All the major players looked accounted for this year in one form or another. Course the people in charge might have been clueless. *shrugs*
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post #69 of 111
8/2/10 at 9:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan "Nordling" Cerny View Post
Billington has next to no interest in film as an art form. He's just a whore. He just saw FARGO for the first time three weeks ago, if his feed is correct.
I would think at this point it's pretty plain that Alex Billingtons passion is Alex Billington.
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post #70 of 111
8/3/10 at 2:52am
What I don't understand is how people, like Billington... get a following. I've never once visited his site and wasn't aware of it until the McWeeny/Faraci Tweets... I visited his site, horrible layout... as bad as CHUD's (No offense, I'm pretty sure "our" guys are aware of it's shortcomings) and the content seemed variety-lite.

So how does he "get" a following? How do people stick around there? I don't get it. Is it Twilight-hit-whores that stick around there or something?
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post #71 of 111
8/3/10 at 3:50am
Billington traffics in hit-whoring content. People like hearing about Joseph Gordon-Levitt as The Riddler, even if it isn't based in facts. Also, Devin and some of the others will go after movies. Alex loves most things, so he's never going to offend anyone.
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post #72 of 111
8/3/10 at 4:00am
Thread Starter 
I could be wrong but I think he goes for the younger teen audience and people that will lap up any old rumour. As Andre says, some people love this stuff. They don't care about reading interesting articles or interviews, they just hunger for anything new.
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post #73 of 111
8/3/10 at 11:49am
Oh man, his layout is WAY worse than Chud's. I think Chud has made real strides towards a better layout over the iterations.

I guess going by "the textbook" it's not the greatest, but it's kind of cozy once you get to know it.
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post #74 of 111
8/3/10 at 2:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by James View Post
IThe only difference is that while Knowles is a shitty writer, he's genuinely enthusiastic about film. Billington just seems like he saw what Knowles was getting and thought "I want that". Like a lot of the Internet age, he has a sense of entitlement that doesn't come with any discernable talent.
So Billington is Montana Fishburne and Knowles is Kim Kardashian? Seems about right.
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post #75 of 111
8/5/10 at 8:37am
There's an article at The Wrap that shows the perception of these sites still isn't all it should be.

Quote:
The movie-blogging community's most prominent figures have sent a harshly worded letter to the major Hollywood studios accusing Alex Billington, founder of Firstshowing.net, of "blackmailing" Universal Studios to gain access to a secret, surprise screening of "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" at this year's Comic-Con.
"Movie-blogging community"? It makes it sound like all they do is hop on LiveJournal or Blogger and slap up a rant every now and then.

Quote:
The letter, written by Hitfix.com film editor Drew McWeeny and signed by nearly 20 of the clubby and cutthroat community's most well-known writers and webmasters...
Well that paints a picture of professionalism, doesn't it?

Quote:
It's a cozy and yet competitive group; many keep in constant contact online and, in some cases, are more than wiling to express anger and frustration with one another. At the same time, they are often seen traveling in packs at Comic-Con and other premieres and events, where they are frequently approached by readers and fans.
And again, this makes it sound more like the high school A/V club than professional movie critics and journalists.

The perception problem is very much alive and well.
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post #76 of 111
8/5/10 at 8:48am
The Wrap is below most of them on the food chain and probably still grouchy about all of them calling its editor a no-moral-having scumbag. It's like The Sun looking down on Fangoria.
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post #77 of 111
8/5/10 at 9:14am
Hahaha a pack of bloggers.
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post #78 of 111
8/5/10 at 9:28am
"You write like a fucking bitch in heat, and if you get a harshly worded letter from a pack of bloggers, it will be your fault."
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post #79 of 111
8/5/10 at 9:36am
Thread Starter 
A swarm of bloggers?

Is the letter online anywhere? From the article it seems that Billington denies blackmail but he doesn't actually say what he did. Good on Devin for signing it. Interesting to see what happens next. I doubt they will sever ties with him considering the hits he gets but relations may be frosty for a while.
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post #80 of 111
8/5/10 at 9:45am
Wonder who else signed it besides the few they cite in the piece.
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post #81 of 111
8/5/10 at 10:02am
Kudos to Knowles for putting his name on it, too.
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post #82 of 111
8/5/10 at 10:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Dickson View Post
And again, this makes it sound more like the high school A/V club than professional movie critics and journalists.

