History Main / HorribleHollywood

WRONG! In Horrible Hollywood, the actors and actresses are brain-dead, spoiled, have a tendency towards fighting the law, like to engage in occasional sexual deviancy, and are [[HookersAndBlow addicted to various illegal substances and/or sex workers]]. Marriages rarely last more than a few years (and sometimes just a few hours), and almost everyone has ''at least'' [[SerialSpouse two divorces and remarriages under their belts]], and usually more. Everyone fears [[WhiteDwarfStarlet growing old and losing their fame]], so plastic surgery and desperate attempts to seem young abound. The directors are [[PrimaDonnaDirector egomaniac control freaks]] who wear funny pants and throw [[HairTriggerTemper petty tantrums]] at the slightest provocation. The assistants are overworked, underpaid, and might be [[DeadpanSnarker snarky towards the talent]], but this won't stop them from ruthlessly trying to climb the ladder -- and in this depraved environment, climbing to the top tends to be a [[CastingCouch horizontal sort of activity]]. The fans are insane and you might gain some [[StalkerWithACrush stalkers]]. The executives are fond of [[ExecutiveMeddling excessive meddling]], [[UsefulNotes/HollywoodAccounting screwing artists out of their royalties]] or [[DirtyOldMan otherwise,]] and/or are just plain [[CorruptCorporateExecutive corrupt]], and have people fired on the spot for being insufficiently sycophantic or causing some minor inconvenience. [[WritersSuck Writers are second-class citizens]] and {{Butt Monkey}}s. [[MenGetOldWomenGetReplaced Women who age and lose their sex appeal have trouble finding work, while aging barely has any effect on the career prospects of their male counterparts.]] Child stars almost always go off the deep end in some way(s) [[FormerChildStar when they grow up]], and are often victims of sexual grooming by creepy producers. Some people spend a lifetime WaitingForABreak that never comes. Absolutely everyone -- even those not actually ''in'' the entertainment industry -- is a StepfordSmiler [[SuchAPhony Phony]] who may be all smiles and charm and obsequiousness to your face, but only because they secretly hate you and can't wait for you to turn your back so they can stick a knife into it. Everywhere you look, crippling insecurities and neuroses are constantly being masked with bombastic, preening arrogance and ego.

* Creator/RaymondChandler's fifth novel, ''Literature/TheLittleSister'', is all about this. Story features a producer named Oppenheimer because Chandler's subtle like that.

