25 Confessions From Hollywood Insiders You’ll Probably Never Forget

Hollywood is known as a world of glamour, talent, and creativity. But beneath the surface, it can also be a realm of intense competition, power plays, and darker truths. A Reddit thread recently posed the question: “[Serious] People who work in Hollywood, what's the most f*ed up thing you've witnessed in the business?”** The responses were chilling, highlighting the hidden realities behind the entertainment industry. Here are some of the most shocking stories shared by insiders. These stories paint a sobering picture of the darker side of Hollywood, far removed from the glimmering red carpets and award shows.

#1

Image source: Marinaisgo, Curated Lifestyle/unsplash Worked for a major union, and while I don't have any specific stories, I can say that I am so glad to be out of that business. The worst thing you can be in Hollywood is an actor. They're a dime a dozen and people will do the worst s**t to you as a matter of course. Thinness and appearance are all that matter. I regularly saw women who seemed like they might just pass out in front of us and no one batted an eye. Even "down to earth" industry people obsess over their weight, their skin, even the "visual age" of their hands. And it spreads. Even people who aren't on camera or even involved in the industry have these weird plastic appearances. A very nice older actress used to come by all the time, and she'd had so much work done. She moved like an ASIMO unit and couldn't open the door because the dermatologist injected so much saline into her fingers to give them a youthful plump that it was difficult for her to grip things. The sets are unsafe. People get hurt a lot and there are constant OSHA and turn-around violations, but nobody changes anything because the crew won't report it. The whole thing just stinks of desperation. All the players are either desperate to be stars, desperate to stay relevant, or desperate to be near their idols. Sociopaths thrive in this environment and people are treated like trash all over for nothing. And if you say anything, you're just weak, and you should toughen up.

#2

Image source: notthesharpestbulb, Chris Murray/unsplash I once worked for a month as a PA on an independent film. 12 - 18 hour days with as little as 4 hours of sleep some times. And I didn't get paid.

#3

Image source: whatshenanigans, Antenna/unsplash I used to seat audience for a late show with a live audience. I would have to seat people by attractiveness. That is, attractive people to the front closer to the cameras, and less attractive in the back where they can't be seen. This is done in all shows with an audience.

#4

Image source: iheartsnuggles, Tim Mossholder/unsplash A very well-known pop star's uncle 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.

#5

Image source: Thighpaulsandra, Warner Bros. Remember that movie "My Sister's Keeper" with Cameron Diaz and Jason Patric? They are a married couple and they have a daughter who is sick with some disease. They also have another daughter for the sole purpose of being a donor to the first, sick daughter. Anyhoo, there are a lot of scenes in a children's hospital. So there were extras playing sick kids in those scenes. But production didn't think those kids looked sick enough. So they told casting to find some kids who REALLY had cancer and were dying. They did find some sick kids and they were used in the movie. Some of them managed to live long enough to see the movie...

#6

Image source: anon, Samuel Regan-Asante/unsplash Worked as an electrician on a reality show involving children. The kids figured out that the cameras couldn't follow them into the lady's rooms. When they got sick of the producers b******t, they would occasionally go into the lady's rooms to take a break. The producers asked them to stop because they didn't want them discussing "story" in there. The kids kept doing it, because when you follow 10 year olds around for 12-16 hours a day (if you watch reality TV involving children, you are watching child labor law violations regularly), they get sick of it. One of the producers brought me and another electrician into the lady's room 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 ops to start following the kids into the lady's room, and angle themselves the kids would 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 to go f**k himself. He tried to get us fired. He failed. I have never met someone I hate more than that f*****g pile of s**t producer. tl;dr: Producer wanted me to set up lights in a restroom so he could film 8-14 year old girls while they were in there.

#7

Image source: karken1992, Getty Images/unsplash Not in Hollywood but work at a printing company. Printed pieces for large DVD displays. One of the displays was printed and ready to ship. $100,000s+ worth of stuff ready to go. Was all thrown in the trash because the sister of a huge star (was his manager) didn't like the way his hand looked.

