Hi brokestocker,
In response to:
----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: He fucking pissed on my carpet...no really
Date: Dec 26 2006 3:38 PM
and any reason why Cindy Ortiz is no longer with IPEI???
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From: James Hergott and Imperia Entertainment (IPEI.PK)
Date: Dec 26 2006 10:06 PM
Yes there are several reasons for her termination but I believe it lacks class to disclose why a company lets someone go. I wish her the best and will leave it at that. I believe such things are personal and it is inappropriate to discuss these things in public.
James
AND (from James)
We provided her with a termination letter today that outlined 21 individual reasons for her termination. She disobeyed several direct orders over the past few months including releasing news on an MMA website when she was told not to. The reasons were multiple and over a long period of time.
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My response is:
James is a liar. I challenge him to come up with one instance to prove his case because I am openly and unequivocally calling him a liar.
Here's what happened and if he has the audacity to dispute it, I have e-mails from him to prove every stitch of what I claim and will not hesitate to post them.
The "list" I was sent this evening from Ken dropped my jaw, first of all, because I cut Imperia loose the other night after following the advice of posters on this site to look into a few key areas relating to these guys and what I found was quite revealing.
These concerns coupled with an inexcusable incident a week ago made bailing on this project a "no-brainer."
We (James and I on behalf of Imperia) made an agreement with Dana White (co-owner of the UFC) that in exchange for his cooperation of allowing us to approach and audition his fighters (even those under contract) for Never Submit, we would run the names by him first for his approval.
Dana White had previously responded to our request with a big fat "no" because:
a) They have plans of their own to do a fight related movie so for all intents and purposes, they would be helping the "competition" beat them to the punch.
b) If the movie is bad it would have a negative impact on the sport, the UFC and the fighters in the organization. It has taken years for the UFC to establish themselves in the market and earn the respect of the broadcasting entities and Dana couldn't risk someone making a laughing stock of his brand.
c) The UFC runs shows every month now and are expanding globally in 2007. Fighters need to train and be in competition condition (mentally and physically) when their name is put on a card and having to work around someones (our) shooting schedule could impede this priority.
d) Imperia nor the director of this project were seasoned MMA professionals, in DW's opinion, and the risk of their inexperience was too high to attach the UFC name to, in any form.
e)He didn't have time to "micro-manage" the project and in fact didn't WANT to bother with it despite James offer of an Executive Producers credit, with input and a percentage of the movie.
After leaving Dana's office that day, we knew he wouldn't allow us to use his organization in the movie (fictitious or set in the UFC) and the PPV company wouldn't let us film at their live events. He agreed to try anyway but the chance of getting a "yes" with either was slim and none.
What we were able to convince Dana of is that we could (and would) work around his objections by:
a) Committing to run the names of any UFC fighters by him prior to auditioning and casting them and solicit his input. If he felt their inclusion would create a conflict of interest (from his point of view, not ours) we would honor and respect his decision and NOT cast them.
b) We would commit to making a quality film about the sport of MMA that would not reflect in a negative way on the UFC or the fighters and we would keep him "in the loop" as we went along (script modifications that could change the original perception of a UFC fighter, significant changes in the storyline, our timeline of making the movie, etc) and we would consider his input accordingly.
c) We would always be honest and forthright with him.
With this, Dana White agreed to allow Imperia to pursue his fighters for inclusion in Never Submit.
Long story short, this agreement was not honored (despite my best efforts) and a UFC fighter was cast without getting Dana's input. "We" violated his trust and it cost us any and all association(s) between Imperia Entertainment and the UFC.
Imperia was reminded of our obligation to Dana and made aware of the fact it was imperative to receive DW's "blessing" before issuing the press release announcing one of his fighters had been cast. I was instructed to inform DW of our plans and get his "permission" to procede with the announcement while he was vacationing with his family in the Bahamas.
Dana wasn't comfortable (behind the scenes conflicts that needed to be worked out) with Imperia making the announcement and said to hold off but an Imperia management person disregarded his request and sent out the press release anyway. I was opposed to the decision and felt very strongly we should hold off until Dana got back from his vacation.
My "pushing" and insisting that we respect DW's decision, honor our agreement with him and postpone issuing the press release put me on "the other side of the fence" in the eyes of James and Ken.
That's pretty much it. I wish you all a Happy New Year and take care:)
Cindy
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