Yahoo Lifestyle 15 Secret, Messed-Up Hollywood Encounters That People Who Work In The Entertainment Industry Actually Witnessed
Recently Reddit user, u/ramjikatidda asked "People who work in Hollywood, what's the most messed-up thing you've witnessed in the business?"
Some submissions also come from this Reddit thread.
Their answers ranged from shocking to upsetting. Here's what they shared:
Disclaimer: Obviously we can’t 100% confirm all of these stories, but these people are supposedly speaking from their own experiences as alleged employees in the entertainment industry.
1."I worked on a show where the lead would deliberately eat huge amounts of raw garlic, onions, and canned tuna before kissing scenes as a messed-up power play over the actor he was partnered with for the scene."
2."I lived in LA in the '90s. I worked on the fringes of the industry, but my company printed a lot of movie posters, so I saw a lot of folks when delivering proofs and such at different lots and offices. But where I ran into stuff was when I had a second part-time job at a popular clothing store, and the majority of the kids who worked there were struggling actors, writers, and creatives. There were a lot of TV shows outfitted by this clothing store, and people's party lives crossed over. The number of times I would be at house parties with a mountain of cocaine on a coffee table was mind-boggling, and it was usually 'a gif' given to one of those kids by someone in the industry (according to them)."
3."I was 20 or 21 and about to board a plane to film a low-budget shoot in Romania. As I was getting into the van to the airport, a producer came up to me with a blank envelope. He told me, 'Hey, I need you to give this to the producer when you get there.' I asked, 'What is it?' He said, '$25,000 in cash. Don't declare it at customs.' I was a kid, so I did it."
4."The most messed-up thing is watching a 22-year-old production assistant climb into a big white box truck at the end of a 14-hour shoot at 1 a.m. and driving back from the boonies after crushing a few beers and a doing couple of bumps. I've heard of some bad accidents involving sleep-deprived grunts trying to break in."
5."A very well-known pop star's uncle was offering information on said pop star for cash. Everything from baby pictures and videos to her whereabouts—you name it, it all had a price. This happens more than you realize."
6."Production assistant here. I had to sign so many NDAs about celebrities doing hard drugs between takes. The worst was watching them pressure young actresses into joining them. Some of these girls were barely 18."
7."I worked on a movie set many years ago. Part of my job was to make sure the (very well-known) female star didn't steal wardrobe. Apparently, she would demand certain brands of clothing and shoes for costume fittings and then sneak them out of her trailer. About an hour after the fitting, I was getting ready to leave, and as I walked to my car, I saw her and her assistant come out of the trailer with 10 boxes of shoes. TEN! We're talking Gucci, Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo, Louboutin—easily $20,000 worth of shoes that she just decided to take home. Before I could say anything, she told me the director said it was okay. I knew that was a lie, but what could I do?"
8."I worked on a commercial shoot with bodybuilders. The producer asked the client on set if they wanted to oil up the bodybuilders. They gladly took up the offer and spent 30 minutes oiling up the bodybuilders, who had no choice but to take it, even though I could tell they weren't comfortable. At the time, everyone was laughing and joking around, including the bodybuilders, but looking back, it was pretty messed up to put them in that situation."
9."I was a volunteer at TIFF, and an actress had overdosed in the bathroom. She was supposed to do a Q&A after the movie. Someone involved with the movie managed to get her functional enough to get through the Q&A before calling an ambulance."
10."I used to seat audiences for a late show with a live audience. I would have to seat people by attractiveness: attractive people in the front, closer to the cameras, and less attractive people in the back where they can't be seen."
11."I am a talent rep. It isn’t rare for us to occasionally get calls from clients on set about being asked to do things that weren’t originally included in the script but changed once the client got to set. Most of the time, it is either a stunt they are asking the client to do themselves instead of using the stunt performer or they are asking a female client to do nudity that wasn’t agreed to prior to shooting. Both are easy fixes. Normally, it is just calling the producer and telling them the client isn’t doing it, and they say okay, and the client finishes the shoot as planned. Every now and then, like under five times in 20 years, a client will call saying the production is asking them to do something wild. The most memorable time a client ever called me was when he was on set and they wanted him to manually bring an elephant to climax."
"That one took multiple days to resolve because it was shooting remotely in one of the flyover states, so I couldn’t show up. The client was adamant about not touching an elephant's genitalia, the production was adamant it was necessary, and I have no clue what the animal rights people who were supposed to be monitoring this were doing. The client stayed in his hotel room until it was worked out, which ultimately meant him not actually jerking off an elephant."
12."I worked as an electrician on a reality show involving children. The kids figured out that the cameras couldn't follow them into the women's bathroom. When they got sick of the producers' bullcrap, they would occasionally go into the women's bathroom to take a break. The producers asked them to stop because they didn't want the kids discussing 'story' in there. The kids kept doing it because when you follow 10-year-olds around for 12-16 hours a day, they get sick of it (if you watch reality TV involving children, you are watching child labor law violations regularly). One of the producers brought me and another electrician into the women's bathroom while it was empty. With the way the room was set up, if you looked straight when you entered, you didn't see the stalls, or the mirrors. That wall ran the length of the stalls. He asked us to hang some lights and focus them away from the stalls."
"His plan was to ask the camera people to start following the kids into the bathroom and have the kids be against the wall. That way the cameras would never see the stalls, only a wall, so no one would know it was a restroom, and he could shoot in there. We told him no. He tried to get us fired."
13."One time I had an audition, and I had a zit on the side of my nose. The casting director just said, 'Come back when you get a bar of soap.'"
14."If you're on a show that travels, there are lots of instances of actors hooking up with the locals."
15.And finally, "I worked for an indie film company at the end of the dot-com boom. We were expanding rapidly, far beyond our means. The bosses had rented a huge multi-floor office space with tons of desks and computers, but very few employees—because there was very little work coming in the door. One day, some VC investors were coming to check us out. The bosses had us run around and put fake work on all the computer screens, used coffee cups, and jackets and sweaters on empty chairs."
Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
Have you worked in the entertainment industry? What's the most messed-up thing you witnessed? Tell us in the comments or use this Google Form if you want to be anonymous).