#8

Image source: ghostprawn, Annie Spratt/unsplash 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 down to check us out. The bosses had us run around and put fake work on all of the computer screens. And used coffee cups. And jackets and sweaters on empty chairs. All to appear as if we were a huge bustling office, and they had just happened to come by when the entire staff was out to lunch. It was like that scene in The Sting, or a similar scene in The Grifters, where some con men fake a bustling office. The deception was shameless and probably illegal and we all felt horrible for having been forced to participate.

#9

Image source: Molotovit, Mina Rad/unsplash Having a producer call me specifically because he had many glowing recommendations for me and sang my praises. Then asked my daily rate for a feature. Then after a big sigh from him and an awkward silence he asked if I could work for 10 days for 25 dollars a day. After another longer awkward silence from me waiting to see if it was a joke I asked him if he was serious. He said yes. I said I wouldn't work for that little because it's the equivalent of 2 bucks an hour for highly skilled labor. He told me I didn't know what I was missing and that he would give out terrible recommendations to others about me because I turned him down. But on a more serious note, there's been some horrendous deaths on set and after wrap due to lack of safety and improper training, cutting corners, or sneaking things. Sarah Jones was the most recent large example, but there's been too many vehicle rollovers due to crew members falling asleep after ridiculous hours, someone being electrocuted on a condor lift when they hit electrical wires because they weren't trained nor legally allowed to be in the lift. Just crazy stuff. Oh, also had an actor lift his oversized shirt over his head in front of me and forget he didn't have any clothing on underneath. I understood why the ladies talked about him all the time after that.

#10

Image source: Ok_Percentage5157, Marie-Lan Nguyen/flickr 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 from when I had a second part-time job at Banana Republic, and the majority of the kids who worked there were all struggling actors, writers, etc. There were a lot of TV shows that were outfitted by BR, and people's party lives crossed over. The amount of times I would be at house parties in which there was a mountain of [illegal substances] on a coffee table was mind-boggling to me, and it was usually "a gift" that was given to one of those kids from someone in the industry (according to them). Side note: I once helped Alan Rickman with finding some pants, and he was incredibly nice. I rang him up, wrapped and bagged his stuff, and said "Here are your pants, Mr. Rickman." He chuckled at me, took his bag, turned around to the other people in line behind him and proclaimed: "Yes, THESE are Alan Rickman's trousers!" I still find it hilarious to this day.

#11

Image source: throway668876, Curated Lifestyle/unsplash That parents are willing, and actively trying, to pimp out their kids for roles on the next hit children's show. Roles for the kids, not the parents, just to be clear. EDIT: To clarify what I'm saying: That parents will offer their children up for sex for roles. They will even offer themselves up for sex for roles for their children. They want their children to become the next big thing. Am I saying that producers and such take advantage of situations like this? Only the Hollywood 1%. What is the Hollywood 1%? A term that is used to state that 1 out of every 100 people that work in Hollywood are f****d up enough to do stuff like this. The law will eventually catch up to most of them. But think, how long did it take for the Bill Cosby stuff to come out to where people believed? I would say 95% of the people who work in the industry will never be exposed to this kind of stuff, but it's there, and it's f****d.

#12

Image source: snTrowawa, Warner Bros. Used to be an on-set grunt on Supernatural. One of the 2 main actors was kind of a giant douchebag on set - I'm not a fan of Jared Padalecki. I've got a few stories of that guy treating the grunts like s**t, but here's one nugget that always makes me smile: On Jared Padalecki's IMDB it says "While filming season two, Jared Padalecki (Sam Winchester), broke his wrist after performing one of the stunts on the show." - The truth is they got into a bar fight the night before filming and Jared broke his wrist. That guy had a real chip on his shoulder and fancied himself some kind of fighter bro - The rumor is they started it and Jared ended up getting hurt. They had to write it into the show so if you're a fan - The reason Sam Winchester had a cast on in season 2 (Starting in episode 4) was because he got in a bar fight and lost. **Edit:** Did some more googling and other sources say he broke his wrist from over-training. What a tool.

