The End of Scientology

Manka Bros., Khan Manka, David Miscavige, Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Suri Cruise, Anne Archer, Paul Haggis, Dianetics, Jill Kennedy, OnMedea

Manka Bros., Khan Manka, David Miscavige, Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Suri Cruise, Anne Archer, Paul Haggis, Dianetics, Jill Kennedy, OnMedea, Sectors of Scientology, Marty Rathbun, Mike Rinder, Amy Scobee, Marc Headley, Jenna Miscavige Hill, Allan E. Mayefsky, Jonathan Wolfe, Karen De La Carriere, Heber Jentzsch, Isabella Cruise, Gary Soter, Bert Fields, Dennis Wasser, Tommy Davis, Lawrence Wright, Tony Ortega, Like Ragnarok, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and The Sopranos –  all things (good and bad) must end.

And that end has come for the Church of Scientology.

It was an experiment that just didn’t work.

For Tom Cruise, it’s another high-profile bomb  – like “Rock Of Ages” and “Knight and Day.”  

So… it’s time for all the vacant eyed, lost soul, followers of Scientology to leave the fields, re-enter society, and a have a few beers.  Reality is waiting – time to get on with it.

The final nail in the coffin for Scientology is, of course, the TomKat divorce.

Finally, the “Church” has a scandal it cannot hide from or cover up  – and an entire organizational collapse is imminent (and what an organization it is – see left).

To compare it to something in the media (this is a media blog after all), the TomKatSu divorce scandal is to  Scientology what digital is to the newspaper industry.  This scandal has effectively put an end to Scientology  “subscriber growth” and it will not recover.

Its “best days” are behind it – and the end is near.  Seriously, what movie star or powerful media figure would join Scientology now?

No amount of pressure by Thetan thugs or house visits to Katie by Anne Archer will get Scientology out of this mess.

It’s over.

[For full, unbelievably well-researched accounts of what happens behind the guarded walls at Scientology – please read this piece in the New Yorker and this piece in Rolling Stone.]

Manka Bros., Khan Manka, David Miscavige, Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Suri Cruise, Anne Archer, Paul Haggis, Dianetics, Jill Kennedy, OnMedea, Sectors of Scientology, Marty Rathbun, Mike Rinder, Amy Scobee, Marc Headley, Jenna Miscavige Hill, Allan E. Mayefsky, Jonathan Wolfe, Karen De La Carriere, Heber Jentzsch, Isabella Cruise, Gary Soter, Bert Fields, Dennis Wasser, Tommy Davis, Lawrence Wright, Tony Ortega, America and the world are completely on Katie’s side and anything other than full capitulation by Tom Cruise and Scientology will only make matters worse.

Words like ‘creepy,’ ‘evil,’ ‘cult,’ freaky,’ ‘fucking bizarre,’ ‘brainwashed,’ and just plain ‘disturbing’ are often used when people comment about Scientology.

But somehow, nothing much was done about it – probably because most people just think it’s a place where out of work actors go to detox and secure five and under guest shots on shows like “Dharma & Greg.”  

Lots of allegations – but no real criminal charges have stuck against the “Church” other than random financial issues (taxes, etc.).

But now there is a very high-profile little face in the middle of it – little Suri Cruise – and the people of the world will not allow this “Church” to overtake her developing brain. [To see photos of Suri – you can Google her name.  It felt wrong to put a photo of her in this blog.]

Either Scientology leaves them alone to live a somewhat normal life – or they commit organizational suicide by trying to force this little girl into the SeaOrg re-education school for high level Scientologists (or some other work farm type education).

Tom Cruise and, to a lesser extent, John Travolta (power is based on box office grosses) are the faces of Scientology.  And the faces of Scientology look pretty shitty right now.

Leave Suri alone, cut the creepy secret cult shit that makes so many people afraid of you, and do the right thing for your members – let them go.  Stop ruining lives.

Perhaps there are some decent life lessons to be learned from the writings of L. Ron Hubbard (i.e., “The fastest way to make a fortune is to invent a religion”…), but those lessons will never reach a mass audience as long as the perception of Scientology is that of a cult of zombies eating the brains of the young.