The perception problem is very much alive and well.
Those quotes read like a Diane Fosse journal entry. Or a case study. Don't make eye-contact with the bloggers or make any sudden threatening moves!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluelouboyle View Post
A swarm of bloggers?
"Mob" of bloggers maybe?
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post #83 of 111
8/5/10 at 11:13am
WHY are you all trying to trump "pack of bloggers?" You can't go anywhere but down from "pack."
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post #84 of 111
8/5/10 at 11:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Blank View Post
"You write like a fucking bitch in heat, and if you get a harshly worded letter from a pack of bloggers, it will be your fault."
this is amazing
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post #85 of 111
8/5/10 at 1:35pm
Sigh. It's "bitch ON heat." Get the whacky syntax right, Martin.
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post #86 of 111
8/5/10 at 1:40pm
I'm partial to "murder" of bloggers myself.
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post #87 of 111
8/5/10 at 2:33pm
Thread Starter 
Apparently Billington also sent a letter to the studios asking them to blacklist Devin for being mean to him.
...
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post #88 of 111
8/5/10 at 2:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluelouboyle View Post
Apparently Billington also sent a letter to the studios asking them to blacklist Devin for being mean to him.
...
That's fantastic. Source?
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post #89 of 111
8/5/10 at 2:48pm
Thread Starter 
Devin's twitter. One of his most recent posts.
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post #90 of 111
8/5/10 at 2:59pm
It's mentioned in the comments on that Wrap article as well.
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post #91 of 111
8/5/10 at 3:06pm
As per traveling in packs... uh, since they are often going from event to event together for coverage, that's gonna be how it works. Everybody knows everybody because that's how a circle works. I mostly dabble in coverage, and I know most of the players. Even if you're not writing for the same site, these people are your coworkers. As per the "people don't like x" that keeps coming up, you're going to get that with pretty much everyone working in the industry, probably even lovable old James Rocchi.
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post #92 of 111
8/5/10 at 3:09pm
I'm curious to know if Edgar Wright's heard about all this, and what he thinks about it.
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post #93 of 111
8/5/10 at 3:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan "Nordling" Cerny View Post
I'm curious to know if Edgar Wright's heard about all this, and what he thinks about it.
...what? Why?
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post #94 of 111
8/5/10 at 3:18pm
He's close to a lot of those people. Harry, Drew, Devin, and the dudes at Collider... maybe I shouldn't say close but he's definitely friendly. This special screening was set up as a kind of gift to people at ComicCon and Billington would have ruined that. He probably doesn't give a shit, in the large scheme of things - it's pretty important to the online people but I doubt it's very important to him. I'm just curious.
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post #95 of 111
8/5/10 at 3:19pm
Ah. Didn't know it was the Pilgrim screening that Billington was threatening to spoil.
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post #96 of 111
8/5/10 at 3:21pm
Wright also moderated the Comic Con panel of the Masters of the Web, as Devin called it. I think he has a good relationship with those guys.
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post #97 of 111
8/5/10 at 3:55pm
And he will never say anything publicly about it.
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post #98 of 111
8/5/10 at 4:34pm
It's worse that it was the Scott Pilgrim screening. I thought it was a studio party, or something like that, based on the initial reports. Alex getting sour and trying to shit up the plans of Edgar Wright to surprise fans at Comic Con is pretty damning anti-geek behavior, though. It sucks because Comic Con should be a good time for studios and the online critics to bond but Billington's actions cast a shadow.

Also fuck Billington's wishy washy response of calling it a smear campaign but then saying he's learned from mistakes.
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post #99 of 111
8/5/10 at 4:50pm
I hate Billington as much as the next guy. But isn't this between Universal and Billington? Why do his colleagues need to write a letter saying, Its blackmail!!!
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post #100 of 111
8/5/10 at 4:58pm
Not to put words in anyone's mouth but I would assume it's because the studios are nice enough to fly reporters out for set visits and help them do their job better and they don't want to be associated with some asshole who could cause a studio to not want to do that again.
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