#MeToo - 1 Year On, How has Hollywood Changed?

It has been 1 year since Hollywood was rocked by allegations of Sexual Harassment and Assault by some of the most high profile and powerful men in the industry. But how much has really changed in the year since the movement began.

On October 5th 2017 The New York Times published the article, "Harvey Weinstein Paid off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades". What followed was accusations from over 70 women towards Weinstein, amongst them high profile actresses including, Rose McGowan, Ashley Judd, Angelina Jolie, Gwenyth Paltrow and Lea Seydoux. The Weinstein case is the most high profile of all of the cases against one person, due to the number of accusers, but this was just the beginning of the movement.

On October 15th 2017, just 10 days after the Harvey Weinstein article, actress Alyssa Milano posted this tweet -

Alyssa Milano tweets to encourage people to use #MeToo

And thus began what became known as the #MeToo movement . In just the first day the hashtag was used over 200,000 times. The accusations didn't just effect the film/TV industries but many more including, music, fashion and politics. The issue was a worldwide one, much bigger than one person or one industry or Hollywood, although Hollywood was the most prolific in all of the places effected.

Other actors accused included, Kevin Spacey, who was accused by many men including, Anthony Rapp and 20 staff members from the Old Vic Theatre in London, in response, Ridley Scott conducted re-shoots of All The Money in The World, replacing Spacey with Christopher Plummer. Dustin Hoffman was accused by 7 women. Louis .C.K. was accused by 5 women. Others included, James Franco, Aziz Ansari and Morgan Freeman. The movement also effected other film industries, including the German one, where multiple women spoke out against director, Dieter Wedel.

The #MeToo movement then caused the setting up of Times Up , a foundation set up by more than 300 women in Hollywood to help survivors of workplace sexual harassment or abuse to access legal support in their cases against their harassers.

This movement is arguably one of the biggest events to hit Hollywood, effecting hundreds of the most powerful people in Hollywood. But what has changed in the year since the first allegations and the start of the #MeToo and Times Up movements.

Throughout the 2018 Award show season people wore the Times Up pins to show their support

During the direct aftermath of the movement, most attendees at the 2018 Golden Globes wore black in response and support of the victims of harassment and assault in Hollywood and further a field. Oprah Winfrey (Recipient of the Cecil B. de Mille Award) delivered an inspiring speech about the movement. Time magazine also announced their Person of the Year as The Silence Breakers, a group of women who were all primary figures during the movement.

Time magazines Person of the Year 2017 - The Silence Breakers

Many of the men accused were blacklisted from the industry and face charges for their crimes. Harvey Weinstein currently faces charges regarding two of the women he harassed. Kevin Spaceys' last film Billionaire Boys Club, took just $126 on its opening night and House of Cards returned to Netflix without him. Bill Cosby was charged in April 2018 after 14 years of being investigated, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison in September. Cosby and Roman Polanski were also both expelled from the Academy.

Some of the men accused did not face the same blacklisting, Louis. C.K. continues to perform, Aziz Ansari has just announced a stand up tour and James Franco has several upcoming films in 2019. Disturbingly, Les Moonves, former CBS CEO and the co-founder of the Commission on Eliminating Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality in the Workplace is facing investigation himself after accusations regarding him.

Since its beginning, Times Up has raised millions in legal funds, gathered volunteer lawyers, donated to multiple women's foundations and organisations and have shared support lines to women in need. The foundation is more than achieving what it was set up to do and if one of the most positive outcomes of the movement. The PGA (Producers Guild of America) and SAG (Screen Actors Guild) have both implemented anti-sexual harassment guidelines, which include having a person on set who is to be approached in the event of harassment of assault. The first film to use the guidelines is Wonder Woman 1984.

The movement has also encouraged more calls for equality in film and equal pay. The Inclusion Rider, that was first uttered by Frances McDormand during her Oscars acceptance speech, is a rider that allows people on a film to request or demand for 50% of the cast and crew to be diverse. The rider has existed for years but has gone unnoticed and unused.

Frances McDormand making her speech at the 2018 Oscars. Where she brought the worlds attention to the Inclusion Rider.

Equal pay is still an issue in the industry that has no clear end in sight currently. When doing re-shoots for All The Money in The World, Mark Wahlberg was payed significantly more than Michelle Williams (who took less money for the significance the re-shoots had to the #MeToo movement), although Wahlberg did in the end donate his earnings to Times Up. Jessica Chastain had to fight for Octavia Spencer to have the same pay as she did for a film they both starred in. Benedict Cumberbatch also announced he would turn down roles if his female counterparts were not payed equally to himself.

When it comes to the larger organisations steps after the movements other than the actions of PGA and SAG, Cannes film festival was the first out of the worldwide film festivals to pledge a commitment to a Gender Balance Programme by 2020. The Awarding bodies of the industry have not made many significant changes, nominees throughout the award shows still tend to be white and male. Although there is continuing pressures on them.

Since October 2017, when the movement began, things have changed in the industry. More people are standing up against the treatment women and also men have experienced for years at the hands of powerful men who previously faced no repercussions for their actions. But there is still a huge amount that needs to change that can't be ignored.

A huge part of the movement so far has been from individual action, which has been immensely positive and moving in the right direction to changing the industry, but the larger organisations that are part of the industry need to take more steps towards eliminating the toxic atmosphere of Hollywood that women experience. Equality is still an issue that the industry as a collective isn't taking big enough steps towards. Much of this is unlikely to have nothing to do with the fact that the people who head the industry bodies and organisations are white and primarily male.

It cannot be argued, the #MeToo and Times Up movements have completely changed the game in Hollywood. The ability for men to take advantage of women and men in the industry has been dramatically reduced. Although much damage has already been done and there are still huge steps that the industry needs to take towards eliminating the issues almost entirely and reaching true equality as a collective, one thing is guaranteed, Hollywood will never be the same.