Power in Hollywood: Work, Agency, and Authorship in the Era of #MeToo

In an industry where “all hits are flukes,” how does power operate? As a workplace, how is Hollywood organized? How are careers forged and sustained amidst such precarity and ambiguity? And, how have recent social movements affected work and hiring practices in the industry? These questions motivate my research and serve as the foundation of the three papers herein. To examine Hollywood as a workplace, I draw from and add to diverse theories and literatures, including cultural approaches to agency theory and Foucauldian-influenced theories of organizations and professions. I use the cases of assistants and television writers to complicate models of collective production and show how patrimonial systems organize relationships throughout the industry.