Casting couch in Hollywood: Myth or dark reality

For a long time, Hollywood’s “casting couch” was nothing more than a rumor, overt sleaze wrapped in sugary lies, and just as long, it was a rumor that was made a reality. A dark, ugly reality. It was a dark ugly reality that helped shape Hollywood’s darkest, most shameful chapters. A reality that is now slowly coming to light.

Whispers become headlines

In 2017, these rumors became more than rumors, and more than whispers, as the tightly sealed Hollywood vault of shame finally opened, allowing a glimpse of the ugly underbelly of the Hollywood sleaze machine that had been skirting the law by overtly using sexual harassment to exchange “movie roles” for sexual favors.

The machine was headed by the now infamous Harvey Weinstein. The fallout of exposing Weinstein was the unleashing of the #MeToo movement, spearheaded by the so-called “victims of Weinstein” that included A-listers, and for a time, Hollywood’s coercive sleaze machine lay exposed and vulnerable.

Stars who spoke out

Reflecting the still dark and sleazy underbelly of Hollywood, Susan Sarandon was among the first to shame the blame the shame revealing that in the early stages of her stellar career she was a victim of sexual harassment when a producer “practically threw [her] on a desk.” revealing a still dark and sleazy underbelly of Hollywood.

Legendary actress Joan Collins commented that she lost the lead role of Cleopatra after she refused the advances of a studio executive who told her to “be nice.”

These accounts dont standalone. They tell a coherent tale of exploitation flourishing in an industry fostered on secrecy and power differentials.

Rewriting the narrative

While it isn’t the case that the problem has gone away, it is the case that Hollywood is starting to rewrite its story.

There are stricter studio harassment policies, the presence of intimacy coordinators on sets has become standard, and those victimized are speaking up legally and socially.

While the casting couch may have once been Hollywood’s “open secret,” that secret is out, and the focus is on consent.