Conflict on Set

Update as of 10-15-2018 -- The case has been dismissed by both parties.  As we have agreed to move forward, the dismissed case will remain confidential.

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I am writing this particular post with no intention to badmouth or judge anyone. I understand that actors and crew are not bringing forward any complaints or claims of harassment or abuse. I certainly do not want to create animosity or hostility among anyone involved with the movie production. I will simply be sharing what I personally witnessed and experienced.

ITALY

The shooting of the film started on May 9th, 2011. This was my first project producing a feature film. It was also the first feature film for Victor Alfieri (as a writer, director and producer), Joshua Fine (production attorney), Clark J Gable and some of the other people involved in this production.

It would be reasonable to expect to run into some problems. After all, this was in independent film, shot in Italy - not an easy project to handle.

Pre-Production

Budget

Putting the budget together took extensive work. Victor spent endless hours revising the budget. The projected expenses seemed reasonable to me. I gave the OK.

Script

There were several problems with the script. The script was not completely ready until a couple of weeks before the cast and crew flew to Italy. And apparently, there were other changes and additions even during filming.

Contracts

On March 20, 2011, I signed the Investment Agreement. I had just become the "Executive Producer" and sole financier of "Looking for Clarissa" (formerly "Looking for Clara"). I read the contract and realized that it was pretty much "one-sided." I had no guarantees - not even the right to take over the film and distribute it if Bondolini Productions failed to fulfill his side of the agreement.

I remember saying to Victor, "this contract seems one-sided" and jokingly adding, "you are not going to stab me in the back, are you?" To what he replied, "of course not, baby. I would never do that. I love you."

Casting

I was not allowed to be present in any casting calls or auditions. Victor claimed that it was best not to interfere with the casting process claiming that an Executive Producer NEVER participates in this part of the process. This sounded inaccurate to me. But I did not argue, as I had so many other things to do anyway.

Wardrobe, Travel, Accounting

Victor asked me to make sure the three lead actors got the "right" wardrobe for the movie - a task I certainly did not enjoy doing. Victor would obsessively demand to see pictures of every single item of clothing, especially those clothes to be worn by the lead actress. 

I made flight reservations for the crew and American cast - an easy task for me, as I fly for work every week. I also was in charge of the accounting and of paying the crew and actors. Everyone got paid at least 50% of their fees in advance, including Victor.  I was the only person who did not get compensated - not even a penny - for any of my work.

Production

Clark J. Gable

Clark's manager, Roxane Davis, was well aware of Victor's lack of experience making an independent film. She wanted to protect her client. In a message to her attorney, she wrote: 

"There is nothing LEGAL about this production. I have an unruly, condescending director wherein numerous violations have occured.  He may just need your clarification on what the laws actually are.  All the issues could have easily been solved with simple communication, but now it's turned into one violation after another.  Clark is the only talent with a manager and Victor Alferi seems to take offense to that.  Unless simple protocol is followed from this point forward we will need to further this in a legal and effective manner under California State Law. "

Clark at Piazza San Pietro 

Victor had problems with Clark even before the beginning of the filming. Victor wrote to me a very angry email telling me that Clark was sick and missing rehearsal. Victor stated that he did not want to be Clark's babysitter.

There was another incident when Clark got sick again. This time he was extremely sick (details in my proposed cross-complaint). 

Victor initially refused to provide Clark with any medical attention claiming that it was Clark's own fault. 

Victor and I had a verbal altercation where I expressed how dangerous it could be not to take him to the doctor. I was extremely concerned about Clark's wellbeing. 

Yelling at me, Victor angrily said "I am not paying for this with production money!" I responded, "I will pay for this with the cash I brought to Italy!"

Calcata, Italy

Harassment and Abuse

It is true that Victor is Italian and likes to make sexual jokes as he stated during his deposition.  The problem is that even jokes could be considered sexual harassment in the workplace.

"If you bend over maybe I will give you more lines," "if you cuddle with me or give me a hug, you will get more lines."


Asking for sexual favors, even jokingly, as a condition for work - in this case, more lines for the actor who complies - constitutes sexual harassment.

Victor admitted himself to saying this to two of the lead actors. (See "Sexual Harassment"post).


The first Saturday I was in Calcata, Italy, Nicole Sienna, the lead actress asked to be allowed to leave the village to spend the rest of the weekend in Rome. After all, those were her days off. Victor prohibited her from leaving Calcata, the medieval village.


He explained to me that he worried that something could happen to her, that she could be abducted, be involved in an accident or something catastrophic like that. He also said that we would not be able to complete the movie if she did not come back. He said, "I am protecting the production by not allowing her to leave."



I did think that it was not a good idea for her to leave for the weekend. She did not know Rome, did not speak Italian. It would be terrible if something bad happened to her.  I thought of the movie "Taken" and backed Victor on this decision. She left anyway. She was back Monday morning on time to start the work day.

Nicole Sienna, the lead actress approached me and asked to talk to me in private.

She showed me several pages with a long list of incidents when she felt sexually harassed by Victor. She documented these incidents and had a description and date for each of them.

I went to talk to Victor immediately. I could not allow any harassment on set. He became furious when I told him what she had said.

The three of us had a meeting. She could not admit, in front of Victor, that Victor had done anything wrong or unprofessional.

She might have been intimidated by Victor's yelling and knowing that she was in a medieval fortress with nowhere else to go.

After this incident, it is my opinion that Victor became extremely hostile and abusive to Nicole. He instructed everyone not to talk to her. She was ostracized. I was the only person in the production team that was allowed to talk to her. During the filming of one scene, he angrily yelled at her simply because she asked me to hold her coat and phone while she filmed the scene.

I was so scared of Victor.  He seemed to be out of control. It could have been the long hours on set and lack of sleep. Whatever it was, I was determined to protect everyone to the best of my ability and to not allow this production to fall apart.

I will not say that everything was conflictive. There were great moments during the making of this movie. I felt that we were all a big family working together.

With some cast and crew in Rome, Italy

Disclaimer – As of October 15, 2018, all legal issues have been resolved. This resolution was reached during arbitration. There are no pending issues related to fraud or theft. The resolution was mutually agreeable. There will be no more posts written about this story.