Casting couch

The casting couch, casting couch syndrome or casting couch mentality is a term which involves the trading of sexual favors by an aspirant, apprentice employee, or subordinate to a superior, in return for entry into an occupation, or for other career advancement within an organization. The term "casting couch" originated in the motion picture industry, with specific reference to couches in the offices of casting agents that could be used for sexual activity between the agents and aspiring actresses.

Male actors may also face sexual propositions.^[1] The term is now often used in reference to other industries besides entertainment. Careers which are highly desirable and traditionally difficult to break into, such as the movie, television and music industries have been the subject of casting couch stories in popular culture. Such trading of favors is an abuse of power, and can become a wider sex scandal if deemed newsworthy.

Allegations from "casting couch" candidates

United States

• In her 1991 book You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again, Oscar-winning producer Julia Phillips attempted to expose many of the underground Hollywood institutions, and confirmed that "casting couch" mentality was alive and well in Hollywood.
• In a 1995 article, journalist Peter Keough described Hollywood as "a town where everyone is selling body and soul for fame and fortune, and all — especially women — are considered commodities".^[2]
• In a 1996 interview, actor Woody Harrelson declared "every [acting] business I ever entered into in New York seemed to have a casting couch....I've seen so many people sleep with people they loathe in order to further their ambition."^[3]
• In a 1997 interview, actress Jenny McCarthy stated "I was the only girl in my clique who wasn't sleeping with someone to get a job".^[4]
• At a 2005 class reunion, producer Chris Hanley told his former classmates that "almost every leading actress in all of [his] 24 films has slept with a director or producer or a leading actor to get the part that launched her career".^[5]
• In 2009 Megan Fox stated that leading film directors made sexual propositions while casting for film roles.^[6]
• Early in her career, it was suggested to Gwyneth Paltrow that a business meeting end in the bedroom.^[1]
• Lisa Rinna said a producer asked her for a quickie when she was a candidate for a role on a prominent television series.^[7]
• In 2011, Corey Feldman alleged that children were also victims of the casting couch.^[8]

Asia

• A typical “casting couch” case occurred in India in 2004, when a female actress Ms. Preeti Jain filed a police complaint alleging that film director Mr. Madhur Bhandarkar had sexually exploited her for many years and made false promises of casting her in a lead role in his next film. She stated that she was never given any role in any of his films. According to her, Bhandarkar repeatedly had sex with Jain from 1999 to 2004 at Natraj Apartment at Yari Road, Hotel Seaside at Juhu and at Bhandarkar's friend's (Akbar) flat at Mount Mary road, Bandra.^[9]
• In 2005 India TV's India's Most Wanted, an investigative TV show, caught Indian Idol host Aman Verma and longtime Bollywood actor Shakti Kapoor in a "sting" operation, and accused them of abusing their positions to force women to have sex with them. They even produced video evidence of Kapoor making advances on a planted girl, in which Kapoor tells the girl that superstars Aishwarya Rai, Rani Mukerji and Preity Zinta slept with people such as Subhash Ghai, Yash Chopra and Yash Johar to get where they were. Verma, Kapoor and most of the Bollywood industry have defended themselves, calling India TV's claims unfounded and sensational, and claim that the video footage of Kapoor is misleading.^[10][11]
• In 2006 Zhang Yu, a Chinese actress, released 20 graphic sex videos that she made herself to document her allegations that she won many of her roles through the casting couch.^[12] The videos were released on You Tube but have been subsequently removed.
• In 2009 Indian actress Suchitra Krishnamoorthi reported an incident in her blog where she narrowly escaped sexual advances from a producer while casting for a film role. ^[13]
• In 2009 Korean actress Jang Ja-yeon, star of Boys Over Flowers, committed suicide and left a suicide note claiming to have been beaten by her agent and to have been forced to have sex with media executives, directors, program directors, and CEOs.

Notes

Bibliography

• Anderson, C., & Berdahl, J. L. (2002). The experience of power: Examining the effects of power on approach and inhibition tendencies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 1362-1377.
• Thibaut, J. W., & Kelley, H. H. (1959). The social psychology of groups. New York: Wiley.

Further reading

• Ford, Selwyn (1990) The Casting Couch. London: Grafton ISBN 0586203869

External links

• Pulkeet Aggarwal Assistant Director Casting Couch
• TV Sting Snares Bollywood Baddie Shakti Kapoor from Yahoo! India Movies (March 12, 2005)
• Known rumours that Darryl F. Zanuck invented the casting couch The Zanucks: Reel Royalty from CBS News Sunday Morning (July 10, 2005)
• A selection of contemporary articles regarding the casting couch in the American silent film industry from Taylorology