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Lena Dunham is writing a self-described funny book of advice and anecdotes on everything from sex to eating to traveling to work. But she sure is taking seriously one website’s attempt to make any of it public. Gawker at the start of the weekend scored and posted the HBO Girls sitcom 
creator’s 66-page book proposal which she sold in October for $3.5M to Random House. I went to read it on the site only to see it had disappeared off it. Gawker told me Charles Harder of Wolf, Rifkin, Shapiro, Schulman & Rabkin demanded that Gawker take down Dunham’s proposal for Not That Kind Of Girl. Gawker complied. (“On the recommendation of Gawker’s legal department, the site’s leadership elected to take down the proposal.”) OK, I can understand that. But now Dunham’s attorney is demanding that Gawker take down a mere 12 one-sentence quotes lifted from the 66-page proposal. This is hardball: Harder represented himself to Gawker’s attorney as “litigation counsel for author and actress Lena Dunham [and] Lena Dunham has retained an attorney to demand that Gawker remove 12 quotes from her book propsal from our site,” an insider tells me. (I hear Random House isn’t bitching to Gawker, only Dunham.)
Look, the publishing industry leaks like a sieve and many book proposals leak to the media. (Heck, I posted Jon Peters’ entire book proposal, and lost him a bunch of friends, and no one threatened to sue me…) Of course, interest is high in this proposal that sold for $3.5M by a Hollywood wunderkind. Granted Dunham’s proposal fetched so much money because publishers rightly or wrongly see this flavor of the moment as an influential creative voice for young women. But Dunham now is taking herself way too seriously over 12 unwitty sentences which Gawker describes (and I agree) are “indicative of a nauseating and cloying posture of precociousness that permeates the entire proposal”. Meanwhile, Gawker tells me, “We’re not removing the quotes.” FYI, the book doesn’t have a pub date and apparently isn’t even written yet.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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No one is going to give a crap about this over-hyped nitwit in a couple of years.
Just because she wants the opportunity to WRITE a book before people can be assholes about it is not unreasonable. As Godard would say, the best response to a film is to make another film. If you don’t like her movies or tv shows just make your own. Oh, right. No one gives a shit what you have to say (See how I just knew that??)
For me, in a time where people throw around the word racist, she’s a true racist. We are a liberal community, and she is a disgrace and disgusting human being. She does more to set back the gay rights movement and general civil rights than Jesse Helms or David Duke.
This is a ridiculous comment. Beyond ridiculous. Shameful. Direct your rage where it belongs.
“…an influential creative voice for young women.” Umm, that would be WHITE WOMEN ONLY. She herself inferred that there were no black girls because of her whites-only life experience (IN NEW YORK CITY! LOL), like they’re some kind of Martian who doesn’t bleed, feel or eat like the rest of society. So how do you explain the peripheral characters, though Lena?*eyeroll*
Are freaking kidding me? Are we talking about the same Lena Dunham???
They’re not being a-holes because she wrote a book; they’re being a-holes because her lawyers made ridiculous claims in the name of copyright.
Gawker is, in this singular example, on the side of the angels.
If Lena Dunham had an ounce of PR-savvy, she’d simply come out and apologize for her lawyer’s heavy-handedness and go enjoy her millions. Instead, the Streisand Effect reigns supreme, and millions who’ve never heard of her (like me!) think she’s ridiculous.
“They’re not being a-holes because she wrote a book; they’re being a-holes because her lawyers made ridiculous claims in the name of copyright.” Nah, it was the former statement, but thanks for playing.
Not a fan of her series. Not a fan of her book. But the girl was given an opportunity and she’s running with it as fast as she can. Can you blame her? Welcome to Hollywood where no one is happy for anyone else’s success unless they are some how attached via some nameless job title no one gives a fuck about.
Stay classy, Hollywood.
Who cares about her now? Daytime tv talk show audiences?
