Portrait of a Survivor Part 1

"These people are never going to have sharp claws and pointed teeth. They're going to look like your good friend. And they're mostly going to act like your good friend. And then every once in a while..."

In this episode of the Hollywood Confessional, two confessors from opposite ends of the Hollywood hierarchy share their stories of working with the same toxic man. Over the course of several years and multiple TV shows, they recall how the man they once admired as a leader revealed the monster within.

"You could see the rage radiating off him. He was a completely different person in that moment."

Our mission on this podcast has always been to make Hollywood a happier place by giving industry professionals a place to share their deepest, darkest secrets. And all too often, those secrets exist because abusers are in positions of power. 

In this two-part oral history, we explore how one particular abuser got into that position through lies, manipulation, and superficial charm. And through the voice of one of his victims, we hear how his abuse was reinforced by the system.

"He called the exec. And then he told me that what he said was, 'You're a nobody. He's not going to ask the showrunner to leave.'"

In part two, we'll see how even exposing an abuser in the media doesn't always fix the problem, and what one victim did after quitting the job to rebuild her life. We also pay homage to her and all the others who have gone through similar situations in the struggle to achieve their dreams.

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Check out some of our favorite shows:

• Screenwriters' Rant Room
• Screaming into the Hollywood Abyss
• It Happened in Hollywood
• The Secret History of Hollywood

Hollywood Confessional is a Ninth Way Media production, produced by Meagan Daine and J.R. Zamora-Thal.

Sound Effects and Music provided by Zapsplat and Pixabay.

Keywords: filmmaking podcast, film podcast, screenwriting podcast, entertainment podcast, Hollywood, filmmaking, writerslife, actorslife, setlife