The Art Of The Poach: Fallout Edition
William Morris is in damage control mode as Tad Friend's New Yorker profile of president Dave Wirtschafter makes the rounds in Hollywood. Yesterday, Sarah Michelle Gellar, the linchpin of The Grudge and Scooby Doo franchises, ditched the agency in a publicist-assisted huff. Here's the offending quote from the article:
The tracking numbers for ‘The Grudge’ are amazing,” he said. “It looks like it’ll do twenty-five million”—in fact, Columbia’s remake of a Japanese horror film earned forty million dollars that weekend—“and that takes our client Sarah Michelle Gellar, who now is nothing at all, and it makes her a star, potentially. Suddenly, the Sarah Michelle Gellar space is meaningful.
The "who now is nothing at all" part, sure, that's got to sting a little. But we want to fire Wirtschafter for saying that anything involving Sarah Michelle Gellar is "meaningful."
Later: The Art of the Poach, Part II, featuring another fun pullquote!