I wonder who had to do all the photoshop and typesetting on the proposal and what he/she/they were paid. Also if I were HBO i would “compel” LD and JA to lend their names to a “girls” tie-in or script book to at least get some of the spillover from this book, which is quickly becoming a PR quagmire that makes Lena look petty and greedy.
If a book proposal of mine landed me a $3.5 million deal, I’d have it printed on t-shirts that I’d wear in public. Then again I don’t have a tightly controlled public image to maintain.
who the hell cares? how many people watch her show on HBO and would buy this book? advice from her?? what a joke
I don’t think Dunham is a genius. She’s just self-absorbed!
What a self-absorbed twit. Can’t stand her or her pretentious garbage of a show. She is NOT the voice of my generation.
It’s a pretty genius move.
It draws more interest to the book. (You’re reporting about it here, right?)
“It draws more interest to the book.”
The book is over a year away.
This uproar is very real, I can assure you. No publicity stunt.
“Uproar”??? More like upwhisper or upyawn.
Ryan S,
I have no interest in this show. I have no interest in this girl.
Yet I am now aware of the project and when the thing does eventually come out, I might read the book jacket.
Seems well-played to me.
Problem is nobody makes money off of people perusing a book jacket. Sales are what counts. So even you admit that knowing about the book would get a passing glance from you.
But is this waste of paper ever gets published will you still care in a year? Will her show even still be on? Vulgar humor only goes so far then it becomes boring.
The Dumpy Tugboat who thought She Could Fly!!! Can’t wait to see this one in remainder bins next year.
I actually skimmed the entire 66 pages on Gawker and it was terrible it’s a silly juvenile obnoxious mish-mash of her junk thoughts and she should be embarrassed which is why she demanded it be deleted. Gawker should have stood firm and kept it on their site so everyone can see how stupid it is. When the book is published the reviews will be scathing enough to hopefully minimize whatever sales it might get. The woman is a joke and if she’s really the voice of her generation then she needs to resign from that self-appointed position or she should be impeached. If her female demo really admires her then they are as dumb as she is.
I don’t get Dunham’s popularity. She’s another of Apatow’s ‘friends’ who used his name as a step-stool for her unfunny show. I’ve watched a few episodes, and I don’t see that ‘it’ factor or that relatability (a lot of the girls I know aren’t precocious like Dunham and much smarter too). And I’m usually open-minded about shows like this.
Not to mention she is butt ugly to boot. No wonder she’s touchy feely about Gawker obtaining her book proposal… a bunch of unfunny nonsense for an ugly wannabe.
Why is she being judged here for her looks? This is sexist and rude. Judd Apatow, David Chase, Larry David, Jerry Seinfeld, Louis CK are not judged by their looks. Millions of people love her show and her whole persona. If you don’t like her writing fine. Deadline should allow women to be abused on their site.
Because it is biology. Women are valued for their looks men while are valued for their statuses. Deal with it. 40 years of political correctness will never be able to trump millions of years of evolution.
Yes, and your point that nothing every changes in the world, or ever should, is extremely valuable. I’m so glad we kept women at home, instead of at work; and dark skinned people at the back of the bus, and off of our lunch counters. Everything that was ever established is the way it should always remain.
What is wrong with all you people here?
Or millions of years of sexist bs.
@ amirite, I thank god that you are not. i sincerely hope your comment is some unfunny failure of sarcasm.
Sometimes I wonder if I should just give up on being a feminist. It’s an unwinnable battle. As soon as a woman achieves success as a creator she’s bagged on for her appearance (see above comments for reference) and for having achieved everything through her connections. Look at JJ Abrams, the man’s father was a tv producer. I’ve never heard anyone say he got to where he is because of his family.
…to be fair, JJ is actually talented.
And JJ Abrams actual has a certain amount of talent.
Dunham just isn’t talented… period. There are lots of women I know that are far more relatable than her, and yet don’t have that kind of success she’s enjoying now.
It’s a double-edged sword.
