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Tell me it ain’t so!

November 10, 2017   ·   0 Comments

They’re dropping like dominoes during an earthquake in Hollywood these days.

Producers, directors and now actors are all being publicly shamed and unceremoniously booted off TV shows and out of industry associations after an initial complaint about now disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein and his less than professional conduct with some starlets set off a series of accusations about several people – and most likely there’s more to come.

So why did this take so long and why is everyone apparently shocked to learn that someone with power in Hollywood tried to take advantage of someone in an industry that is and always has been based on cheap and sleazy behaviour?

It’s no secret that the movie industry has been flakey right from the beginning when they figured out you could make a lot of money by filming a play at 24 frames-per-second.

Money and fame – it all goes together in Tinsel Town. For those who try their luck at a career in the movies, just breaking into the industry is a real struggle.

There are plenty of hard-working actors who have made a living at it and just consider it their job.

Usually they have a background in theatre and take on character roles and they are good at it. A quick check through actors’ biographies reveals a lot of lesser known actors that have a career spanning decades in movies and television. They are the ones who take the job seriously and transition through roles as they get older.

Then there are the others who arrive in Hollywood thinking they can be a movie star based solely on their looks.

Who needs contacts, dramatic training, or actual talent if you’re just so good looking that everyone in your home town in Wisconsin knows you because you were on the cheer-leading team and the homecoming queen in high school?

Unfortunately, when they arrive in Hollywood they soon learn there are a million others who have also arrived and are just as untalented but also just as good looking. Suddenly a diamond in the rough becomes a pretty stone on a pile of other pretty stones.

Unfortunately, some people will take advantage of their position in the industry and make promises to younger actors – of course that comes with a price.

But why is the Hollywood establishment pretending to react with such disgust that his has happened?

It’s been going on for decades and everyone knew about it – but no one did anything about it.

Did they think the term ‘casting couch’ referred to an incident in an upholstery shop somewhere?

There are plenty of young starlets who have traded sexual favours with industry brass just so they can get a small part in a movie but that doesn’t mean they will rocket to fame as the next ‘It Girl.’

Clara Bow may have had ‘It’, but that was also a one-in-a-million shot that just happened to work out.

The difference between the ‘casting couch’ and unwanted advances or harassment in the workplace is just that – it’s unwanted.

Whether they were embarrassed or just worried about damaging their career, keeping quiet was the way to go – until now.

The list of Hollywood people accused of inappropriate behaviour is growing every day and there are probably a whole lot of others who are feeling very nervous.

Then, of course, there are a lot more who just don’t care because they were a part of the scene where this type of behaviour is normal and everyone knows it.

In an industry where a good scandal can send your career to a new level of success, getting caught up in some kind of outrageous public debacle or being photographed with your best friend’s husband in a drunken escapade on a yacht might actually get you that next starring role. After all, it is said that there’s no such thing as bad publicity.

While the fake apologies start to make headlines and the Hollywood establishment feign outrage at something they know has been going on all along, what will happen next?

If someone squeals about drug use in Hollywood and it results in someone being outed, fired, and shamed for snorting cocaine on a coffee table through a rolled up $20 bill at a party, then Hollywood would become a ghost town overnight as the entire city would be suddenly be out of work.  That’s Tinsel Town for ya.


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