#13

Image source: semantic_satiation, George Coletrain/unsplash Relatively tame, but gross, worked on a show where the lead would deliberately eat huge amounts of raw garlic, onions, and canned tuna before kissing scenes as a f***ed up power play over the actresses who he was partnered with for the scene.

#14

Image source: Theungry, Yener Ozturk/unsplash I worked on some film sets in the northeast when I was younger, but decided not to go into film for various reasons. The most f****d up thing I've been a part of was filming at an abandoned mental hospital that was vacated in the 80s, which meant it was full of asbestos and lead paint dust. There were two respirator masks on the whole set and the rest of the people were expected to make due with a particle mask. No one wanted to be high maintenance (or if they did, they just quit the shoot) so we all just stupidly accepted the risk and spent a month being exposed to asbestos and extreme lead dust. Edit- Yes it was Session 9.

#15

Image source: Peralton, Corey Taratuta/flickr I was 20 or 21 and about to board a plane to a 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. "Hey, I need you to give this to the producer, Vlad, when you get there." "What is it?" "$25,000 in cash. Don't declare it at customs." I was a kid, so I did it.

#16

Image source: Anticipointment, Getty Images/unsplash 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'm getting ready to leave and as I walk to my car I see 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 that the Director told her it was OK. I knew that was a lie but what could I do? Also had a commercial director who would cut deals with wardrobe stylists to buy him EXPENSIVE clothes and then change the invoices to make it look like it was wardrobe for the ad. I watched the guy carry bag after bag of Gucci shoes and even a Hugo Boss suit out to his Range Rover. Unfortunately for the director, the client noticed it too and he was billed for the merchandise. Pretty sure the ad agency also stopped hiring him after that. EDIT: Oh! There was also this casting session where a woman (recognizable character actor) aggressively propositioned the director. First, she changed clothes in front of the 6 people in the room instead of behind some screens. We're talking stripped down to nothing to put on something that she brought to look more business like for the role. It wasn't required but it was awesome. Then, in the middle of a line read she stopped and asked the director if he'd rather see her work in private. Awkward. The director stammered a bit trying to think of an elegant response and she got pissed, questioned his sexuality and stormed out. Somehow, she still got the job.

#17

I've share this story here before under a throwaway, but I guess I can share it under another throwaway again. Throwaways because although I don't mind it as much now, it is not something I would admit to in real life, honestly. You would be surprised how many people in the industry use reddit :) Anyways, a few years ago, I used to weigh about 340 lb. I am 6'4 (numbers slightly altered), so I guess I gave off what people in the film industry might call a "big guy persona" - you know, the guy who only exists to provide some form of backup or comedic relief. The roles involved exactly what you might think it would be - eating, eating, and more eating. Pretty much every single scene I was involved in, I was essentially supposed to be the butt of fat jokes. A slobbering mess of a man. When you're on set in that sort of situation, what you realize is that the difference between your life and a movie isn't too big, maybe other than the fact that people express their opinions out loud in a movie, and in real life, they might keep those opinions to themselves or talk behind your back. In all honestly, it was a struggle every day, because on screen, I would have this couldn't-care-less persona, but I felt the words and I knew the harsh reality. After going through this experience, I've realized that it is pretty much a fact that people will judge you on your appearance (maybe consciously or subconsciously, but they will judge you), even if well-meaning people have convinced you otherwise earlier in your life. Even if you're a great person on the inside, your apperance is you being presented to the world, and first impressions count. A lot. Any fame I had was not the result of my talent but rather my physique and how well I could handle being insulted. People weren't laughing with me - they were laughing at me. I was the source of the comedy. Hollywood (and I'd say the entire movie industry in general) is a very, very judgmental place where unless you conform to certain views or characteristics, you have no place or significance of existing in to people who are already there. Ultimately though, the same thing worked as a sort of motivating factor. I knew that I couldn't go long like this, so I had to change. Started working out, went on a very drastic diet, and was down to 200 lb by the end of the next year. The absolute best thing about the change? Finally feeling wanted. Feeling that people actually like being near you and want to work with you. Image source: bigguythrows

