Hollywood And Hotel Rooms

Producers and directors should use hotel coffee shops and other public 

spaces to recruit cast and crew, not hotel rooms, to avoid sexual harassment allegations. 

Harvey Weinstein’s expulsion from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will not stop sexual accusations against men who yield power, because it is not a hotel.

No smoking in the hotel.  No pets in the hotel.  No noise after 9 p.m.  Hotels have these restrictions to protect their 5 Star or 3 Star rating.  It is also to make sure that Room 2201 doesn’t disturb Room 2202.

That is just about it.  Hotels and privacy are twins.  Hotels cannot regulate what happens between movie producers, directors, actors, actresses, personal assistants, entertainment reporters, camera operators and publicists, behind the DO NOT DISTURB sign.

Hotels also provide spaces like the coffee shop, wedding rooms and conference rooms where film people can meet and discuss work in progress, production dollars or euros from the Weinstein Company or Tyler Perry, where films will be shot, possible crews to be hired and talent (actors and actresses).

That is where the Harvey Weinstein accusations come in.  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences can advise members that it is better for all concerned for interviews to be treated like corporate job interviews. 

Interaction between men who can make women movie stars and women who want to be stars should be in public.  It should also be recorded for future court cases.

It is easier said and done.  The Academy cannot enforce it if it happens in a hotel room.

By:  Nonqaba waka Msimang.