Accel Partners, Ben Silverman, Bob Iger, Chris Hughes, David Kirkpatrick, Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin, Gerald Levin, Greylock Partners, HBO, Jeff Bewkes, Jeff Zucker, Jill Kennedy, Joanna Shields, Jon Miller, Khan Manka, Li Ka-shing, Manka Bros., Mark Cuban, Mark Zuckerberg, Matt Cohler, MySpace, Nicolas Carlson, OnMedea, Owen Van Natta, Paul Buchheit, Peter Thiel, Rupert Murdoch, Sheryl Sandberg, Sumner Redstone, Toy Story 3Jill Kennedy – OnMedea

“Hesher” Has 22 Producers

At the upcoming Super Bowl in Miami, 22 players are absolutely necessary to play the game.  Apparently, 22 producers are absolutely necessary to make “Hesher” – an independent film premiering at the Sundance Film Festival (and just picked up for distribution by Newmarket) starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Natalie Portman.

There’s a fixed joke in Hollywood that you can’t throw a rock without hitting a screenwriter.  It seems, for those of us inclined to throw rocks, you can’t throw a rock at Sundance without hitting an independent film producer.

What happens if, by some chance, “Hesher” gets nominated for an Academy Award next year.  Only three producers are allowed on the ballot and actually receive the award.  What happens to the other 19 and what is the process for weeding it down to three?  Wouldn’t that be a great reality show?

And “Hesher” is not an isolated case.  It appears to be a trend.

Here are three films that were at the Sundance Film Festival and the number of Producers that were necessary to produce them.

22 Producers, Aaron Dowing, Aleen Keshishian, Andrew Sawyer, Anne O'Shea, Annette Bening, Annette Savitch, Ari Ackerman, Ari Emanuel, Ben Silverman, Celine Rattray, Christy Cashman, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Galt Niederhoffer, Gary Gilbert, Gina Kirkpatrick, Happy Walters, Hesher, J. Todd Harris, Jay Franks, Jay Rifkin, Jeff Davis, Jeff Weiner, Jeff Zucker, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Jennifer Todd, Jill Kennedy, Johnny Lin, Jonathan Weisgal, Jordan Horowitz, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Josh Duhamel, Julianne Moore, Katie Holmes, Khan Manka, Lucy Cooper, Manka Bros., Mark Ruffalo, Matthew Weaver, Michael Benaroya, Natalie Portman, Neil Katz, Newmarket, OnMedea, Pamela Hirsch, producer's credit, Ravi Nandan, Riva Marker, Rob Ortiz, Ron Stein, Scot Armstrong, Scott Kluge, Scott Prisand, Spencer Susser, Steven Saxton, Sundance Film Festival, Super Bowl 44, Suzanne Todd, Taylor Kephart, Terry Semel, The Kids Are All Right, The Romantics, Wayne Chang, Win SheridanHesher (22 Producers – including “Executive” and “Co”-Producers)

  • Lucy Cooper
  • Matthew Weaver
  • Scott Prisand
  • Natalie Portman
  • Spencer Susser
  • Johnny Lin
  • Win Sheridan
  • Jonathan Weisgal
  • Wayne Chang
  • Aleen Keshishian
  • Annette Savitch
  • Scot Armstrong
  • Ravi Nandan
  • Aaron Dowing
  • Rob Ortiz
  • Scott Kluge
  • Jeff Davis
  • Jay Rifkin
  • Ari Ackerman
  • Jay Franks
  • Happy Walters
  • Gina Kirkpatrick

 

