Americas
![Maureen Ryan - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B001JRVUF2.jpg)
Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood
In this spectacular, newsmaking exposé that has the entertainment industry abuzz and on its heels, Vanity Fair's Maureen Ryan blows the lid on patterns of harassment and bias in Hollywood, the grassroots reforms under way, and the labor and activist revolutions that recent scandals have ignited.
It is never just One Bad Man.
Abuse and exploitation of workers is baked into the very foundations of the entertainment industry. To break the cycle and make change that sticks, it's important to stop looking at headline-making stories as individual events. Instead, one must look closely at the bigger picture, to see how abusers are created, fed, rewarded, allowed to persist, and, with the right tools, how they can be excised.
In Burn It Down, veteran reporter Maureen Ryan does just that. She draws on decades of experience to connect the dots and illuminate the deeper forces sustaining Hollywood's corrosive culture. Fresh reporting sheds light on problematic situations at companies like Lucasfilm and shows like Lost, Saturday Night Live, The Goldbergs, Sleepy Hollow, Curb Your Enthusiasm and more.
Interviews with actors and famous creatives like Evan Rachel Wood, Harold Perrineau, Damon Lindelof, and Orlando Jones abound. Ryan dismantles, one by one, the myths that the entertainment industry promotes about itself, which have allowed abusers to thrive and the industry to avoid accountability-myths about Hollywood as a meritocracy, what it takes to be creative, the value of human dignity, and more.
Weaving together insights from industry insiders, historical context, and pop-culture analysis, Burn It Down paints a groundbreaking and urgently necessary portrait of what's gone wrong in the entertainment world-and how we can fix it.
It is never just One Bad Man.
Abuse and exploitation of workers is baked into the very foundations of the entertainment industry. To break the cycle and make change that sticks, it's important to stop looking at headline-making stories as individual events. Instead, one must look closely at the bigger picture, to see how abusers are created, fed, rewarded, allowed to persist, and, with the right tools, how they can be excised.
In Burn It Down, veteran reporter Maureen Ryan does just that. She draws on decades of experience to connect the dots and illuminate the deeper forces sustaining Hollywood's corrosive culture. Fresh reporting sheds light on problematic situations at companies like Lucasfilm and shows like Lost, Saturday Night Live, The Goldbergs, Sleepy Hollow, Curb Your Enthusiasm and more.
Interviews with actors and famous creatives like Evan Rachel Wood, Harold Perrineau, Damon Lindelof, and Orlando Jones abound. Ryan dismantles, one by one, the myths that the entertainment industry promotes about itself, which have allowed abusers to thrive and the industry to avoid accountability-myths about Hollywood as a meritocracy, what it takes to be creative, the value of human dignity, and more.
Weaving together insights from industry insiders, historical context, and pop-culture analysis, Burn It Down paints a groundbreaking and urgently necessary portrait of what's gone wrong in the entertainment world-and how we can fix it.
Editorial Reviews
"This book is urgent and necessary, and I am excited to see Maureen Ryan bring it into the world. So many of the books about misconduct and abuse in the entertainment industry focus on One Important Man, and we know the problems are deeper and wider than that at every level. An examination of the systems and traditions that enable abuse and prop up abusers, helping them fail upwards and ensuring there will be a bottomless churn of vulnerable workers for them to exploit is so needed right now. Burn It Down is that book." - Erin Keane, Editor-in-Chief of Salon and author of Runaway
"Maureen Ryan is a dogged, clear-eyed reporter, legendary for her miles-deep exposés of Hollywood abuse, toxicity and bullying. In Burn It Down, she makes a powerful case for a less romanticized view of the entertainment industry, one that rejects the ugly traditions of the past, holds bad bosses accountable, and marks a path to a better future." - Emily Nussbaum, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic for The New Yorker and author of I Like to Watch: Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution
"Burn It Down does the heavy lifting in helping to uncover not just the ugliness of the behavior of high-profile individuals, but the mundane abuses common in the broader television and movie landscape. Maureen Ryan is a tenacious and meticulous reporter, a sharp and passionate writer, and an advocate for a fairer and better industry. There's a reason a lot of network personnel with a lot they're trying to keep in the dark hate nothing more than to see Maureen coming with a flashlight and a pen." - Linda Holmes, New York Times bestselling author of Evvie Drake Starts Over and host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour
"Maureen Ryan is a rigorous thinker and a lovely writer and does terrific and necessary work to trace the places where entertainment and injustice intertwine with profit and abuse." - Rebecca Traister, New York Times bestselling author of Good and Mad and ...
"Maureen Ryan is a dogged, clear-eyed reporter, legendary for her miles-deep exposés of Hollywood abuse, toxicity and bullying. In Burn It Down, she makes a powerful case for a less romanticized view of the entertainment industry, one that rejects the ugly traditions of the past, holds bad bosses accountable, and marks a path to a better future." - Emily Nussbaum, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic for The New Yorker and author of I Like to Watch: Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution
"Burn It Down does the heavy lifting in helping to uncover not just the ugliness of the behavior of high-profile individuals, but the mundane abuses common in the broader television and movie landscape. Maureen Ryan is a tenacious and meticulous reporter, a sharp and passionate writer, and an advocate for a fairer and better industry. There's a reason a lot of network personnel with a lot they're trying to keep in the dark hate nothing more than to see Maureen coming with a flashlight and a pen." - Linda Holmes, New York Times bestselling author of Evvie Drake Starts Over and host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour
"Maureen Ryan is a rigorous thinker and a lovely writer and does terrific and necessary work to trace the places where entertainment and injustice intertwine with profit and abuse." - Rebecca Traister, New York Times bestselling author of Good and Mad and ...