[[folder:Film]]
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* ''Film/AnAlanSmitheeFilmBurnHollywoodBurn'' lampoons Hollywood, as the title bluntly suggests. A director first has to contend with prima donna actors, then experiences ExecutiveMeddling when the studio recuts the film.
* ''Film/AmericasSweethearts'': Mostly focused on the tropes surrounding celebrity romances, a studio executive exploiting it for movie promotion, and a publicist trying to keep the whole thing from blowing up in their collective faces.
* In ''Film/{{Argo}}'', one of the reasons for disguising the extraction operation as location scouting for a movie is that, with the Iran Hostage Crisis in full bloom, movie producers are some of the only people sleazy enough to still be doing business there. Chambers describes it as a place full of hacks and untalented people or productions and a shot of the famous Hollywood [[SignsOfDisrepair sign missing some letters]] underscores it.
-->'''Tony''': It's an exfil, from the worst place you can think of...\\
'''Chambers''': [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal City]]?
* ''Film/TheAssistant'': While the film is set in the New York office of a Hollywood studio, it centers on an extremely unflattering look behind the scenes of the American film industry. Studio executives rule their companies like petty tyrants, and their minions are too beaten down or self-absorbed to fight back.
* Lampshaded in ''Film/AustinPowersInGoldmember'': after two movies of having to get headaches dealing with Dr. Evil exploiting Virtucon's resources in childish attempts to TakeOverTheWorld, Number Two presents Dr. Evil with a business venture that is both highly profitable ''and'' vile in an attempt to curb his chronic BondVillainStupidity -- a Hollywood casting agency. [[spoiler:Didn't really work, but the Doctor was sorely tempted for a few seconds there, so hey, points for trying.]]
* ''Film/TheBadAndTheBeautiful'' is one of the milder examinations of this trope.
* ''Film/TheBarefootContessa'' depicts the movie business as full of cynical {{Jerkass}}es, with the occasional KnightInSourArmor around to make them look even worse by comparison. Titular character Maria Vargas has great success but doesn't enjoy it, writing everything off as phony.
* ''Film/BartonFink'': Fink is forced to write an inane wrestling movie when he comes to Hollywood after a successful theatrical career.
* In ''Film/BigFatLiar'', Hollywood in and of itself is not shown as a horrible place... but working for Marty Wolf definitely falls as an exaggerated (for comedy) example of this: the man is an absurdly colossal {{Jerkass}} that spends every waking moment treating every single human being he interacts with like worthless trash, often by screaming belittling insults to their faces. When the KidHero duo looks for people to perform a scam to get back at Wolf at the climax, they manage to enlist a literal '''army''' of pissed-off employees.
* ''Film/BirdmanOrTheUnexpectedVirtueOfIgnorance'' doesn't deal with Hollywood directly but the title character struggles with his past in Hollywood and his desire to be respected critically drives the film's conflicts.
* While focusing solely on a small group ''Film/BoogieNights'' is actually an inversion of this trope... in the porn industry, typically portrayed as being even more corrupt and exploitative than the mainstream film industry. However, while it's implied that this is the case in a larger context (several of the producers are hinted to have mob ties at the very least), the film focuses on the main characters bonding together as a loving family unit.
* ''Film/{{Bowfinger}}'' takes this as its premise and plays it for comedy more than satire. Bobby Bowfinger is an ultra-low budget, Grade-Z filmmaker who has to do things like hire Mexican immigrants as his crew.
* ''Film/TheCatsMeow'' is a tale of infidelity, murder, cover-up and blackmail that takes in Hollywood, "the place just off the coast of the planet Earth,": a place where the rich and powerful can get away with murder, everyone has their price, and the murder of a good man can go unmourned and unpunished.
* Represented in ''Film/TheConIsOn'' by Jackie's second husband Gabriel. He is an egotistical film director, surrounded by an entourage of yes-men and hangers-on. He is having affairs with his leading lady and his assistant, regards his films being described as self-referential as a mark of genius and is obsessed with achieving legitimacy by winning awards.
* ''Film/EdWood'', while buoyed by the performance of Creator/JohnnyDepp and direction of Creator/TimBurton, still deals with this in its sympathetic but unsparing examination of Creator/BelaLugosi at the end of his career.
* ''Film/AFaceInTheCrowd'' portrays the television industry much this way, at least the part revolving around Lonesome Rhodes, though the industry at the time was based in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity.
* ''Film/GetShorty'' conflates this trope with organized crime, as a loan shark's enforcer winds up taking over a movie when the producer can't pay his debt. Also, nearly all of the Hollywood "insiders" are vain, shallow, and self-absorbed to the point of obliviousness. Despite this, most of them are still fairly ''likable'' because they're not actually malicious, just kind of stupid.
* ''Film/HollywoodBoulevard'' is a cheap, sleazy, slightly exaggerated, and darkly funny look at the world of cheap, sleazy, 1970s exploitation film.
* Discussed at length in ''Film/HollywoodPaparazzo''. It is explained that the rise of tabloid journalism and the {{paparazzi}} has led to celebrities becoming [[ArtistDisillusionment insular, screwed-up and totally alienated]] from the rest of society, who often go down a self-destructive path. In turn, the {{Paparazzi}} are self-obsessed people who run and hide from anyone they don't know to conceal their identities, people in a position of power are vain and power-hungry, and the fans are crazed lunatics who will stop at nothing to harass celebrities. The film highlights the absurdity of this culture with a well-adjusted young boy who acts just as cutthroat as the {{Paparazzi}} when it comes to getting celebrity photos.
* Creator/DavidLynch's film ''Film/InlandEmpire'', being about a film actress, also dabbles in the subject.
* In ''Film/InsideDaisyClover'', the eponymous protagonist played by Creator/NatalieWood is a poor tomboyish girl who becomes a movie star from one day to the next and deeply resents that ControlFreak studio mogul Raymond Swan (Creator/ChristopherPlummer) wants total control over her life to the point of driving her to a mental breakdown.
* Downplayed with ''Film/InALonelyPlace''. Struggling screenwriter Steele is accused of murdering a young coat-check girl that he invited to his house. He isn't taken seriously by other Hollywood crew and has a history of having severe anger issues towards staff, which Laurel finds out once the two of them start dating. At one point, he nearly kills a man with a rock as they argued over their dangerous driving.
* ''Film/{{Ivansxtc}}'' doesn't paint a flattering picture of the movie industry, showing the egos, dirty politics, crass commercialism, and drug abuse involved in a seedy production company.
* ''Film/KissKissBangBang'' portrays Hollywood as a weirdly glamorous and seriously fucked-up place that attracts the damaged and disturbed.
-->'''Harry''': It's abandonment, it's abuse, it's, "My uncle put his ping-ping in my papa!"... and then they all come out here! I swear to God, it's like somebody took America by the East Coast, and shook it, and all the normal girls managed to hang on.
* ''Film/LAConfidential'': Mickey Cohen's stolen heroin and call girls who look like film stars: HookersAndBlow, indeed.