22 Producers, Aaron Dowing, Aleen Keshishian, Andrew Sawyer, Anne O'Shea, Annette Bening, Annette Savitch, Ari Ackerman, Ari Emanuel, Ben Silverman, Celine Rattray, Christy Cashman, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Galt Niederhoffer, Gary Gilbert, Gina Kirkpatrick, Happy Walters, Hesher, J. Todd Harris, Jay Franks, Jay Rifkin, Jeff Davis, Jeff Weiner, Jeff Zucker, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Jennifer Todd, Jill Kennedy, Johnny Lin, Jonathan Weisgal, Jordan Horowitz, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Josh Duhamel, Julianne Moore, Katie Holmes, Khan Manka, Lucy Cooper, Manka Bros., Mark Ruffalo, Matthew Weaver, Michael Benaroya, Natalie Portman, Neil Katz, Newmarket, OnMedea, Pamela Hirsch, producer's credit, Ravi Nandan, Riva Marker, Rob Ortiz, Ron Stein, Scot Armstrong, Scott Kluge, Scott Prisand, Spencer Susser, Steven Saxton, Sundance Film Festival, Super Bowl 44, Suzanne Todd, Taylor Kephart, Terry Semel, The Kids Are All Right, The Romantics, Wayne Chang, Win SheridanThe Kids Are All Right (starring Julianne Moore, Annette Bening and Mark Ruffalo – 13 Producers)

  • Gary Gilbert
  • Jeffrey Levy-Hinte
  • Celine Rattray
  • Jordan Horowitz
  • Daniela Taplin Lundberg
  • Steven Saxton
  • Ron Stein
  • Christy Cashman
  • Anne O’Shea
  • Riva Marker
  • Andrew Sawyer
  • Neil Katz
  • J. Todd Harris

 

22 Producers, Aaron Dowing, Aleen Keshishian, Andrew Sawyer, Anne O'Shea, Annette Bening, Annette Savitch, Ari Ackerman, Ari Emanuel, Ben Silverman, Celine Rattray, Christy Cashman, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Galt Niederhoffer, Gary Gilbert, Gina Kirkpatrick, Happy Walters, Hesher, J. Todd Harris, Jay Franks, Jay Rifkin, Jeff Davis, Jeff Weiner, Jeff Zucker, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Jennifer Todd, Jill Kennedy, Johnny Lin, Jonathan Weisgal, Jordan Horowitz, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Josh Duhamel, Julianne Moore, Katie Holmes, Khan Manka, Lucy Cooper, Manka Bros., Mark Ruffalo, Matthew Weaver, Michael Benaroya, Natalie Portman, Neil Katz, Newmarket, OnMedea, Pamela Hirsch, producer's credit, Ravi Nandan, Riva Marker, Rob Ortiz, Ron Stein, Scot Armstrong, Scott Kluge, Scott Prisand, Spencer Susser, Steven Saxton, Sundance Film Festival, Super Bowl 44, Suzanne Todd, Taylor Kephart, Terry Semel, The Kids Are All Right, The Romantics, Wayne Chang, Win SheridanThe Romantics (starring Katie Holmes and Josh Duhamel – 11 Producers)

  • Daniela Taplin Lundberg
  • Jennifer Todd
  • Suzanne Todd
  • Michael Benaroya
  • Taylor Kephart
  • Galt Niederhoffer
  • Katie Holmes
  • Riva Marker
  • Celine Rattray
  • Pamela Hirsch
  • Ron Stein

 

Look, I’m sure all these people played a vital role in their respective films’ journey to the screen… or not (only those on the production really know what’s going on here).  But a Producer credit used to be highly-coveted and very difficult to get – in most cases after years of paying dues and working up the cinematic ladder.

Today, it seems, the credit is handed out like film festival swag.  Now, when I meet someone who says they are a producer on an independent film, I am inclined to say “Oh, really, what, did you deliver the food?”

Accel Partners, Ben Silverman, Bob Iger, Chris Hughes, David Kirkpatrick, Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin, Gerald Levin, Greylock Partners, HBO, Jeff Bewkes, Jeff Zucker, Jill Kennedy, Joanna Shields, Jon Miller, Khan Manka, Li Ka-shing, Manka Bros., Mark Cuban, Mark Zuckerberg, Matt Cohler, MySpace, Nicolas Carlson, OnMedea, Owen Van Natta, Paul Buchheit, Peter Thiel, Rupert Murdoch, Sheryl Sandberg, Sumner Redstone, Toy Story 3Jill Kennedy – OnMedea