Cinema Arts Centre's Dylan Skolnick addresses 'serious misconduct' charges

Dylan Skolnick, the fired former co-director of Huntington’s Cinema Arts Centre, addressed allegations of "serious misconduct" leveled against him by the cinema’s board in an exclusive interview with Newsday on Monday.

Skolnick also provided Newsday with what he said was a demand letter he received from board members that listed their allegations that led to his dismissal.

The 15-page letter said Skolnick was "a faithless servant" who had been running an independent side business booking films for other movie theaters. According to the letter, Skolnick was in "operation of a competing booking business during his tenure" at the cinema and did work for the other entity during cinema hours. The letter further accused Skolnick of using "the Company’s time, equipment, and systems, including a Company telephone, Company internet, and a Company email account, to build and operate the competing business."

Skolnick said he has been booking films for other theaters while working at the cinema but said the hours spent on it were minimal and pointed to a long work week — typically more than 50 hours, he estimated  — that left him little spare time.

“Being co-director of the Cinema Arts Centre is an all-the-time job,” SkoInick said, noting he regularly worked nights and weekends. “If the burglar alarm goes off at two in the morning, I would be the one to get the call.”

The letter included a list of demands, including: "That Mr. Skolnick account for and pay over to Cinema Arts Centre all profits he earned through the booking business to the extent those profits were derived from misuse of" the cinema's name or resources.

"I can’t imagine any world where this is ‘serious misconduct,’" Skolnick told Newsday, adding the board’s refusal to explain his firing has led to unfounded rumors. "People have been filling the vacuum of silence with speculation that I sexually assaulted someone or I sexually harassed someone or I’ve stolen money. The things in here are so mild as to be ridiculous, and certainly not ‘serious misconduct’ or a fireable offense."

Skolnick, 58, has been a fixture at the Cinema Arts Centre for nearly his entire life. His parents, Vic Skolnick and Charlotte Sky, founded the cinema as a makeshift theater in a friend’s dance studio in 1973, then built it into the one of the nation’s longest-running and most respected not-for-profit art-house theaters. When Vic Skolnick died in 2010, his son stepped in to help run the cinema alongside Sky, who has since left her position of co-director.

Skolnick’s firing on Sept. 1 sent shock waves through Long Island’s arts community and beyond, and supporters quickly rallied to Skolnick’s defense. Programmers who have long worked with the cinema vowed publicly not to return until Skolnick was reinstated. A number of members called the theater to demand refunds, the cinema confirmed last week. And distributor Magnolia Pictures last Friday pulled its new film "Late Fame," starring Willem Dafoe, from the Cinema Arts Centre in support of Skolnick.

The Cinema Arts Centre did not respond to requests for comment on this story. On Sept. 2, Michael Kornfeld, a board member and the interim co-director of the cinema, told Newsday he was "legally precluded from making any more comment."

Two days later, the theater issued an email to its members stating "Out of respect for privacy, and in accordance with our legal and ethical obligations regarding personnel matters, we cannot publicly discuss the specific details of any individual's departure."

Skolnick said he had been operating the side business because he needed it to supplement his salary at the cinema, which is roughly $75,000. He also countered that when he began booking films on the side roughly 10 years ago, he asked permission from the board, which voted yes. The board members have since changed, he said.

"I don’t think the current board knew about it," Skolnick said, but he added, "Everybody in the office staff knew about it."

His independent bookings are not competitive with the cinema and include only a handful of theaters outside Long Island, Skolnick said. "The Cinema Arts Centre is not in competition with the Circle Cinema in Tulsa, Oklahoma," Skolnick said, citing an example. He added that the nearest theater he worked with was the North Shore Towers Cinema, in Queens.

"People do that all the time," Neal Block, head of distribution and marketing at Magnolia, said of Skolnick’s side bookings. "It’s totally above board."

Skolnick admitted he used the cinema’s email for his side bookings but said it’s essentially the only email he has ever used. "I use it for writing to my girlfriend, I use it for restaurant reservations, I use it for everything," he said. "That was probably a mistake, but it didn’t cost the  cinema a penny."

Skolnick said he intends legal action and intends to put pressure on the Cinema’s board.

"We’ll be pushing back, trying to put pressure on the theater," Skolnick said. "The board of directors has to resign. I have to be reinstated. Those are the goals."

By Rafer Guzmán

rafer.guzman@newsday.com