* Downplayed in ''Film/LaLaLand'' but the film shows just how often Mia is disrespected by casting directors -- at one point her emotional audition is interrupted for the sake of a phone call (which is based on something that actually happened to Ryan Gosling). She has to go to endless parties filled with shallow and vapid industry people in the hopes of making connections. Sebastian even calls it "the city where they praise everything and value nothing". The film's cynical look at Hollywood tends to get lost in pop culture, where the splashy musical numbers (particularly "City of Stars") are what's remembered.
* ''Film/TheLastCommand'' is about a former Tsarist Russian general living out a degrading, poverty-stricken life as a Hollywood film extra. He gets $7.50 a day.
* ''Film/TheLastOfSheila'': the main characters are a Hollywood producer, agent, writer, actress, wannabe producer, and a woman who grew up in Hollywood. They're all either selfish, ladder-climbing venal types or selfish, successful venal types, and ends with [[spoiler:two characters letting a double murderer go free so that they can get a movie produced to boost their careers.]]
* In ''Film/TheLegendOfLylahClare'', the inherent sickness of Hollywood and the people who work there are examined at length. A young starlet is hired to play a famous silent movie actress (who died under mysterious circumstances) in a {{Biopic}} directed by the actress's collaborator/lover, and as she's pushed into inhabiting her role, she becomes seemingly possessed by the dead woman's spirit, causing the threat of history repeating itself. [[spoiler: It does, and the biopic ends with ''the actual footage of her death'', which apparently no one in town objects to.]] (This is from the same director who made ''Film/WhateverHappenedToBabyJane'', and that movie's world could easily fit into this one.)
* The experimental short film ''Film/TheLifeAndDeathOf9413AHollywoodExtra'' portrays working in Hollywood as a dehumanizing experience in which you are identified only by a number stamped on your forehead, and success is unobtainable.
* ''Film/LivingInOblivion'' is three vignettes illustrating the nightmares involved in being an independent filmmaker.
* Pretty much the entire point of ''Film/MapsToTheStars''. Delusional, past-their-prime actresses? Spoiled-rotten child stars? Smiling, sanctimonious agents? Having to play nice with a rival actress who just stole the role of a lifetime from underneath you? Check, check, check, and oh HELL yes.
* ''Film/MulhollandDrive'' is a particularly surreal take on the horrors lurking in Hollywood. Shadowy figures, who may be mobsters of some kind of supernatural being, control people's fates in the industry. Success seems to have nothing to with talent and everything about who you know. One possible interpretation of the movie is as the tragic tale of the corruption and descent into evil of Betty/Diane as a result of the Hollywood environment.
*** Film Quarterly, describing Creator/DavidLynch's vision of Hollywood in it: "Human putrefaction ... in a city of lethal illusions."
* In ''Film/NottingHill'' the heroine has lived her life as a movie starlet amid boyfriends who mistreated her.
%%* ''Film/TheParty'' has this as one of its themes, but is (mostly) light-hearted about it.
* Creator/RobertAltman's ''Film/ThePlayer'' paints a blisteringly critical portrait of Hollywood culture.
* ''Film/TheRealBlonde'' satirizes the shallowness and dysfunction of the New York fashion and cinema scene.
* ''Film/{{Scream 3}}'': The third movie in the trilogy reveals that the entire series was the result of Sidney's mother Maureen Prescott's failed attempt to become a Hollywood actress, only to be forced into a CastingCouch gang rape by unscrupulous Hollywood producers.
* The documentary ''Film/ShowbizKids'' stops short of condemning the entire film industry, but it is a cautionary tale about the exploitation of child actors, and singles out widespread practices that have lifelong consequences on the young stars.
-->'''Creator/EvanRachelWood''': Any industry that has that much power and is that competitive, after a while it starts to become 'Well, who can take the most abuse?' Because somebody is in line to take your place, so you just start to allow yourself to be abused in some form or another. Every actor is guilty of that. They're lying if they say they're not because it's just part of the deal at this point. Until things change, there's always going to be somebody willing to take abuse and stay quiet.
* ''Film/{{SOB}}'': The title is an abbreviation of the term one character uses to describe how Hollywood operates: Standard Operational Bullshit.
* ''Film/StarryEyes'', a horror film about a young aspiring actress who finds that the CastingCouch is merely the least of the horrors she has to endure on the road to fame.
* Creator/DavidMamet's film ''Film/StateAndMain'' humorously portrays the trials and pitfalls and sacrifices in conscience that come with getting a Hollywood film made.
* There is elements of this in ''Film/{{Sunset}}''. Tom Mix himself is a decent fellow, but there is plenty of corruption and decadence.
* ''Film/SunsetBoulevard'', though its attitude toward the studio system was neutral enough that Paramount allowed the use of its own name and several names associated with it.
* ''Film/SwimmingWithSharks'' examines the systematic abuse of production interns, who must endure a year of abuse at the hands of their sadistic Hollywood bosses in order to get a foot in the door.
* The movie stars and celebrities who appear [[AsHimself As Themselves]] in ''Film/ThisIsTheEnd'' are pretty uniformly a bunch of self-obsessed, preening, pretentious, entitled, spoiled, debauched and decadent phonies and ''prima donnas'' who care about nothing but themselves and pretty clearly don't like each other very much once the surface of their cool personas is scratched. In fact, when people are raptured up to Heaven, no one at James Franco's party notices, implying that ''no one'' there is good enough to be raptured. The implication is dampened somewhat as the film goes on, however, since it's gradually revealed that this version of Heaven forgives people's sins pretty easily, and the conditions for being allowed into Heaven are unusually specific.
* ''Film/TortureGarden'': In "Terror Over Hollywood", ruthless young starlet Carla Hayes deliberately ruins her housemate's dress so she can steal her housemate's date with a producer. She then dumps the producer to go out with a Hollywood leading man. As she climbs the ladder, she inadvertently discovers that Hollywood is controlled by an elite that have had their [[BrainUploading brains uploaded]] into robot bodies.
* ''Film/TropicThunder'' is a merciless satire of selfish, cynical Hollywood moviemaking (Creator/TomCruise's rageaholic producer is perfectly willing to let his actors die).
* ''Film/UnderTheSilverLake'' depicts the titular Los Angeles neighborhood as an outwardly bright and friendly place inhabited by hipsters and aspiring artists, only to reveal a dark underbelly: A mysterious dog killer is decimating the neighborhood pets, young actresses are forced to prostitute themselves to make ends meet, there are creepy urban legends about a shadowy, succubus-like being called the Owl's Kiss that kills men in their sleep, and the protagonist eventually uncovers [[spoiler:a sinister cult of millionaires and Hollywood celebrities that controls all of popular culture and goes to murderous lengths in order to keep its existence a secret]].
* Taken together both ''Film/WaynesWorld'' films show the television and music industries to be this. Except for Music/AliceCooper.
* In ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', humans are intolerant and exploitative towards toons, while the toons themselves tend to wreak havoc with their wacky antics. There's also the one director who berated Roger for forgetting his lines and the film producer who was complicit in Roger's frame-up.

