THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 9 FEBRUA RY 26, 2020
Behind the HeadlinesThe Report
his own studio or its parent
company. The producer was
known to blacklist actresses who
turned him down or confronted
his abuse. For Weinstein accuser
Sarah Ann Masse, career retali-
ation is the most insidious and
largely ignored impact of sexual
assault, reverberations of which
continue even with the former
mogul behind bars. “It is essen-
tial that those with power in our
industry stop supporting this
idea that silence breakers are
‘troublemakers’ or ‘unhireable,’ ”
she says. “We told the truth about
being abused by an extremely
powerful man, and instead of
being lifted up, we were pushed
out, refused auditions or work,
and treated like pariahs.”
Several Weinstein accusers say
they hope that the verdict alters
perceptions about consent and
what is criminal — a distinction
that has been muddled by a long
history of top studio executives
seeing young actresses as chattel
and perks of the job. “Women in
the entertainment business have
been going through this since the
beginning of time,” says accuser
Caitlin Dulany. “There was some-
thing about this trial and the way
that the women were treated — it
goes back to the showgirls look-
ing for a job and the big producer
who manipulates her into having
sex with him, but, ‘She con-
sented.’ I hate that stereotype.”
But the fact that a dozen New
Yorkers found Weinstein guilty
on two of the five counts he faced
may go a long way to shift-
ing the Hollywood landscape.
Says Weinstein accuser Louise
Godbold: “What’s so beautiful is
that as Harvey’s star is declining
and he’s finding himself in a cell
in Rikers [Island] tonight, ours
are ascending in terms of what we
have achieved coming from not
just putting Harvey in jail but how
we’ve come together.”
Tara Bitran contributed to
this report.
Does Hollywood have the will to create mechanisms to deal with less extreme cases?
Or was the downfall of a notorious mogul just an anomaly?
BY KIM MASTERSWhat Happens After Weinstein Is What Matters
A
few hours after a jury declared Harvey Weinstein
guilty of rape and a felony sex crime, a veteran
(male) producer called me and said in a muted voice:
“It’s a historic day.” The tone was hushed not because
he didn’t believe that Weinstein deserved prison. But
as someone who had lived through Weinstein’s glory
years, through the Miramax Oscar dominance and the
Cannes yacht parties and his seeming invincibility,
Harvey’s fall still had the power to stun.
It was a historic day; but it’s far from clear what its
impact will be in Hollywood and beyond. The circum-
stances of the Weinstein case were unique — his
conduct so pervasive and egregious — that a less
aggressive abuser might easily look at it without
seeing a cautionary tale for himself (or, sometimes,
herself). The facts of the case — with complicated
accounts from the two complaining witnesses — were
such that many prosecutors thought the attempt to
bring him to justice was ill-advised. Did the jury’s will-
ingness to convict on two of the five charges represent
a crucial change in how rape is perceived or simply a
reaction to infamy?
While the Weinstein case was a victory for the
prosecution and victims, it’s not clear that it can
be replicated. And that’s without even considering
whether it has implications for the routine abuse and
discrimination that have long been tolerated in the
entertainment industry. Hollywood still entirely lacks
effective mechanisms to deal with that kind of mis-
conduct. As in the Weinstein case, the media has often
become the remedy of last resort for victims of other
alleged industry predators and abusers.
I keep thinking of Sarah Scott, the actress who
hoped her union, SAG-AFTRA, would help her after she
alleged misconduct by actor Kip Pardue in May 2018
— months after the #MeToo movement caught fire.
While shooting a TV pilot, she said he had forced her
to touch his penis during a sex scene and later mas-
turbated in front of her in a dressing room. The pilot
wasn’t picked up; there was no permanent production
entity to which she could turn. She went to the police
and was rebuffed. After the union slowly and clumsily
pulled together a proceeding in which another alleged
victim came forward with an account of abuse on a
different show, SAG-AFTRA censured Pardue, and he
was punished — with a $6,000 fine and a requirement
to take an online class. That’ll teach him. Scott told her
story to the Los Angeles Times, hoping for better in
the future. And once again, the media stepped in where
the industry failed.
The Weinstein verdict also leaves me wondering
whether he was finally brought down in part because
his glory days were over. In 2015, when it became
news that Ambra Battilana Gutierrez had gone to thepolice alleging that Harvey had groped her, there were
rumors that the nervous Weinstein Co. board — then
hoping to be rescued by a $950 million deal with British
television company ITV — thought about jettisoning
him if the scandal were to become an issue that could
derail the deal. ITV walked away, possibly because of
the misconduct allegations but also because the price
was ridiculous. Harvey was safe — for a while. (Note
that District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., who eagerly
took a victory lap after the verdict, was the one who
gave Weinstein a pass in the Gutierrez case.)
But times really were changing. Just the year before
Gutierrez reported Harvey, Weinstein Co. staffer
Lauren O’Connor had written a memo to
her bosses describing his sexual harass-
ment and misconduct. A document like
that is of incalculable value to a reporter
trying to break a difficult story; it enables
the journalist to tell sources confidently
that the story is solid and likely to be published. In
this case, the memo ended up in the hands of The
New York Times. As reporters Megan Twohey and
Jodi Kantor revealed in their book, She Said, it was
provided by a decades-long Weinstein employee,
accountant Irving Reiter. Would Reiter have come
forward had Harvey still been at the peak of his pow-
ers? Make your best guess. The looming question for
Hollywood now is whether the industry has the will to
create mechanisms to deal with less extreme cases —
and to deal with the sometimes subtle misogyny that
keeps women, and people of color, from being fairly
represented. Because ultimately, that fairer represen-
tation is the only real remedy for a culture in which a
man like Weinstein can thrive.1 Lead prosecutor
Joan Illuzzi-Orbon.
2 Weinstein lawyers
with his walker.
3 Defense attorney
Donna Rotunno.Annabella Sciorra left the courtroom in Manhattan Criminal Court
on Jan. 23 after a day of emotional testimony.Gutierrez3