This morning, I received the following missive from Mark Cuban:

"I tried to give you an honest, direct answer to everything you asked me
Caveh. You never answered a single question I asked you . I tried to find a
middle ground of compromise. You avoided the topic completely.

You made IFC the good guys, me the bad guy.

You played this out to your advantage, but not honestly, good for you

All the best

m"

My reply:

Mark,

You're right that I don't see IFC as being the bad guys in all this. But I'm not trying to make you into the bad guy either. I just disagree with your position and am trying to get you to change your mind.

I'm sorry if you feel I haven't answered a single question you asked me. But I thought I had made it clear that I didn't think IFC should reneg on their agreement with Comcast, despite whatever disagreements existed between Comcast and yourself. You kept asking me if I had asked IFC to pull out of their Comcast deal and if IFC had offered any such "solution" to the problem. But why would I ask IFC to pull out of their Comcast deal when I don't believe that they should? To pull out of their Comcast deal would be to betray the very basis of the First Take initiative - namely to start doing day and date releases. You yourself have been the foremost proponent of such a thing, which is why it seems hypocritical to almost everyone who has been following this that you would be trying to pressure IFC to abandon their own day and date release strategy.

So the answer to your questions is: 1) No, I have not asked IFC to reneg on their deal with Comcast and 2) No, IFC has not offered to reneg on their contract with IFC. And while I appreciate your offer to sell DVD's of my film in Landmark Theaters, that is not an option either because, like I already told you, IFC has a DVD output deal with Genius, and the film won't be coming out on DVD until late Summer. Don't agreements carry any weight and responsibilities?

You write that I played this out to my advantage, but not honestly. But Mark, I DON'T AGREE with you. That's not dishonest. If by "not honestly" you mean that I tried to argue for a particular point of view (my own), then yes, you are right. I did that. But you did the exact same thing.

As to playing this out to my advantage, I have utterly FAILED to persuade you to change your mind about pulling my film from most of your theaters. I really don't see how I have played this to "my advantage." All I have done is publicized what you did. And it's true that a lot of people have been outraged. But you still stand behind what you did, so there's no reason for you to complain about my "outing" you. You could easily "fix" all this by reversing your decision. That you choose not to is your right, but I really don't see how I played this out to my advantage, as you put it.

I know some harsh words against you have been thrown around on the internet because of all this, but not by me. I can't control other people's reactions, or points of view. If I painted you as acting inappropriately, it's because I think you did act inappropriately in this situation. That's how I see it (and I'm not the only person who sees it that way). That's not dishonest. It may be subjective, but it's certainly no more dishonest than your attempt to spin the situation according to how you see it.

I'm sorry that the tone of our exchanges has become increasingly acrimonious. I would like to reverse that trend by saying, once again, that I admire your generosity in taking the time and trouble to tirelessly explain your position and to be willing to engage in a public debate on this topic. There aren't a lot of people in your position who would do that, so hats off to you for that.

Best,

Caveh