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You may not immediately recognise producer Scott Rudin’s name, but you’ll certainly be familiar with some of the movies he’s helped make.

Rudin has won Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards (dubbed the EGOT) for movies like There Will Be Blood, The Social Network, and No Country For Old Men, as well as series like The Newsroom and What We Do In The Shadows.

That last title is rather apt, given the allegations being levelled against him, although in many cases it’s alleged that he carried out his abusive behaviour in full view of employees.

The Hollywood Reporter blew the lid on this one, running a story headlined “Everyone Just Knows He’s an Absolute Monster”: Scott Rudin’s Ex-Staffers Speak Out on Abusive Behavior.

That report is long and in-depth, so here’s Page Six with some of the more startling accusations:

Ex-employees allege…that in 2012, Rudin smashed an Apple computer monitor on an assistant’s hand, landing him in the emergency room and leaving the rest of the staff shaken…

“We knew a lot could happen. There were the guys that were sleeping in the office, the guys whose hair was falling out and were developing ulcers. It was a very intense environment, but that just felt different. It was a new level of unhinged — a level of lack of control that I had never seen before in a workplace.”

That last quote comes via Andrew Coles, then an assistant and now a manager and producer.

The assistant was unable to book the flight Rudin wanted, because it was sold out.

Other former employees detailed how Rudin threw a glass bowl at someone from the HR department, who then left in an ambulance following a panic attack.

In 2014, amidst the Sony email leak, Rudin described Angelina Jolie as a “minimally talented spoiled brat”, so it’s public knowledge that he has a sharp tongue.

In 2005, for a Wall Street Journal article headlined ‘Boss-Zilla’, it was pointed out that the producer had employed 119 assistants in the previous five years.

A producer’s assistant on Eighth Grade, a 2018 movie starring Elsie Fisher, claims Rudin threw a potato at his head, and later fired him after he had just dropped out of college to join Rudin’s company full-time.

Ryan Nelson, who was Rudin’s executive assistant in 2018-19, says he has seen far worse:

“Every day was exhausting and horrific. Not even the way he abused me, but watching the way he abused the people around me who started to become my very close friends,” Nelson explained.

“You’re spending 14 hours a day with the same people, enduring the same abuse. It became this collective bond with these people.”

Bonding over an awful, abusive boss isn’t usually atop the HR department’s list of ways to foster workplace morale.

A brief snapshot of some of the other claims made against Rudin, via Slate:

Agreeing to allow a modest accommodation for another assistant’s type 1 diabetes—a doctor-mandated 30-minute workout scheduled between 5:30 and 6:00 a.m.—then demanding the assistant skip it or “work faster.”

Throwing a teacup at yet another assistant, hard enough to punch a hole in the wall.

Falsely accusing an employee of theft in an attempt to kill a job offer at a different company.

Annapurna Pictures founder Megan Ellison, who worked with Rudin before cutting ties years ago, says the allegations are just the tip of the iceberg:

This piece barely scratches the surface of Scott Rudin’s abusive, racist, and sexist behavior. Similarly to Harvey, too many are afraid to speak out. I support and applaud those who did. There’s good reason to be afraid because he’s vindictive and has no qualms about lying. https://t.co/0iFSgzJx9T

— Megan Ellison (@meganeellison) April 7, 2021

A spokesperson for Rudin declined to comment on the extensive list of allegations.

I think it’s safe to say Rudin isn’t the sort to push for a four-day workweek.

You can read the full Hollywood Reporter article here.

[sources:pagesix&slate]