[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic'' frequently invokes this trope. The second singlest RunningGag of the show, aside from Sherman being a ButtMonkey, is the constant decrying of Hollywood aiming to satisfy the LowestCommonDenominator and failing even at ''that''.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'': The Browns briefly relocate to Los Angeles, and Cleveland quickly discovers that most of Hollywood is just pollution, wildfires, MASSIVE traffic problems, homelessness, shallow celebrities, crime, and grifters. Then they visit one of Hollywood's legal marijuana shops, and Cleveland immediately changes his mind, proclaiming the city to be amazing.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Duckman}}'': Downplayed in "Dammit Hollywood". All the usual negative aspects are there, showing an industry run by rich morons who couldn't find their butts with both hands, populated by self-absorbed egomaniac actors and sleazy directors, all wrapped up in a shallow culture of glitz and lies. That said, it's shown that as scummy as many of them are, a lot of them do want to bring joy and magic through movies, even if it doesn't always work out that way due to the misguided attempts of appealing to a broad audience. They're also shown to care about each other, in their own way.

* ''Film/TropicThunder'' is a merciless satire of selfish, cynical Hollywood moviemaking. (Creator/TomCruise's rageaholic producer is perfectly willing to let his actors die.)

* ''Film/TheLastCommand'' is about a former Tsarist Russian general living out a degrading, poverty-stricken life as a Hollywood film extra. He gets $7.50 a day.
* In ''Film/InsideDaisyClover'', the eponymous protagonist played by Creator/NatalieWood is a poor tomboyish girl who becomes a movie star from one day to the next and deeply resents that ControlFreak studio mogul Raymond Swan (Creator/ChristopherPlummer) wants total control over her life to the point of driving her to a mental breakdown.
* Creator/DavidMamet's film ''Film/StateAndMain'' humorously portrays the trials and pitfalls and sacrifices in conscience that come with getting a Hollywood film made.
* Creator/DavidLynch's film ''Film/InlandEmpire'', being about a film actress, also dabbles in the subject.

* ''Film/SunsetBoulevard'', though its attitude toward the studio system was neutral enough that Paramount allowed the use of its own name and several names associated with it.
* ''Film/TheBadAndTheBeautiful'' is one of the milder examinations of this trope.
* Creator/RobertAltman's ''Film/ThePlayer'' paints a blisteringly critical portrait of Hollywood culture.
%%* ''Film/TheParty'' has this as one of its themes, but is (mostly) light-hearted about it.
* ''Film/SwimmingWithSharks'' examines the systematic abuse of production interns, who must endure a year of abuse at the hands of their sadistic Hollywood bosses in order to get a foot in the door.
* ''Film/LivingInOblivion'' is three vignettes illustrating the nightmares involved in being an independent filmmaker.
* ''Film/TheRealBlonde'' satirizes the shallowness and dysfunction of the New York fashion and cinema scene.
* Taken together both ''Film/WaynesWorld'' films show the television and music industries to be this. Except for Music/AliceCooper.

* While focusing solely on a small group ''Film/BoogieNights'' is actually an inversion of this trope... in the porn industry, typically portrayed as being even more corrupt and exploitative than the mainstream film industry. However, while it's implied that this is the case in a larger context (several of the producers are hinted to have mob ties at the very least), the film focuses on the main characters bonding together as a loving family unit.
* ''Film/TropicThunder'' is a merciless satire of selfish, cynical Hollywood moviemaking. (Creator/TomCruise's rageaholic producer is perfectly willing to let his actors die.)
* There is elements of this in ''Film/{{Sunset}}''. Tom Mix himself is a decent fellow, but there is plenty of corruption and decadence.
* ''Film/{{SOB}}'': The title is an abbreviation of the term one character uses to describe how Hollywood operates: Standard Operational Bullshit.
* ''Film/AmericasSweethearts'': Mostly focused on the tropes surrounding celebrity romances, a studio executive exploiting it for movie promotion, and a publicist trying to keep the whole thing from blowing up in their collective faces.
* ''Film/TheCatsMeow'' is a tale of infidelity, murder, cover-up and blackmail that takes in Hollywood, "the place just off the coast of the planet Earth,": a place where the rich and powerful can get away with murder, everyone has their price, and the murder of a good man can go unmourned and unpunished.
* ''Film/KissKissBangBang'' portrays Hollywood as a weirdly glamorous and seriously fucked-up place that attracts the damaged and disturbed.
-->'''Harry''': It's abandonment, it's abuse, it's, "My uncle put his ping-ping in my papa!"... and then they all come out here! I swear to God, it's like somebody took America by the East Coast, and shook it, and all the normal girls managed to hang on.

