Why was Harvey Weinstein so powerful?

FOR decades, people stayed silent as Harvey Weinstein allegedly harassed and assaulted women. What did he have over everyone?

UNLESS you paid a lot of attention to the inner workings of Hollywood, you probably didn’t know Harvey Weinstein’s name a week ago. But, oh boy, you know it now.

Plagued by an ever growing scandal involving allegations of sexual harassment and assault going back decades, Weinstein’s reputation is done. His name is even being taken off the credits of upcoming projects he was involved with, including a David O. Russell TV series and The Current War starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

From what started off as rumours, it is now a howling chorus as the industry’s most famous players line up to condemn his behaviour.

But how did it get to this point? How was Weinstein able to amass so much power as to command so much fealty and, consequently, silence?

THE UBER PRODUCER

Weinstein and his brother Bob started Miramax in the 1970s as an independent film distribution company. By the late 1980s, Miramax had gained prominence for shepherding art house flicks to a bigger audience including Steven Soderbergh’s breakthrough hit, Sex, Lies and Videotape.

Weinstein, a large-than-life character with a brash personality, had a knack for wheelin’-and-dealin’ and picking great projects, either acquiring or producing movies from up-and-coming filmmakers that would go on to have storied careers. Weinstein bought the rights for Quentin Tarantino’s debut Reservoir Dogs and has had a hand in every one of the director’s films since.

Pulp Fiction is one of Harvey Weinstein’s biggest successes.

He also bought the rights to Kevin Smith’s Clerks at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival. Newbie Smith had made the movie for $27,000 and Weinstein’s business nous made the indie director a star. In the fallout of the scandal, Smith said on Twitter that Weinstein had funded the first 14 years of his career and he “feels ashamed” that people were in pain while he was profiting off Weinstein’s favour.

It’s telling that none of Smith’s movies since the late 2000s have had much mainstream success when he and Weinstein had a falling out over the marketing spend of Zack and Miri Make a Porno.

Weinstein had sold Miramax to Disney in the early 1990s and operated as a subsidiary with full autonomy under then-boss Michael Eisner. After a bruising battle with Eisner in the mid 2000s, the brothers walked away and formed The Weinstein Company, the business that just sacked its namesake co-founder.

Weinstein’s canny ability to market and sell a movie meant he could make or break your career at his whim. If he liked you and your project, he would move heaven and earth to make sure everyone knew about it.

He was particularly known for aggressive Oscar campaigns, outspending his rivals on ads, events and lobbying to ensure his movies or stars took home the statuette. How else do you explain the mediocre Shakespeare in Love winning the gong for Best Picture over the other superior contenders that year including Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line and Life is Beautiful?

Actors like Gwyneth Paltrow, Meryl Streep and Christoph Waltz benefited from his patronage, all making sure to heap praise on the man during their Oscar acceptance speeches. In the 10 years to 2014, Weinstein had been thanked at the Oscars four times more often than God.

Chickens have come home to roost. AFP PHOTO / Yann COATSALIOU

GETTING AWAY WITH IT

While many of his collaborators have come out to say they never knew about Weinstein’s proclivities or had previously dismissed whispers as unsubstantiated rumours, the sheer volume of people who have since emerged with their horror stories lends credibility to the “Hollywood’s worst kept secret” theory.

Ashley Judd and Rose McGowan were the first household names to go on the record. Asia Argento, Mira Sorvino, Gwyneth Paltrow, Romola Garai, Judith Godreche, Rosanna Arquette and Angelina Jolie are among the others.

Lea Seydoux said Weinstein jumped on her and tried to kiss her. Heather Graham said she was never hired on any Weinstein movies after she spurned his advances.

The reason Weinstein got away with it for so long is because of the power imbalance that exists in any industry between those that control the money and everyone else.

Weinstein isn’t the first producer to throw his weight around and he certainly won’t be the last. Hollywood history is littered with men with outsized power, including those whose names are still plastered across studio entrances, the likes of Louis B. Mayer and Jack Warner.

When Weinstein released his statement in response to The New York Times’ expose and blamed the culture in which he grew up, the 60s and the 70s, he wasn’t entirely wrong — that was how it “worked” for a long time. What he failed to acknowledge is that is not how it’s supposed to work in 2017.

Heather Graham is one of the numerous women who have openly accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer)

CALLING THE SHOTS

For those asking — what does a movie producer do anyway? — producers are responsible for everything from financing, to distribution, to marketing and everything in between. The directors are the creative power behind a film but it’s the producers who call the real shots, which often includes casting approval. They can rule out an actor in an instant or insist on someone different.

And you only need to look at how producer Kathleen Kennedy sacked directors Chris Miller, Phil Lord and Colin Trevorrow from two upcoming Star Wars movies to understand who really has the power.

The movie business is not a meritocracy, people aren’t always hired because they’re the best actor or writer or composer. Producers hire people for all kinds of reasons from previous work history to how big a social media following they have, as Game of Thrones actor Sophie Turner recently revealed.

When there’s no real transparency about your value or prospects, is it any wonder so many women were afraid to speak out against Weinstein in such a fickle and uneven environment.

Producers didn’t come more powerful than Weinstein, at least in his heyday. Just look at his movies: The King’s Speech, Inglourious Basterds, Lion, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Scream and Pulp Fiction to name just a few among the hundreds.

Many have speculated the reason the Weinstein scandal broke now, after all this time, is because his power is on the wane. The Weinstein Company doesn’t have as many hits as it used to, and the business’ TV division, overseen by brother Bob, is growing in influence.

While the courage it took for Paltrow to add her voice to the Weinstein scandal shouldn’t be diminished, it bears mentioning that even after the incident took place during the production of Emma, she worked with Weinstein again. She said this week Weinstein asked her not to tell anyone about it and her career took off, Oscar and all. Silence was the price she paid.

Follow @wenleima on Twitter.