6 Reveals From Cosmo's #ThatsHarassment Panel
David Schwimmer, director Sigal Avin, and Milk Studios co-founder and creative director Mazdack Rassi joined Cosmopolitan.com’s Amy Odell on Wednesday for a panel on #ThatsHarassment, a new video series depicting instances of sexual harassment against women. In just six weeks, the trio put together six short films starring actors like Cynthia Nixon, Emmy Rossum, Grace Gummer, Cristela Alonzo, and Schwimmer himself. The stories are based on four of five films Avin originally made in Israel, along with one inspired by the fashion industry (“The Photographer”) and Millennials (“The Coworker”). Here are some highlights from Wednesday’s panel. Watch the full live-stream below.
1. During auditions for the part of the model in “The Photographer” (which eventually went to newcomer Anna Van Patten), multiple hopefuls revealed similar experiences of harassment. "About 90 percent of the models who actually auditioned said this happened to them, or worse," Schwimmer said. "That was a revelation."
2. The film series has inspired a heated but healthy discussion online. "There was one discussion [about 'The Photographer'] where somebody said, 'I’m very glad people are doing #ThatsHarassment project, but that’s too much. Who does that?'" Avin recalled. "And then a model jumped in and said, 'This is nothing compared to what I’ve been through.' [The first person] took it back and said she was sorry and was shocked to see that had happened."
3. The fashion industry has gotten better in terms of cases of harassment. "It’s a lot more professional today than it used to be, in the fashion photography world," Rassi said. "Most of the horror stories ... they were probably 10, 12 years ago, when the industry was very small. The power dynamic was different between people in charge and a model."
4. The size of a studio on a film, TV show, or shoot matters; there are more protections under big studios. "With independent filmmaking where everyone’s making 'movies' with their phones, there’s very little regulation and accountability," Schwimmer said. "I’m not saying it’s not happening anymore [under big studios] - it’s absolutely happening - but there’s so much fear because there’s accountability. The bigger the studio, the less likely it’s going to happen on their set."
5. The Friends set was “one of the better ones.” "Our set was really, pretty cool ... I think that’s in part because of who we were as actors, and the executive producers on the show were not going to let anything like that happen. On other shows and other sets, it was worse," Swimmer said.
6. Reporting harassment on social media is not always an option. "The reality is there’s still fear of retaliation," Schwimmer said. "There’s going to be some kind of repercussion. ... If you post it to social media, bye-bye to your job. Am I right? It’s often a he-said-she-said. How do you prove this? We’re trying to get at the culture and generate as much awareness, for men, as well. We just feel like men have trouble really understanding where the line is."
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