* In ''Film/{{Argo}}'', one of the reasons for disguising the extraction operation as location scouting for a movie is that, with the Iran Hostage Crisis in full bloom, movie producers are some of the only people sleazy enough to still be doing business there. Chambers describes it as a place full of hacks and untalented people or productions and a shot of the famous Hollywood [[SignsOfDisrepair sign missing some letters]] underscores it.
-->'''Tony''': It's an exfil, from the worst place you can think of...\\
'''Chambers''': [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal City]]?

* In ''Film/NottingHill'' the heroine has lived her life as a movie starlet amid boyfriends who mistreated her.
* The movie stars and celebrities who appear [[AsHimself As Themselves]] in ''Film/ThisIsTheEnd'' are pretty uniformly a bunch of self-obsessed, preening, pretentious, entitled, spoiled, debauched and decadent phonies and ''prima donnas'' who care about nothing but themselves and pretty clearly don't like each other very much once the surface of their cool personas is scratched. In fact, when people are raptured up to Heaven, no one at James Franco's party notices, implying that ''no one'' there is good enough to be raptured. The implication is dampened somewhat as the film goes on, however, since it's gradually revealed that this version of Heaven forgives people's sins pretty easily, and the conditions for being allowed into Heaven are unusually specific.
* ''Film/AFaceInTheCrowd'' portrays the television industry much this way, at least the part revolving around Lonesome Rhodes, though the industry at the time was based in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity.

* ''Film/TheBarefootContessa'' depicts the movie business as full of cynical {{Jerkass}}es, with the occasional KnightInSourArmor around to make them look even worse by comparison. Titular character Maria Vargas has great success but doesn't enjoy it, writing everything off as phony.
* ''Film/HollywoodBoulevard'' is a cheap, sleazy, slightly exaggerated, and darkly funny look at the world of cheap, sleazy, 1970s exploitation film.
* Downplayed with ''Film/InALonelyPlace''. Struggling screenwriter Steele is accused of murdering a young coat-check girl that he invited to his house. He isn't taken seriously by other Hollywood crew and has a history of having severe anger issues towards staff, which Laurel finds out once the two of them start dating. At one point, he nearly kills a man with a rock as they argued over their dangerous driving.
* ''Film/EdWood'', while buoyed by the performance of Creator/JohnnyDepp and direction of Creator/TimBurton, still deals with this in its sympathetic but unsparing examination of Creator/BelaLugosi at the end of his career.
* ''Film/{{Ivansxtc}}'' doesn't paint a flattering picture of the movie industry, showing the egos, dirty politics, crass commercialism, and drug abuse involved in a seedy production company.

* Downplayed in ''Film/LaLaLand'' but the film shows just how often Mia is disrespected by casting directors -- at one point her emotional audition is interrupted for the sake of a phone call (which is based on something that actually happened to Ryan Gosling). She has to go to endless parties filled with shallow and vapid industry people in the hopes of making connections. Sebastian even calls it "the city where they praise everything and value nothing". The film's cynical look at Hollywood tends to get lost in pop culture, where the splashy musical numbers (particularly "City of Stars") are what's remembered.
* Lampshaded in ''Film/AustinPowersInGoldmember'': after two movies of having to get headaches dealing with Dr. Evil exploiting Virtucon's resources in childish attempts to TakeOverTheWorld, Number Two presents Dr. Evil with a business venture that is both highly profitable ''and'' vile in an attempt to curb his chronic BondVillainStupidity -- a Hollywood casting agency. [[spoiler:Didn't really work, but the Doctor was sorely tempted for a few seconds there, so hey, points for trying.]]
* ''Film/MulhollandDrive'' is a particularly surreal take on the horrors lurking in Hollywood. Shadowy figures, who may be mobsters of some kind of supernatural being, control people's fates in the industry. Success seems to have nothing to with talent and everything about who you know. One possible interpretation of the movie is as the tragic tale of the corruption and descent into evil of Betty/Diane as a result of the Hollywood environment.
*** Film Quarterly, describing Creator/DavidLynch's vision of Hollywood in it: "Human putrefaction ... in a city of lethal illusions."
* ''Film/TheLastOfSheila'': the main characters are a Hollywood producer, agent, writer, actress, wannabe producer, and a woman who grew up in Hollywood. They're all either selfish, ladder-climbing venal types or selfish, successful venal types, and ends with [[spoiler:two characters letting a double murderer go free so that they can get a movie produced to boost their careers.]]
* ''Film/LAConfidential'': Mickey Cohen's stolen heroin and call girls who look like film stars: HookersAndBlow, indeed.
* ''Film/BirdmanOrTheUnexpectedVirtueOfIgnorance'' doesn't deal with Hollywood directly but the title character struggles with his past in Hollywood and his desire to be respected critically drives the film's conflicts.
* In ''Film/BigFatLiar'', Hollywood in and of itself is not shown as a horrible place... but working for Marty Wolf definitely falls as an exaggerated (for comedy) example of this: the man is an absurdly colossal {{Jerkass}} that spends every waking moment treating every single human being he interacts with like worthless trash, often by screaming belittling insults to their faces. When the KidHero duo looks for people to perform a scam to get back at Wolf at the climax, they manage to enlist a literal '''army''' of pissed-off employees.
* Represented in ''Film/TheConIsOn'' by Jackie's second husband Gabriel. He is an egotistical film director, surrounded by an entourage of yes-men and hangers-on. He is having affairs with his leading lady and his assistant, regards his films being described as self-referential as a mark of genius and is obsessed with achieving legitimacy by winning awards.

