The Orchard thought it had landed one of the glossiest packages at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, “I Love You, Daddy.” The boundary-pushing story of a TV writer who grows alarmed after an older director becomes obsessed with his teenage daughter, the movie had all the makings of an art-house breakout.
But the passion project directed by and starring Louis C.K., which sold for a hefty $5 million, would never open in theaters.Less than a month later, “I Love You, Daddy” was deemed un-releasable after an investigation published in The New York Times revealed that C.K.
had forced several women to watch him masturbate.
The fiasco taught The Orchard a valuable lesson, one that has taken on added resonance as one high-profile figure after another has become embroiled in sexual harassment or abuse scandals.“You have to do your homework,” says Paul Davidson, the indie studio’s
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