#18

Image source: LensFlare07, Andrew Petrischev/unsplash I might be a bit late for this but here goes. (I'm on mobile so there may be formatting issues) I work as a lighting technician, and I'm still in the low budget world, so I have to deal with a lot of c**p and I could go on for ages about the borderline abusive and illegal stuff I have to deal with on a regular basis but I'll just go with my best story. This is the incident that made me decide I was done with the worst of it. This is the story of the executive producer who got stabbed on set. So I got asked to come out on the reshoots of a ultra-low budget horror feature. It was a minimum wage/illegal rate, but I hadn't worked in a long time so I went out for it. The bad signs quickly started to pile up. The executive producer was also the director was also the lead actress, and in my few interactions with her she flaunted her position and was generally a b***h. The Key Grip had already basically checked out. "It was a s**tshow then and it's a s**tshow now." I went to my standard procedure in these situations and tried to just do my job and stay out of the way as much as I could. Then came day 2. We were going up for some stabbing scene, lots of fake blood and whatever. The house was very cramped so I was out at our equipment staging area on the back porch. They go up for a take. Then comes the screaming. Not acting screaming, real, loud screams. "OH MY GOD HE STABBED ME! HE F*****G STABBED ME OH MY GOD!!" At first I didn't think much of it. I thought it was just the actress being terrible, but, hey, she's running the show so she could do whatever she wanted. Then everyone around me started freaking out. This idiot girl had decided that she didn't want to use a fake prop knife for the scene. Apparently it "wasn't real enough" for her. This is something that is film safety 101. You ALWAYS use a prop weapon and you let anyone on set who wants inspect the prop. I had just assumed that they were using one and the dozen or so people on set knew better, including my direct superiors in my department. This was literally Darwin Award levels of stupidity. I didn't see the wound itself, but it wasn't life threatening. She was out of the hospital in a few hours, but she could have easily died, and it would have been completely because of her idiocy. TL;DR: Selfish idiot producer gets stabbed and it's 100% her fault.

#19

Image source: GETTODACHOPPAH, Ahmet Kurt/unsplash Generally people just trying to get you to work for free, through manipulation and intimidation, and acting like they're doing you a favor for it. There's a dangerous combination of idealism and predators in Hollywood, and its everywhere, at every level in the business. Thank God for unions.

#20

Image source: bourbonstringcheese, Valeriia Miller/unsplash Commercial shoot with bodybuilders. The producer asked the client on set if they wanted to be oil boys and lube up the bodybuilders. They gladly took up the offer and spent 30 minutes oiling up the bodybuilders, who had no choice but just 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.

#21

Image source: willnoonan, dtscha/reddit One time I had an audition and I had a zit on the side of my nose and the casting director just said "Come back when you get a bar of soap." Other than that, stage moms. EDIT : Just remembered another one. Filmed an episode of a show about a comedy sketch show that takes place at 30 Rockefeller Center. We were shooting outside on the street, and Alec Baldwin was screaming at tourists for taking photos and "ruining the show". We were filming outside at noon in one of the most touristy sections of the city. The word "Art" was mentioned in the diatribe. The eye contact among everyone said "Ewwwww."