* The documentary ''Film/ShowbizKids'' stops short of condemning the entire film industry, but it is a cautionary tale about the exploitation of child actors, and singles out widespread practices that have lifelong consequences on the young stars.
-->'''Creator/EvanRachelWood''': Any industry that has that much power and is that competitive, after a while it starts to become 'Well, who can take the most abuse?' Because somebody is in line to take your place, so you just start to allow yourself to be abused in some form or another. Every actor is guilty of that. They're lying if they say they're not because it's just part of the deal at this point. Until things change, there's always going to be somebody willing to take abuse and stay quiet.
* ''Film/TheAssistant'': While the film is set in the New York office of a Hollywood studio, it centers on an extremely unflattering look behind the scenes of the American film industry. Studio executives rule their companies like petty tyrants, and their minions are too beaten down or self-absorbed to fight back.

* In ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', humans are intolerant and exploitative towards toons, while the toons themselves tend to wreak havoc with their wacky antics. There's also the one director who berated Roger for forgetting and the film producer who was complicit in Roger's frame-up.

* In a cross with MysticalHollywood, the arc of ''ComicBook/AmericanVampire'' set in the 1920s shows that a coven of the AlwaysChaoticEvil Carpathian Vampires control old Hollywood, which they use to increase their financial and social control. They are also more than happy to feed on and kill the waves of desperate young people coming to Hollywood in hopes of working on the film industry, and they have more than enough power to easily cover it up, no matter how many go missing.

* In ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', humans are prejudiced and exploitative towards toons while the toons themselves tend to wreak havoc (albeit unintentionally) with their wacky antics. There's also the one director that berated Roger for forgetting his lines, as well as the film producer who was complicit in Roger's frame-up.

* In ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', humans are bigoted and exploitative towards toons while the toons themselves tend to wreak havoc (albeit unintentionally) with their wacky antics. There's also the one director that berated Roger for forgetting his lines, as well as the film producer who was complicit in Roger's frame-up.

* ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' is a {{Downplayed|Trope}} example, where Hollywood isn't presented as bad as other examples, but the humans are still shown to be bigoted and exploitive towards [[{{Toon}} toons]], while the toons themselves often wreak havoc (albeit unintentionally) due to their wacky antics.

WRONG! In Horrible Hollywood, the actors and actresses are brain-dead, spoiled, have a tendency towards fighting the law, like to engage in occasional sexual deviancy, and are [[HookersAndBlow addicted to various illegal substances and/or sex workers]]. Marriages rarely last more than a few years (and sometimes just a few hours), and almost everyone has ''at least'' [[SerialSpouse two divorces and remarriages under their belts]], and usually more. Everyone fears [[WhiteDwarfStarlet growing old and losing their fame]], so plastic surgery and desperate attempts to seem young abound. The directors are [[PrimaDonnaDirector egomaniac control freaks]] who wear funny pants and throw [[HairTriggerTemper petty tantrums]] at the slightest provocation. The assistants are overworked, underpaid, and might be [[DeadpanSnarker snarky towards the talent]], but this won't stop them from ruthlessly trying to climb the ladder -- and in this depraved environment, climbing to the top tends to be a [[CastingCouch horizontal sort of activity]]. The fans are insane and you might gain some [[StalkerWithACrush stalkers]]. The executives are fond of [[ExecutiveMeddling excessive meddling]], [[UsefulNotes/HollywoodAccounting screwing artists out of their royalties]] or [[DirtyOldMan otherwise,]] and/or are just plain [[CorruptCorporateExecutive corrupt]], and have people fired on the spot for being insufficiently sycophantic or causing some minor inconvenience. [[WritersSuck Writers are second-class citizens]] and {{Butt Monkey}}s. [[MenGetOldWomenGetReplaced Women who age and lose their sex appeal have trouble finding work, while aging barely has any effect on the career prospects of their male counterparts.]] Child stars almost always go off the deep end in some way(s) [[FormerChildStar when they grow up]]. Some people spend a lifetime WaitingForABreak that never comes. Absolutely everyone -- even those not actually ''in'' the entertainment industry -- is a StepfordSmiler [[SuchAPhony Phony]] who may be all smiles and charm and obsequiousness to your face, but only because they secretly hate you and can't wait for you to turn your back so they can stick a knife into it. Everywhere you look, crippling insecurities and neuroses are constantly being masked with bombastic, preening arrogance and ego.

%%* ''Series/{{Dirt}}''

* ''Film/{{Birdman}}'' doesn't deal with Hollywood directly but the title character struggles with his past in Hollywood and his desire to be respected critically drives the film's conflicts.

* Lynch's film ''Film/InlandEmpire'', being about a film actress, also dabbles in the subject.

* ''Hollywood Boulevard'' is a cheap, sleazy, slightly exaggerated, and darkly funny look at the world of cheap, sleazy, 1970s exploitation film.