You’re kidding, right? Haters are CONSTANTLY bagging on J.J. Abrams, and often talk about how he’s only a director because of nepotism.
That said, I agree with you about the comments regarding her appearance. What she looks like is irrelevant to her career as a writer.
It is to jealous haters.
I think you need to live in reality. Women ARE judged primarily on their looks by men, it’s called biology and will never change. Similarly men are judged by women on their status, bank account, position in society, etc. that too will never change!
While it may be unfortunate that Lena Dunham is judged more harshly appearance-wise than Larry David (although it’s laughable to compare them), it’s also true that there are many women who have good jobs, comfortable lifestyles etc. based only on their good looks, not their talent, work ethic, etc.
biology seems to be doing a lot of work for you today….
the reason women are judged primarily by looks is not biology (i thought your facts have to be correct, nikki? you agree with this drivel?), it’s because that’s literally all society has allowed them to be for 99.9% of existence.
Let’s see what happens when women have access to, I dunno, education, jobs, the vote, permission to do things without their husbands….
that and having sexist, old, white men like yourself die off or retire… i’d excited to see what the industry looks like in 30 years, when people like you wont be around to spew hate-speech as supported by your amazingly ignorant understanding of “biology,” while people like Lena are making moves
It’s called using biology as an excuse to be a sexist pig.
Damn she looks good in that pic
Getting way tooooo full of herself. I tuned her out after the publicity avalanche tried to make her into a goddess
I wonder if it’ll “feel like the first” time when she sees her paycheck after Obama has his way with it?
U Mad Bro?
Paycheck envy is sad
@ First Time — uh you’re joking right? Once you’re into the millions with a paycheck, the usual tax rules don’t apply. Obama can’t “have his way” with her paycheck, thank God the rich have already rigged the system. She hires Mitt Romney’s accountants and the 3.5M will be run through a 400 page tax return that even the IRS can’t understand and presto! chang-o! she’ll magically end up paying like 7% or 8% taxes on it.
Girls is a great show. I think people treat Lena unfairly sometimes regarding her weight and the racism issue, but Lena is overreacting here.
The racism issue is serious. Hollywood has all these stupid diversity programs, but the industry promotes more racism than an NRA meeting.
Are you saying African Americans and Hispanics don’t own guns?
Did not hear about racism issue! Thanks for bringing it to my attention! Just another crack in the hype armor.
Nikki, you are my new favorite human, could not agree more. I do not see what the comedy underground sees in her.
I love Lena Dunham, I love off-color humor, but her remarks about women of Asian and Indian descent, they’re disgusting. Worse, Hollywood and proud progresives like myself decry Republicans, but she talks about defecating as “Obama taking the kids to school.” If we criticize Republicans for being racists but produce much more racist work, we should be called on it.
A lot of her disgusting remarks about women of color come from her being passed over by white guys, and being annoyed when dorky white guys in New York date Asian girls, Jewish girls, whomever that isn’t schlubby. I really really adore Lena’s work, she’s going to get better, but I also am really disappointed by some of her writing’s nastiness. It’s not artistically nasty, just nasty.
that remark WAS disgusting but it was by one of her writers, not her.
Isn’t the Jiu Jitsu there that the audience is supposed to see that this character says these racist things out of self-loathing? Or am I reading too much into this?
joelle, that actually was not lena dunham’s remarks, but those of a staff writer ON her show, “girls”.
The episodes with the “ethnic” secretaries teaching her how to use makeup and how to put up with sexual harassment from the boss was beyond offensive. It was like watching a modern-day minstrel show. Or a bad SNL skit lampooning how white privileged writers see working-class Latinas.
The whole whitewashed/racism discussion doesn’t need to happen in a vacuum, just watch the show people. The proof is in the pudding.
