> The sources and the HR complaint paint Blackman as a manipulative and chaotic showrunner who fostered a toxic workplace by pitting staffers against one another; creating an environment of fear and distrust; taking credit for other people’s work; and allegedly making lewd remarks that sources say they found to be sexist, homophobic, and transphobic.
With Elliott Page as one of the main stars, too.
This is why we deservedly cancel these clowns.
MarvelsGrantMan136 on
Some excerpts:
* Months before The Umbrella Academy’s premiere in February 2019, showrunner Steve Blackman knew he’d delivered Netflix a hit series. Forty-five million households would tune in to the first season — making it Netflix’s third-most-watched television series that year, behind Stranger Things and The Witcher. Anticipating a quick greenlight for Season Two, he began interviewing new writers.
* The job candidates included a female writing team — writers who split one salary as a package deal. Blackman interviewed the two women — one of whom was pregnant and in her third trimester — in person at his office on Netflix’s studio lot in Los Angeles. He later offered them a place in the writers room on a standard 20-week contract. After accepting the job, the pregnant writer informed Blackman she’d be taking maternity leave about one month in, while her writing partner would continue working.
* The new mother returned from leave a month before her contract ended. When the writers room was extended another 10 weeks so the team could finish the season, everyone had their contracts extended, according to show sources, except for the female writing team.
* Blackman allegedly blamed their exit on budget issues and wanting a more experienced writer to replace the duo. But according to a January 2023 human-resources complaint filed to Universal Content Productions, the NBC-owned production company behind The Umbrella Academy, Blackman had repeatedly grumbled to others that he felt “ripped off,” complaining he didn’t know the woman was pregnant when he hired her. “He told me he fired them because one was pregnant and didn’t tell him,” one writer from that season tells Rolling Stone. Three other sources say they heard Blackman make similar remarks. It wasn’t the only time people exited The Umbrella Academy — which returns for its fourth and final season Aug. 8 — under dubious circumstances, sources claim, including a support staffer who had declined to tell Blackman details of a private conversation, and a personal assistant who accidentally received Blackman’s prescription information.
* In conversations with 12 former Umbrella Academy writers and support staffers who worked across all four seasons — all of whom have experience in the often chaotic world of television production — several labeled their time there as one of the most tumultuous experiences of their careers. “Somebody called me, whispering basically into the phone, all freaked out, like, ‘Don’t take this job,’” one writer recalls. “Against my better judgment, I took the job.” (The majority of sources for this article requested their names be withheld, citing fears of professional retaliation.)
* The staffers’ concerns and experiences were represented in the January 2023 HR complaint, reviewed by Rolling Stone, which accused Blackman of having a “long history of toxic, bullying, manipulative, and retaliatory behavior.” The sources and the HR complaint paint Blackman as a manipulative and chaotic showrunner who fostered a toxic workplace by pitting staffers against one another; creating an environment of fear and distrust; taking credit for other people’s work; and allegedly making lewd remarks that sources say they found to be sexist, homophobic, and transphobic. (Blackman’s behavior was also mentioned in two other complaints made by a writing-team member and an actress, Rolling Stone has learned.)
* Despite three people raising alarms across four seasons, a spring 2023 investigation carried out by UCP largely cleared Blackman of their accusations. But the investigation may have been less than comprehensive. A majority of people named in the January 2023 complaint tell Rolling Stone they were never contacted to discuss what they felt were scarring experiences with Blackman.
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> The sources and the HR complaint paint Blackman as a manipulative and chaotic showrunner who fostered a toxic workplace by pitting staffers against one another; creating an environment of fear and distrust; taking credit for other people’s work; and allegedly making lewd remarks that sources say they found to be sexist, homophobic, and transphobic.
With Elliott Page as one of the main stars, too.
This is why we deservedly cancel these clowns.
Some excerpts:
* Months before The Umbrella Academy’s premiere in February 2019, showrunner Steve Blackman knew he’d delivered Netflix a hit series. Forty-five million households would tune in to the first season — making it Netflix’s third-most-watched television series that year, behind Stranger Things and The Witcher. Anticipating a quick greenlight for Season Two, he began interviewing new writers.
* The job candidates included a female writing team — writers who split one salary as a package deal. Blackman interviewed the two women — one of whom was pregnant and in her third trimester — in person at his office on Netflix’s studio lot in Los Angeles. He later offered them a place in the writers room on a standard 20-week contract. After accepting the job, the pregnant writer informed Blackman she’d be taking maternity leave about one month in, while her writing partner would continue working.
* The new mother returned from leave a month before her contract ended. When the writers room was extended another 10 weeks so the team could finish the season, everyone had their contracts extended, according to show sources, except for the female writing team.
* Blackman allegedly blamed their exit on budget issues and wanting a more experienced writer to replace the duo. But according to a January 2023 human-resources complaint filed to Universal Content Productions, the NBC-owned production company behind The Umbrella Academy, Blackman had repeatedly grumbled to others that he felt “ripped off,” complaining he didn’t know the woman was pregnant when he hired her. “He told me he fired them because one was pregnant and didn’t tell him,” one writer from that season tells Rolling Stone. Three other sources say they heard Blackman make similar remarks. It wasn’t the only time people exited The Umbrella Academy — which returns for its fourth and final season Aug. 8 — under dubious circumstances, sources claim, including a support staffer who had declined to tell Blackman details of a private conversation, and a personal assistant who accidentally received Blackman’s prescription information.
* In conversations with 12 former Umbrella Academy writers and support staffers who worked across all four seasons — all of whom have experience in the often chaotic world of television production — several labeled their time there as one of the most tumultuous experiences of their careers. “Somebody called me, whispering basically into the phone, all freaked out, like, ‘Don’t take this job,’” one writer recalls. “Against my better judgment, I took the job.” (The majority of sources for this article requested their names be withheld, citing fears of professional retaliation.)
* The staffers’ concerns and experiences were represented in the January 2023 HR complaint, reviewed by Rolling Stone, which accused Blackman of having a “long history of toxic, bullying, manipulative, and retaliatory behavior.” The sources and the HR complaint paint Blackman as a manipulative and chaotic showrunner who fostered a toxic workplace by pitting staffers against one another; creating an environment of fear and distrust; taking credit for other people’s work; and allegedly making lewd remarks that sources say they found to be sexist, homophobic, and transphobic. (Blackman’s behavior was also mentioned in two other complaints made by a writing-team member and an actress, Rolling Stone has learned.)
* Despite three people raising alarms across four seasons, a spring 2023 investigation carried out by UCP largely cleared Blackman of their accusations. But the investigation may have been less than comprehensive. A majority of people named in the January 2023 complaint tell Rolling Stone they were never contacted to discuss what they felt were scarring experiences with Blackman.
Blackman denies the accusations