* ''Ivansxtc'' doesn't paint a flattering picture of the movie industry, showing the egos, dirty politics, crass commercialism, and drug abuse involved in a seedy production company.

* Discussed at length in ''Hollywood Paparazzo''. It is explained that the rise of tabloid journalism and the {{paparazzi}} has led to celebrities becoming [[ArtistDisillusionment insular, screwed-up and totally alienated]] from the rest of society, who often go down a self-destructive path. In turn, the {{Paparazzi}} are self-obsessed people who run and hide from anyone they don't know to conceal their identities, people in a position of power are vain and power-hungry, and the fans are crazed lunatics who will stop at nothing to harass celebrities. The film highlights the absurdity of this culture with a well-adjusted young boy who acts just as cutthroat as the {{Paparazzi}} when it comes to getting celebrity photos.

* In ''Film/BigFatLiar'', Hollywood in and of itself is not shown as a horrible place... but working for Marty Wolf definitely falls as an exaggerated (for comedy) example of this: the man is an absurdly colossal {{Jerkass}} that spends every waking moment treating every single human being he interacts with like worthless trash, often by screaming belittling insults to their faces. When the KidHero duo looks for people to perform a MassiveMultiplayerScam to get back at Wolf at the climax, they manage to enlist a literal '''army''' of pissed-off employees.

* "Make the Cut", one of the haunted houses at [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal Singapore]]'s 2017 Theatre/HalloweenHorrorNights event, parodies the [[KoreanPopMusic K-pop version of this]], with aspiring singers and actors being [[BodyHorror mutilated via plastic surgery]] by the [[PunnyName K/LL]] Entertainment Group.

Compare MusicIsPolitics and WickedStage. See also {{Celebrity Is Overrated}}, which tends to go in line with this, and MysticalHollywood, when this trope is taken to an outright demonic level. See also: [[HollywoodStyle every trope on this wiki containing the word Hollywood.]]

Compare MusicIsPolitics and AbominableAuditorium. See also {{Celebrity Is Overrated}}, which tends to go in line with this, and MysticalHollywood, when this trope is taken to an outright demonic level. See also: [[HollywoodStyle every trope on this wiki containing the word Hollywood.]]

Compare MusicIsPolitics. See also {{Celebrity Is Overrated}}, which tends to go in line with this, and MysticalHollywood, when this trope is taken to an outright demonic level. See also: [[HollywoodStyle every trope on this wiki containing the word Hollywood.]]

WRONG! In Horrible Hollywood, the actors and actresses are brain-dead, spoiled, have a tendency towards fighting the law, like to engage in occasional sexual deviancy, and are [[HookersAndBlow addicted to various illegal substances and/or sex workers]]. Marriages rarely last more than a few years (and sometimes just a few hours), and almost everyone has ''at least'' [[SerialSpouse two divorces and remarriages under their belts]], and usually more. Everyone fears [[WhiteDwarfStarlet growing old and losing their fame]], so plastic surgery and desperate attempts to seem young abound. The directors are [[PrimaDonnaDirector egomaniac control freaks]] who wear funny pants and throw [[HairTriggerTemper petty tantrums]] at the slightest provocation. The assistants are overworked, underpaid, and might be [[DeadpanSnarker snarky towards the talent]], but this won't stop them from ruthlessly trying to climb the ladder -- and in this depraved environment, climbing to the top tends to be a [[CastingCouch horizontal sort of activity]]. The fans are insane and you might gain some [[StalkerWithACrush stalkers]]. The executives are fond of [[ExecutiveMeddling excessive meddling]], [[UsefulNotes/HollywoodAccounting screwing artists out of their royalties]] or [[DirtyOldMan otherwise,]] and/or are just plain [[CorruptCorporateExecutive corrupt]], and have people fired on the spot for being insufficiently sycophantic or causing some minor inconvenience. [[WritersSuck Writers are second-class citizens]] and {{Butt Monkey}}s. [[MenGetOldWomenGetReplaced Women who age and lose their sex appeal have trouble finding work, while aging barely has any affect on the career prospects of their male counterparts.]] Child stars almost always go off the deep end in some way(s) [[FormerChildStar when they grow up]]. Some people spend a lifetime WaitingForABreak that never comes. Absolutely everyone -- even those not actually ''in'' the entertainment industry -- is a StepfordSmiler [[SuchAPhony Phony]] who may be all smiles and charm and obsequiousness to your face, but only because they secretly hate you and can't wait for you to turn your back so they can stick a knife into it. Everywhere you look, crippling insecurities and neuroses are constantly being masked with bombastic, preening arrogance and ego.

SIDENOTE: This trope [[LondonEnglandSyndrome only applies to Hollywood, California]], not [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_(disambiguation) any of the other Hollywoods.]]

* ''Film/{{Bowfinger}}'' takes this as its premise and plays it for comedy more than satire. Bobby Bowfinger is an ultra-low budget, Grade Z filmmaker who has to do things like hire Mexican immigrants as his crew.

* While focusing solely on a small group ''Film/BoogieNights'' is actually an inversion of this trope... in the porn industry, typically portrayed as being even more corrupt and exploitative than the mainstream film industry. However, while it's implied that this is the case in a larger context (several of the producers are hinted to have mob ties at the very least), the film focusses on the main characters bonding together as a loving family unit.

