The Casting Couch Persists

The casting couch trope—sleep with the producer and get a role—goes back to the start of the film industry in the 1910s, and while one might think that Hollywood has put that well behind it, especially given the Harvey Weinstein accusations, conviction and incarceration of 2017—that is evidently not the case.

Yes, it seems that sexual harassment in Hollywood is still a pervasive problem.

So indicates a survey released by the Hollywood Commission, an organization dedicated to eliminating sexual harassment and bias in the film industry.

The survey contains good news-bad news results.

The good news is that the members of the film industry who participated in the survey—5,259 workers—are more aware of workplace standards, reporting options and resources than they were in 2019, when the Hollywood Commission conducted its first survey.

For example, levels of awareness of various situations and actions are:

• Unacceptable behaviors in the workplace
  • 2020: 77 percent were aware
  • 2023: 82 percent are now
• How to share concerns
  • 2020: 68 percent knew
  • 2023: 74 percent know
• The process that takes place if I share concerns
  • 2020: 58 percent understood
  • 2023: 65 percent understand
• What retaliation is and what can be done if I observe or experience retaliation
  • 2020: 59 percent got it
  • 2023: 69 percent get it

Anita Hill, president and chair of the Hollywood Commission, and a woman who knows first-hand about sexual harassment in the workplace, said, “The dramatic upswing in awareness of the types of behavior that do not belong in the workplace is a key step forward. Shifts in attitudes and values of workers and leadership pave the way for institutional and systemic changes that will ultimately lead to eliminating workplace misconduct.”

Arguably Ms. Hill is a bit optimistic. After all, the five percent rise in the number of people aware of what unacceptable behaviors isn’t that great, and it should be closer to 100 percent than 80 percent.

And the biggest gain is in the category related to what people can do in retaliation to abuses—which almost presumes that there will be retaliation, which is far from optimal in any workplace scenario.

Here’s the bad news portion of the survey results.

It posed the question:

“What degree of progress has been made in the entertainment industry since the start of the #MeToo movement (2017) in confronting the abuse of power differences?”

The answer number of people reporting that there have been positive moves is really pathetic: 56 percent. That’s just a four percent improvement over the 2020 results. At that rate it would take until 2048 for there to be 95 percent.

So it seems that abuse of power—whether it be sexual harassment or bullying–is something that is still endemic in Hollywood.

Which leads to the most disturbing finding of the 2023 survey.

The question:

“Someone in a position of significant authority or status – such as a high-profile producer, writer, actor, or musician – is observed harassing someone with less authority or status, such as an assistant. How likely is it that this person would be held accountable?”

Remember: this behavior, harassment, has been under a social media microscope since 2017 and there have been any number of people of “significant authority or status” proclaiming that this will not stand.

The percentage of women who think that Hollywood will hold “high-profile harassers”  accountable for their bad behavior:

27 percent

The percentage of men:

38 percent

While that 11 percent delta between women and men might seem to be telling of different perceptions of what the results are—and let’s face it, neither percentage is a good one—it is somewhat shocking to know that in the 2019 survey 45 percent of the men answered in the positive. Yes, it is seven-percent decline: males perceive, evidently, that the system protects the powerful. (The change in the number for women was up one percent.)

Still, what this says is that 71 percent think that Hollywood will not hold a powerful person accountable.

A quote in the survey from an anonymous person provides an explanation for why those in power apparently get a pass: “As a supervisor, I was told of a list of harassment claims against someone else in the workplace. I followed policy and reported these incidents to my supervisor and corporate HR department. The harassing stopped, but the harasser was not let go. I felt like the whole process is a sham and a way for the large studios to absolve themselves of real accountability. They didn’t want to fall behind in their schedule and lose money. (It’s always about money.)”

That the anonymous person actually reported harassment is impressive in itself: in 2020 33 percent of the respondents didn’t think that a studio would do anything with a filed report. That number is now up to 41 percent. Again, going in the wrong direction.

Anita Hill: “Our focus is to root out the harmful conduct that workers reported in our survey by bridging gaps in existing industry systems that leave industry workplaces vulnerable to abusive and discriminatory behaviors.”

She and her colleagues have a lot of work to do.