Show business operates on perception. Gossip and tittle-
tattle is part of its ecosystem. To be branded with a loaded
moniker such as “difficult” can be an effective silencing
method. And if we’ve learned one thing from Hollywood
movies, it’s that money and power are intrinsically linked.
If you take away someone’s source of income by unfairly
tarnishing their name, they won’t be able to put up much
of a legal fight. Stringent non-disclosure agreements have
been employed to prevent women from sharing their
stories, whereas lies that inflict damage and hiring potential
are harder to disprove.
The New York Times and The New Yorker broke details
of the Weinstein story seal in October 2017, and since
then more than 80 claims of sexual misconduct have
been levelled at the mogul (who, at time of writing, has
been convincted of two charges and awaits sentencing
from prison). For years, journalists at several publications
(including The Hollywood Reporter, New York Magazine
and The New Yorker) had been trying to break this
story wide open, but nothing would stick. The mega
producer was the ultimate untouchable figure, protected
by power, fear and non-discousure agreements – a
veritable ‘white whale’, which is why Jodi Kantor, Megan
Twohey and Ronan Farrow’s Pulitzer Prize-winning
investigative reporting sent shockwaves throughout
the industry and altered the fabric of Hollywood.
Not only did they secure multiple sources willing to
go on the record about Weinstein, they opened the
floodgates regarding other claims of misconduct by
men in positions of power. In the weeks and months that
followed, other reporters and publications broke stories
about abusive figures in the entertainment industry.
A reckoning had come to Tinseltown.
In the aftermath, director Brett Ratner’s multimillion-
dollar director deal was not renewed by Warner Bros
after accusations of sexual harassment came to light,
and Pixar co-founder John Lasseter stepped down from
his chief creative officer position in 2018 after reports of
inappropriate behaviour. Television wasn’t immune to the
wave: the chairman and CEO of CBS Corporation, Leslie
Moonves, stepped down amid multiple allegations of
sexual harassment. In each corner of the industry, powerful
figures who had gone unchecked for years were now being
held accountable. Those accused were more often than not
in a position to threaten their victims’ careers, leaving many
victims isolated and with silence their only viable option.
The sheer volume of people who came forward after the
initial articles were published revealed this was far from the
case. The Time’s Up and MeToo campaigns have shown
that there is strength in numbers. But, the fight for justice
is an ongoing process, and stories of misconduct continue
to break more than two years after the initial flurry.
The accounts of the women who have come out against
Weinstein share not only similarities in the methods of
harassment, but also the systematic manner in which
their work ethic was attacked in the aftermath. Rosanna
Arquette, Ashley Judd, Mira Sorvino, Annabella Sciorra,
Rose McGowan, and Daryl Hannah all experienced the ebbs
and flows of any professional artistic career, but each can
pinpoint the moment of a drastic downturn in offers as a
form of perceived retribution from the producer.
“The idea that there was this malevolent hand that
actually had changed the course of my professional023