Readers Top Reviews
The stories of yet another abusive man in TV, and another, all blur together after a while, especially as many are about producers who are often not household names. The importance of this book is that it takes some examples – LOST, Sleepy Hollow, SNL among them – to look at the structural issues and cultural beliefs at play. Ryan deconstructs the belief that bad behaviour is not only acceptable if you are a “creative genius” it’s actually part an intrinsic of being creative. Ryan doesn’t only look at the explicit abuses, but the often less obvious forms of exclusion and discrimination and the myth of meritocracy which impacts people from marginalized groups, even though as she notes, these days we have plenty of data that demonstrates the reality of it. And lest you think this all sounds too depressing, there are examples from actors and writers who worked in functional, supportive environments, so demonstrate that it is possible! Importantly the book gives a lot of space to looking for solutions, both in the form of restorative justice on a personal level, and strategies the studios and the industry could implement, some of which are part of the demands by the currently striking writers’ guild. Ryan has an easy to read conversational and personal style of writing, that is backed up with extensive interviewers and evidence. Highly recommended.
Carrie Maxwell
Maureen Ryan has written an excellent and necessary book that unveils so many of the reasons why Hollywood is broken and needs to be reformed from its roots. This book is not just for people interested in the entertainment industry, it's really about workers rights on the whole. The fact that Maureen's book was released during an ongoing writers strike (and potential actors and directors strike) says everything about how the power-elite in Hollywood feel about those creatives and really the rest of us consumers. The greed and overall meanness from the C-suites is off the charts right now. The book has stories about the Lost, The 100, Saturday Night Live and Sleepy Hollow among others. I highly recommend this book.
HistoryNerdsUnite
Maureen Ryan had me at Killjoys. If you have not seen the wonderfully ridiculous sci-fi show, then please do so once this review is finished. While this seems like a weird reason to be won over by a book, it makes perfect sense when you think about it. A book about burning down the Hollywood system would be an absolute slog if the person approached it from a place of anger. As soon as Ryan mentioned Killjoys, I knew she actually loved what Hollywood puts out. She just hates what it takes to get things made. For anyone who reads the description of Burn It Down, you may initially think this is going to be another long list of terrible events within the Hollywood system. You may also be the type who doesn't want to read about someone's "agenda." What I would tell you is that this is an in-depth look by someone who has spent significant time around show business, made the connections necessary to build a massive narrative, and then created a viewpoint which is not a witch hunt but a search for institutional change. This book is not about crucifying white men. It is about crucifying a system which routinely rewards bad behavior by giving people power they do not wield benevolently. Guess what else this book has? Numbers! Yes, it is not all anecdotes of terrible behavior. There are numbers which bear out what Ryan is trying to say. And then, the coup de grace. A plan. Ryan has a plan with articulated ways to fix the system. I came for the gory details. I stayed for the well thought out action plan. However, all of this could have been a much different book without Ryan's love for what Hollywood puts out. There are not many books where the author lets you know which Muppet she most identifies with. I won't spoil it. It's too good. You should definitely read this book and find out, though. (This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Mariner Books.)
Kindle HistoryNe
Hollywood on paper sounds like a wonderful place to work. To see and aid in the development of one's favorite shows, to even make something new, that people could discuss and share, and maybe even make a few dollars too. A place that hard work and a good idea, might get a person that Hollywood ending. Well as with everything in Hollywood appearance is everything. Add to that the physical and mental abuse, the terrible hours, the demands for work with little or no pay, and what once sounded like a wonderful dream is more a nightmare in Los Angeles. Burn It Down by veteran chronicler of the seediness of the Hollywood machine, Maureen Ryan, is a look at a broken system that rewards the worst behaviors, while ignoring women and minorities. Along with efforts that are being made to try and enact change in a system that is very resistant. The book begins with a brief history of a young man who was an assistant to a powerful man IN Hollywood Scot Rudin, whose temper tantrums, and object tossing was legendary. However not legendary enough to make some of the biggest names and largest studios to stop working for him. What follows are many interviews with people who have seen the worst that Hollywood can be. From writers who were ignored because of their skin colors or sex, actresses who labeled difficult, derailing their careers, and others in various occupations in Hollywood. Ryan also does a lot of investigating finding stories thought lost, ignored or covered-up and brings them back into light. Shows like Sleepy Hollow even the venerable Saturday Night Live are looked at in a different way than many profiles have, finding a lot of nastiness, and even worse that is still allowed to continue. Ryan also looks at efforts to both report and change the system, though it looks like quite a Sisyphean task. Ryan talks to a lot of people, some wo don't want to be identified, but those that do speak honestly about what has happened, what they have seen, and how they are trying to change things. Reading this book is like engaging in a twelve round heavyweight fight. The ugliness of the system, what is allowed is draining on the mind and the soul. However this is an important book for that reason. One can't just passively sit enjoying an entertainment knowing what is happening behind the scenes. Ryan is a very good writer, one I have enjoyed reading over the years, and her rage, and passion for change are apparant one every page. Ryan talks about burning it all to the ground, and honestly many readers will help fill the bottles with gasoline. And yet there is hope. There seems to be at least the start of something, not much, but it is gaining in momentum. The last half of the book details this, along with many good ideas that any reasonable corporation could get behind. Most of what goes on is what has always gone on, and as long as the money is coming...
John GrygoKindle
This book was a long time coming in Hollywood. Highly enjoyed the read.
