Lena Dunham Pays

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 2:58pm

I actually kind of like Lena Dunham and thinks she gets a lot of sh*t over nothing.

HOWEVER! This is bulls**t. Watch yourself, Lena; you're acting like the daughter of someone Hollywood.

Don't forget to scroll down the comments for a great Harlan Ellison bit.


Dunham's opening acts don't get paid

Updated On: 9/29/14 at 02:58 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 2:59pm

I'm sure she'll issue a statement very soon saying how that was all a misunderstanding and they are, of course, being very well compensated.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 3:12pm

I'm not a businesswoman. I'm a business, woman. So let me do my business, k?
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) September 29, 2014

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 3:19pm

Or maybe not.

LOL

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 3:23pm

After doing so much free and underpaid sh*t in this city, I really can't work up any bile about this. Did these people enter into this knowing they weren't going to be paid? If so, then I don't see the issue. Over and over again we choose to do things that don't value our talents monetarily, but which could provide exposure and the possibility of more work.

I generally don't do things for free now...unless it's a very good friend. But, I don't think I can find any anger inside me for what she's doing here.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 4:07pm

Of course performers do things for exposure...but to benefit charities or in situations in which no one is making any money.

But to benefit a corporation like "Lena Dunham, Inc."?

[Kad]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 4:11pm

...since when do book tours have opening/warm-up acts?

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 4:15pm

'But to benefit a corporation like "Lena Dunham, Inc."?'

I mean, I wouldn't do it, but I still have a hard time finding working up indignation. Maybe I've just become numb to the idea that performers will always be exploited, even by other performers. I wish I could find this shocking, but I don't. The most I can do is shrug my shoulders and say, 'But of course.'

[Kad]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 4:28pm

The comment that was added to the article from one of the performers seems to indicate they knew they weren't getting paid when they applied. If that's the case, I can hardly be outraged.

[tazber]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 4:32pm

The one girl in article expressed it best when she said she basically volunteered by applying.

It seems people who submitted videos knew the prize was the exposure not a monetary award.

It doesn't really rub me the wrong way.

Updated On: 9/29/14 at 04:32 PM

[SNAFU]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 4:37pm

It is a venue where people breaking into the biz can get out there. Most stand up comedians who aren't headliners get paid pitances, if anything to open shows.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 4:39pm

I was out at "she gets a lot of sh*t over nothing."

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 4:57pm

I somehow have no feelings about Lena Dunham. I've never watched anything she's ever done. I may have seen her be interviewed, but I don't even know what her voice sounds like. So I have no investment in her or what she does. But this does seem profoundly different from unpaid internships (which seems to be a major discussion going on in the comments). It's a chance for a performer to show-off their stuff and they all seem to have gone into it knowing that the performance would be their payment. That doesn't begin to compare to making college students work full work-weeks for free.

[AC126748]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 5:10pm

Dunham is all hat and no cattle. She's always been a dubious character, and this is just the best example.

I'm with Harlan Ellison on this one. I can't tell you how many years I listened to people (most of whom were making ridiculous money) croon about how "exposure is more valuable than money." Guess what? It's not.

Updated On: 9/29/14 at 05:10 PM

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 5:11pm

"I'm not a businesswoman. I'm a business, woman."

Isn't that a Nikki Minaj lyric?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 5:13pm

You guys! Lena went to Oberlin, so she takes these issues seriously. Were it not for her Obersplanation about how it would even be MORE racist to cast people of color on Girls than to not cast any at all, I'd think HBO had started another all-white series without thinking about it!

But now I know better because Lena taught me. Each one, teach one.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 5:18pm

It's always fun to listen to Harlan rant. Esp when he's right. ( above 80% of the time by my very long reckoning.)

[AC126748]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 5:26pm

Lena Dunham?Verified account ?@lenadunham ·
Some good points were raised and I've ensured that all opening acts will be compensated for their time, their labor and their talents.


Ok, great, but why does it always seem like she needs to be clued into what the right thing is in so many situations? Shouldn't she know from the start?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 5:28pm

She heard the criticism and 20 minutes ago, reversed the decision.
TWITTER: LENA DUNHAM: Some good points were raised and I've ensured that all opening acts will be compensated for their time, their labor and their talents.

[Kad]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 5:47pm

Again, I'm failing to see cause for outrage by asking people to perform a short set, if they so chose, for free. She wasn't using unpaid interns to do work for 6 months for no compensation... that we know of.

[AC126748]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 6:31pm

Because to me, her whole "I just want to spotlight local talent, who would ever expect me to pay them?" line sounds like a dodge. Musicians, comics, illusionists, etc...when they use local opening acts, payment isn't a question. They're not paid in "exposure." They're paid in cash. It just seems like another instance where the self-appointed voice of a generation needs to be told what's right.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 7:03pm

I think the outrage is mainly from how these hipster kids, who love to go around the world talking about the awfulness of capitalism, consumerism, and the hardships of being an artist, do these things that completely go against what they have build their entire personas around. I don't think it's uncommon for this sort of thing to happen, but there's something about Dunham doing it that reveals the hypocrisy of that generation (of which I'm a part of, unfortunately) and its so-called philosophy.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 8:32pm

I don't think it's generational. I think it's race- and class-based.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 9:26pm

It's unpaid intern culture.

[javero]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 9:40pm

@Namo,

While I do agree with you, I'm willing to give her a free pass. I'm comfortable with the explanation she provided after the jump. I've never watched a single episode of the GIRLS series and didn't suspect that I made up part of the target audience. It's refreshing to me at least that Lena's willing to acknowledge her limitations as a writer perhaps resulting from her limited interaction with folks outside her tribe. In any industry, there are specialists as well as generalists. She seems to know her brand.
Lena Dunham Addresses "Girls" Diversity Criticism...