Definitely. If it wasn't for that insufferable uptalk, I'd be applauding her every move.

then again, he didn't solve the script problem that apparently sank the whole film, so there's that.

paraphrasing what Effie said in a recent buzzfeed intvw, you try being on camera 18 hours a day, for months, under incredible pressure with the highest imaginable stakes, and never really losing your shit. She gives him high marks for that, and he deserves them.

Pyrrhic for the director, clearly. He wasn't given full access to his budget. He has every right to call foul on that. (As does the DP, and he has.)
I have no fears for Effie's future whatsoever. She's not everyone's cup of tea. She herself says neither she nor Jason would ever choose to work with each other in any…

yeah, the buzzfeed intv covers that, she admits she should have told him it was HBO shutting it down over safety concerns, not budget, and that she pretty much fumbled that whole exchange.

We don't know if there was a pick up allocation in the original budget or not. We also don't really know if the 10 hours he got actually solved any big problems (many of the reviews fault the female character arc). Anyway, there's no question Effie was effective in not going over budget, I'm just observing that it's a…

I'd never say it was bad planning or budgeting, just saying, coming in a full 10% under is a bit of a pyrrhic victory. I empathize with the problem, have been there.
& not to be argumentative, but to me Len saying she "worked miracles" is executive-speak for saying she did her job. No question, she did. And doing the…

I don't think we have enough of the information to make the points you make. Unless you have access to the original line budget?
Was there an allocation for pick ups? We don't know.
The stunt is a frought discussion, since Effie admits that she erred in not telling him the real reason it was being shut down was HBO…

Coming in $280,000 under on a $3 mil budget is not the goal. The director has a right to be very unhappy about that, when the plug had been pulled on him (when the penalty for getting the shot would have been $1,000, in her estimate) and he was told he could not afford the stunt he had written and had been approved,…

"Combative" was in an interview she did with Indiewire blog. But that link you shared above covers everything pretty well.

Great link, thanks.
She is generous. Plenty there to like. At least she owns having a chip on her shoulder.

I think a lot of people who are reluctant to dismiss Jason as an entitled insufferable loser are sympathetic to how difficult it would be for any human being to direct their first real feature, facing pressures, trade offs, politics and difficult personalities with power over your future, for the first time. No…

In her (and my) defense, Effie is amply on record saying seeing herself in this series opened her eyes to how she comes off as too combative and that she hopes to work on that. And to be fair, working with "bitchy and entitled" men is a big part of the business. Not saying she won't get work, just reacting to what…

she'll get more work. Was just saying, it's a competitive business, a lot of prospective line producers, better to have a reputation for being fun to work with, than not, given a basic competence.

She's on record saying Matt Damon and Marc Joubert aren't speaking with her, so that's four for sure, plus another Farrelly probably, maybe Damon's company's people . . . too many.

Could well be. Effie has said in interviews she had no idea what she was getting herself into, and if she had, she would have asked for more money. I see her point, hard to imagine the series without her. re Jason, it was such an amazing opportunity, I think he has to think it was worth it. He has gone on record…

I was trying to make a more global point about Effie's communication skills over the entire series, did not intend to try to link it to the Len/Jason thing. Sorry if I created confusion.

If you read the thread that leads into her comment, she is clearly asking questions, not issuing ignorant edicts.
And now I must ask, are you a film professional in L.A.? Because I've only had a tiny amount of experience there on feature sets, and they were all white. I've had quite a bit more experience on NYC film…

You nailed it. Where were you when he needed help? And I'll bet he does want to learn all that important stuff. It really was his FIRST experience working in any kind of formal system — honestly, given that, I think he could have been a lot more difficult and diplomatically clueless than he was.
So, what was Effie's…

Push back against notes can be respected, if you're super good at it. (Getting caught letting the studio president's notes fall off the shot list — not a great way to do it.) As far as we know Len's line got in, so I don't think this is a great example of Jason's insufferableness. Would have been worse just to roll…