And who okayed those racist remarks on Lena Dunham’s show hmm? Lena Dunham. Don’t give us this shit that “it was just the writers on her show and Lena was just sooooo busy being amazing to notice lines in the script” because she’s the star and boss of that show and not some sitcom sidekick only onboard for the paycheck and with zero power. Lena Dunham is a racist which isn’t surprising considering her sheltered life or the fact she’s said some outrageously ignorant things in the past. I honestly don’t understand the cult like worship of this “woman” on Twitter and the like. And before you say I’m jealous, I’m not jealous of being one of the ugliest and most pathetic women alive. She’s a disgrace to women all over. The only thing worse than hipsters are wannabe hipsters with trust funds.
I know it wasn’t her, it was Leslye Arfin. And unlike every single time that person making remarks through all industries is fired, Dunham did nothing, HBO did nothing. Sorry, that was one remark, but Dunham’s entire work is trashing ethnic girls because her entire life, guys have chosen ethnic girls over her, and she’s furious.
Sorry, but you can’t disgrace Indian and Asian girls and just brush it off as humor. I don’t care if the show has no diversity or fake diversity, DO NOT take your insecurities out on other women just because you’re unhappy with your appearance.
And yes, you expect me to vote for civil rights? I do, without prompting. But you liken Sasha Obama and Malia Obama to feces, with nary an apology? Digusting, Lena, and classless.
i know for a fact that lena and jenni konner rewrite everyone, so, it wasn’t really lesley’s words. it’s lena’s.
Right on. If I said in my writing, “Hey, there’s a reason every culture throughout history has hated Jews,” that’s not art, that’s hate speech.
“I wanted to go to Spin class, but it was filled with Indian girls.”
This is what you write when you’re an ugly girl who no one wants to date. I think it’s deplorable that people remark on her looks when they don’t do it to men, but her looks did lead to these cheap shots taken at women of color.
I don’t blame her for a second. There is nothing to criticize here. Nothing. No one is posting her work to praise it, to help her complete the finished project, or to help her sell it. They’re posting it to profit off her unfinished, unpolished sample, and they have no right to. Period.
Holy crap how much spackle and spray paint did it take to make her face look like that? She is not an attractive woman, at all.
yeah, bc the book proposal was disgusting. Witty, sure. But so full of rich white girl issues it was revolting. No wonder she wants it pulled off the internet.
Her advice on sex? No thank u. Still cringing.
Why is it that Girls gets a third of Boardwalk Empire’s ratings, half of Curb Your Enthusiasm’s ratings, and an even smaller fraction of True Blood and Game of Throne’s ratings, but I hear approximately 300% more about Lena Dunham and Girls than any other HBO program or star?
Good for her for all her success, but there’s clearly a lot of people who don’t buy the hype.
I absolutely can’t stand Lena Dunham. I read her book proposal and I’m shocked someone payed her $3.5 million for it.
The only book proposal I would pay $3.5 million for would be a follow-up to Tina Fey’s “Bossypants”. I remember reading Fey’s book and laughing out loud in the bookstore at the first chapter. I can only imagine how Fey’s proposal for that would’ve won publishers over, but Dunham’s proposal is awful.
Someone like Fey also has class and humor to spare, Dunham is cheap and crass.
Give me the (admittedly) overly-materialistic but class & sincerity of Sex and the City ANY DAY over the emotionally crippled, terribly spoiled, parentally-dependent and tragically-trendy hipsters of HBO’s Girls.
good to see she’s down to earth and can laugh at herself
You really are a terrible, catty person Finke. Lena Dunham is hilarious and talented. She has a right to want her material private. You suck.
A right to want her material private?
Really?
No one who embarks upon a career like hers goes into it expecting privacy. Get real. That 3.5 million paycheck comes with consequences. Scrutiny under the public eye is one of them.
Also. Girls sucks. Terrible, self-absorbed show that literally tries to posit itself as the voice of our generation. As someone who lives in Williamsburg… no. The show draws on all the stereotypes of the area (there’s nothing original here) and tries to pass them off as the identity for our generation.