#22

Since not a lot of people are naming names, I'll go ahead and do so. Adi Shankar. Sketchiest person I've met in this town. I know he's a hero on reddit, but he's the craziest person I've ever worked for. In my first few years in LA, I interned a lot, including at his company. I thought it was pretty cool to learn from the Producer of movies like The Grey and Dredd. But what I learned pretty early on is that “Producer” is a pretty flexible term in Hollywood. What his company does is gap financing. Let's say a movie is already packaged and ready to go, but they have 28 million of a 30 million dollar budget, they go to a company like Adi's. He gets a loan from the bank for $2m and slaps his name on as Executive Producer. No creativity, no involvement with the production. Perfectly fine business model. But the level of douchiness that came with this has been unmatched at any of my other jobs. He would parade around town acting like he was the sole creative force behind The Grey and Killing Them Softly. As a specific example, he likes to tell people that it was his idea to shoot Dredd in 3D. He would often call interns into his office just to show them videos of some “s**t he he f****d” the night before. I was often tasked with searching IMDB for rising actresses. He would then call them in for a general meeting where he would talk about how he was going to make them into a star, while usually not so successfully trying to trick them into sleeping with him. A year of interning there and all I learned were what d***s he liked, and how to get women to sleep with him. Not a minute of actual industry work happened at that office. Turns out the actual producers and directors of projects don't take to kindly to some guy parading around claiming responsibility for their movie. He was basically blacklisted from the industry, which is why he's making his bootleg youtube videos. His methods haven't changed at all. We all loved the Power Rangers short. What no one knows is that it was 100% paid for with the Director's own money. Over $100k. Adi didn't spend a dollar of his own money on this, or any of his other videos. He has the directors pay for them, do all the creative, then puts it up on his youtube page and essentially takes full credit for it. Interning for him was f****d up, cultish ego trip that has been unmatched at any of the places I've worked after, including large studios. Image source: IndsutryThrowaway11

#23

Image source: distiya, Nathan DeFiesta/unsplash I work as a Post Coordinator on a network TV show. There is one producer we have that doesn't really do much. He just got the title and passed the work on to everyone else. He only shows up to set whenever casting calls involve models or hot women (and he creeps on them HARD). I see it often because the casting office isn't far from the Post offices, and it annoys the p**s out of us cause we need his signature for a lot of stuff and it's impossible to get a hold of him sometimes. Anyways, one time a casting day happens and I remember a few of the women he was talking to. That night I had to take some paperwork to get signed to the producer's house at night. He has this house in a secluded part of the Hollywood Hills. I get up and ring the door, and lo and behold, he opens it and behind him are four women from that casting session. All in their underwear. [Illegal substance] on the table, and the producer is [high] out of his mind. He invites me in and I decline, but it eventually devolves into saying he won't sign until I come in. I sit away from everyone and keep super quiet as they do blow and drink, and decline all the offers. Eventually he went away with two of the girls to another room and told me he'd sign when he came back. I awkwardly wait for about 30 minutes until the girls come out and leave, clearly upset and pissed. I go in and find him passed out and vomit on his bed. I told the other two girls and they left along. I put him into a position where he wouldn't choke on his vomit and left. Forged the signature. The next day he came to apologize to me and asked if I told the EP's or Showrunners. I said no and noticed my check the next week had a c**p ton of overtime I didn't work. We haven't spoken about it since.

#24

Image source: gonzoparenting, Andrej Lišakov/unsplash I was a costume designer back in the day (late 90s early 2000) and I was working on a movie with Jennifer Esposito. The three male producers called me into their office and asked me if she had a fat a*s. I was a bit confused and asked why they wanted to know. They said, and I swear to GOD this is true, " Jennifer Lopez has a big a*s so we want to know if this Jennifer also has a fat a*s. " I assured them she was thin and beautiful. No fat a*s.

#25

Image source: not_don_gately, Ben Iwara/unsplash I work in development. The thing that continually surprises me is that it is almost impossible to cast any person of colour as a lead unless it is directly and almost exclusively targeted towards a specific racial audience e.g. it's ok to cast a black man as the lead in a Tyler Perry movie, but not as the lead of a wide-release, all audience film. The rationale behind this I've heard repeated by many producers, sales agents etc. is that these movies "don't sell well." Essentially, they are saying that a lot of people are casual racists and making say...a romantic comedy with a black guy and a white woman will keep these people out of the theatre and tank the prospects for your movie. Although this is a harsh and unfortunately not particularly surprising truth, what's shocking to me is that EVERYONE accepts it. I've had producers claim that we can't cast an Asian man as a romantic lead because women "buy the stereotype" about [private parts] size and wouldn't find him attractive, while another script wouldn't cast a young black woman as a concert pianist because it "doesn't connect culturally." Movies and TV, like sports, are something that can truly bring people and the fact that people in the industry buy into this idea is pretty f*****g depressing.