Updated at 4:56 p.m. to reflect that both Birth.Movies.Death. and Fangoria are seeking new ownership.
Two publications owned by Dallas-based film studio Cinestate went on strike and later sought new ownership this week after a Daily Beast article published over the weekend detailed how Cinestate perpetuated a culture of sexual harassment and kept an accused rapist employed.
The Daily Beast article focuses on 39-year-old Dallas film producer Adam Donaghey. He was arrested in April on suspicion of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl years ago and is now out on bail, according to Dallas police.
A woman who worked on the 2017 film "A Ghost Story," which was shot in North Texas, wrote on Facebook earlier in 2019 that Donaghey raped and molested her during the film's production when she was just 16, according to multiple reports.
According to Dallas County court documents, Donaghey was arrested on April 27 and posted $25,000 bail on April 28. As a condition of his bond, Donaghey is not allowed to see the woman or her family or be near any place they frequent and must stay away from minors, stay sober, submit to random drug testing and not possess a deadly weapon.
A court date has not been set yet, but the criminal case will be heard in the 265th Criminal District Court in Dallas, according to county records.
Those quoted in The Daily Beast say Donaghey's arrest was just the culmination of a long line of sexual harassment incidents at Cinestate, which is why the editors of Fangoria Magazine and Birth.Movies.Death say they went on strike and then left the company.
'All of this is unacceptable'
Cinestate owns Austin-based film website Birth.Movies.Death., Dallas-based horror fan magazine Fangoria and "outlaw cinema" film website Rebeller, in addition to producing its own films marketed to conservative viewers, such as "Brawl in Cell Block 99" and "Dragged Across Concrete."
Donaghey helped produce films for the studio, helped found the Oak Cliff Film Festival and helped reopen the Texas Theatre, which is no longer connected to him.
Fangoria editor-in-chief Phil Nobile Jr. tweeted Wednesday that he and the editors of Birth.Movies.Death. "have come to understand and respect that Fangoria and Birth.Movies.Death. cannot continue under the Cinestate banner. It is our understanding that new buyers are being sought for both brands."
Nobile Jr. and the other editors went on strike earlier in the week to demand change at Cinestate.
Nobile Jr., along with Fangoria managing editor Meredith Borders, Birth.Movies.Death. editor-in-chief Evan Saathoff and managing editor Scott Wampler, issued joint a statement on Monday demanding Cinestate founder Dallas Sonnier address the company's "unacceptable" history of "unhealthy, toxic film sets."
They said they would be going on strike until Cinestate meets their demands, which include:
- A public action plan to deal with harassment
- Mandatory sexual harassment training for all employees and on-set contractors
- A "substantial donation" to the Dallas Area Rape Crisis Center or the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network
- Editorial separation for Fangoria (Cinestate recently bought Birth.Movies.Death. from Alamo Drafthouse, but has no editorial control.)
Sonnier said in an email that Fangoria and Birth.Movies.Death. editors have "his full support in speaking their minds."
"My FANGORIA and BMD editors have my full support in speaking their minds. I have never silenced anyone in my entire career, and I've already had a respectful discussion with them for the future health of our company and brands," Sonnier said. "I own up to past mistakes and invite people to hold me accountable, as I lay out a course of action we pledge to follow.”
Multiple contributors and podcasts hosts who work under the Cinestate banner have severed ties with the company since Fangoria and BMD issued their statement. The latest to break from Cinestate was horror and genre film critic Joe Bob Briggs, who said Tuesday he would also no longer be a Rebeller contributor.
Birth.Movies.Death. has had its own experiences dealing with sexual assault allegations in the past. Former editor-in-chief Devin Faraci resigned from the site in late 2016 after he was accused of sexual assault.
In 2017, Tim League, who owned Alamo Drafthouse and Birth.Movies.Death. at the time, quietly rehired Faraci to write for Alamo Drafthouse from home. Faraci left again after the rehire was discovered.
Also in 2017, Alamo Drafthouse severed ties with Fantastic Fest co-founder Harry Knowles after he was accused of sexual assault.
'He kept going'
Donaghey's behavior was a common secret in the Dallas film community, according to the Daily Beast article.
One of the main sources quoted in the article is Cristen Leah Haynes, who says she has audio of Donaghey repeatedly asking her to show him her underwear in 2014.
"And the whole way there, he’s coming on to me, and it was very blunt. Show me your underwear—not even a question in the beginning, just a statement, like he thought it was OK to say,” Haynes is quoted as saying in The Daily Beast. “I said, ‘I hope you’re joking, but no, that’s OK, thanks.’ But he kept going, so that’s when I pulled my phone out and decided that I should document what was happening in case I got fired after that, or in case he started doing something physically.”
Other women came forward with their own stories after Haynes started sharing her audio recording.
Multiple people said they tried showing the audio to Cinestate founder Dallas Sonnier and film producer Amanda Presmyk, who worked with Cinestate on many of its films. They claim Sonnier and Presmyk "swept it under the rug."
Both Sonnier and Presmyk denied this in the Daily Beast article:
"[Adam] was part of our producing team—I’m not denying that. But I confront the hypothesis that there is some scandal here, because there isn’t. I don’t always get things perfectly right but I’m always trying my best,” Sonnier is quoted as saying in The Daily Beast. “I have a different system of handling things that may be a little antiquated than Twitter in 2020 demands of companies and CEOs. I thought a person I knew and worked with made a pass at another person I knew and worked with, and I told him to apologize to her. I didn’t understand the severity of it. I didn’t take the time to investigate it. I’m guilty of that… portion.”
If you have been the victim of a sexual assault and need confidential, safe, free support, call the RAINN hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673) to be connected with a trained staff member from a sexual assault service provider in your area.
