Civilizing Hollywood

The entrenched hierarchy is beginning to crumble — is the industry ready for a radical makeover?

The same flippant look and smile emerge from the women sitting across the table from me — senior level executives in Hollywood talking about “social responsibility,” but with zero followup. I’m accustomed to the caricature of this in film and TV — eery wide-eyed smiles — but to actually witness it up close for the first time is confusing. Some amount of warmth is palpable, but it’s not the whole picture? “I don’t know how anyone lives like this,” I think to myself, aghast at the taunting insincerity.

As a young journalist I often found myself interviewing stars and talking to film executives about potential jobs; I so wanted to get to know the industry, as an arts lover since childhood. But there was this feeling I had whenever I was in LA…a vague amorphous unsettled uncertainty in the air. I knew the stereotypes, but I thought surely there was a space carved out within the junk to preserve what was real about art and depth and beauty…right?

The news out this week about destructive producer Scott Rudin and the resulting…