Possible Former Lucasfilm Employee Talks Star Wars, The Acolyte, and Lucasfilm Agenda
We may have some inside info on the cult-like atmosphere at Lucasfilm. A YouTuber going by the name Knee Payne claims to be a former Lucasfilm employee who worked in the animation division. He mostly makes videos about cameras and filmmaking, but he occasionally talks about Lucasfilm. In a recent video, he discussed what it was like to work at Lucasfilm under George Lucas vs. under the new regime at Disney, how bad The Acolyte is, Dave Filoni’s status as “the next George Lucas,” and how he expects Star Wars to get even worse. He also said that Star Wars fans are often right about Lucasfilm. Unfortunately, you can’t watch his video because it’s been set to private, and now, all the videos on his channel have been taken down. However, Echo Base Network made a video about Knee Payne that has clips from the original and descriptions of the rest of it – clips in which, at certain points, Knee Payne has a Geeks + Gamers video and a Nerdrotic tweet on his screen. And That Park Place has an article about it with even more quotes from Knee Payne’s video, including how he feels sorry for Star Wars fans. You can watch Echo Base’s video below:
I don’t see anything confirming Knee Payne’s Lucasfilm employment, but the fact that all his videos are suddenly gone makes me think he got a phone call or two from people who don’t know how lightsabers work (or their lawyers), and that inclines me to believe him. (It’s also possible he had more information on his channel, which is now effectively dead, or at least in hibernation.) And it’s easy to believe what he says about the atmosphere at Lucasfilm, where you’re ostracized if you critique anything they and Disney are doing with Star Wars. It’s got to be disheartening to a guy who always dreamed of working for Lucasfilm and finally fulfilled that dream; thankfully, he got to be there before the Disney acquisition, so he had some good experiences. It’s funny how he says almost all of the merchandise he sold was to Lucasfilm employees; that makes sense, since they appear to be making these shows and movies for themselves and zero other people. And that line about how he believes Star Wars is going to get worse than The Acolyte is ominous – not so much because Star Wars could ever get better but because it makes you wonder where they go from here. On that score, I have the same attitude as he does; I’m not watching The Acolyte or anything else because, at this point, it doesn’t matter anymore. But it’s fascinating to peek in from the sidelines and see how low they can go, like the world’s most depressing game of limbo. I hope Knee Payne isn’t in too much trouble over this, and if he is, I hope he pulls through and gets some happy times ahead of his stint at Disney’s version of Lucasfilm.
A big thank you to Echo Base Network for reporting on this and shouting out Geeks + Gamers!
