I worked on a show which is notorious in the industry for having a toxic workplace culture and being run by an exec who thrives on bullying people. On the series I worked on, I regularly witnessed people crying in the corridors.
Over the course of my four-month contract, I saw two senior producers quit because they felt under so much pressure and were treated so badly. The third was fired in a very unprofessional manner after being bullied relentlessly by the exec. After he left, the exec continued to bad-mouth him.
People were regularly told they were "useless" or "just not getting it" and yet I know they are massively experienced and brilliant at their jobs. The exec would routinely bad-mouth everyone on the team to everyone else. There was a culture of competition and fear, of zero kindness.
One day the exec asked me to do something in a particular way. The following day, in front of the managing director of the company, she asked if I had done it a different way. When I said I hadn't, in front of other members of the team she said, "how the hell do you expect to do even a half decent job if you can't be bothered to listen?" I felt completely mortified. My colleague confirmed afterwards that I had done it exactly as she had instructed. I believe she just wanted an opportunity to exert her authority in front of the managing director. At the time I really questioned my own ability and at one point, I even questioned my own sanity.
She would also find other ways to show her control. For example, no one could leave until she had agreed to it. This would sometimes mean us being in the edit for 20 hours or more. My record was 25 hours. Just waiting for her to watch our cuts before we could leave the edit.
Generally, throughout my time working there I felt paranoid, anxious and uneasy. I felt like I wasn't good enough to be there or wasn't able to please her. It was almost like an abusive relationship where we were all desperate for her approval - it was extremely toxic. I would never work on that show or on a show which involved that exec again. I felt there was absolutely no feasible chance of raising these issues with the employer, largely because there was no point. I know from other people that the company already know about the behaviour of this exec - but she turns out an award winning show, so they don't care.
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