* ''Film/{{SOB}}'': The title is an abbreviation the term one character uses to describe how Hollywood operates: Standard Operational Bullshit.

* ''Film/KissKissBangBang'' portrays Hollywood as a weirdly glamorous and seriously fucked up place which attracts the damaged and disturbed.

* ''Hollywood Boulevard'' is a cheap, sleazy, slightly exaggerated and darkly funny look at the world of cheap, sleazy, 1970's exploitation film.

* Lampshaded in ''Film/AustinPowersInGoldmember'': after two movies of having to get headaches dealing with Dr. Evil exploiting Virtucon's resources in childish attempts to TakeOverTheWorld, Number Two presents Dr. Evil with a business venture that is both highly profitable ''and'' vile in an attempt to curb his chronic BondVillainStupidity -- a Hollywood casting agency. [[spoiler:Didn't really worked, but the Doctor was sorely tempted for a few seconds there, so hey, points for trying.]]

* ''Film/TheLastOfSheila'': the main characters are a Hollywood producer, agent, writer, actress, wannabe producer and a woman who grew up in Hollywood. They're all either selfish, ladder-climbing venal types or selfish, successful venal types, and ends with [[spoiler:two characters letting a double murderer go free so that they can get a movie produced to boost their careers.]]

* ''Film/{{Birdman}}'' doesn't deal with Hollywood directly, but the title character struggles with his past in Hollywood and his desire to be respected critically drive the film's conflicts.

* Represented in ''Film/TheConIsOn'' by Jackie's second husband Gabriel. He is an egotistical film director, surrounded by an entourage of yes-men and hangers-on. He is having affairs with his leading lady and his assistant, regards his films being described as self-referential as a mark of genius, and is obsessed with a achieving legitimacy by winning awards.

* In the Creator/NeilGaiman story "The Goldfish Pool and Other Stories," a young British writer is invited to Hollywood to adapt a novel he wrote into a movie. He's immediately thrust into a Kafkaesque cycle of meetings with people he never sees again, while ExecutiveMeddling mutates his story into several different scripts (a horror story called ''Sons Of Man'' gradually becomes a feel-good comedy called ''I Knew The Bride When She Used To Rock And Roll''). Throughout, he ponders the story of a silent-film starlet who committed suicide in his hotel, as well as a running gag about two celebrities who were with Creator/JohnBelushi when he died.
* ''Literature/TheShining'': Despite the novel taking place in the Rocky Mountains, this trope still plays a minor part in the backstory, specifically in the background of the Overlooks most infamous owner, the HowardHughesHomage Horace Derwent. One of Derwent's many poorly planned investments was an ailing movie studio that had once been successfull making sappy family films but hit hard times when their most beloved child star O.D.'d on heroin at a party, with the studio covering up her death as a "wasting sickness" she got while entertaining orphans at a children's hospital.
* ''Literature/ValleyOfTheDolls'' is all about this, showing the effects of the old studio system, the greed, perversion and paranoia rampant throughout the entire show business industry. Each of the three women is affected differently, and all end up in the "valley of the dolls" -- addicted to prescription medications to cope with stress.

* The 70s ''Series/ElleryQueen'' episode "The Adventure of the Sinister Scenario" had the Queens, father and son, witness this for themselves when they go on the set of an adaptation of one of Ellery's books. This being an Ellery Queen mystery, this trope's horrible aspects culminate in murder.

* In one episode of ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'', Eric goes to Hollywood be a cast member of the SelfParody show ''Kid Gets Acquainted with the Universe'', he finds out that the actors on the show are either {{jerkass}}es or highly neurotic, the so-called "best writers in town" are actually small children, and the scripts are [[RecycledScript recycled]] many times and full of StylisticSuck.

* ''Series/{{JAG}}'': Harm's RomanticFalseLead Rene Peterson, in seasons five to seven, is very much a personification of this trope. An up and coming director of commercials and music videos, her neurotic personality traits are very much the antithesis of all the main characters.

* ''Series/TheLarrySandersShow'' mostly plays this trope straight, but it's nevertheless quite {{affectionate|Parody}} all the same. The main characters (both on-screen and off) of Larry's talk-show and his guests are certainly far from being free of egotism, insecurity, scheming, backbiting, troubled personal lives or cynicism, but at the same time they're not really malevolent either; they're just people with frailties and weaknesses like anyone else.

* This trope is the whole RealitySubtext both in and out universe in ''WebVideo/DemoReel''. Almost every main character has been burned by Hollywood one way or another, but Donnie, [[spoiler:who is a FormerChildStar whose mother was DrivenToSuicide after her own career died, causing the bad performance for which he is still blamed and bullied]], is practically ashes.
* ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'' has some RealitySubtext in this regard as well, due to all of the players being steadily working actors living in L.A. - though in a milder form, since most of the cast are working as voice actors and voice directors (and largely got their start in video game production and/or anime dubbing), not directly in Hollywood. Still, they will occasionally mention how incredibly lucky they were to find such a close-knit, genuine and supportive group of friends not just in their adult work environment[[note]] (Most people don't make any more close friends after college.) [[/note]] but in L.A.'s cut-throat entertainment industry. Since the genre of the mothership show is high fantasy, the circumstances of the player's day jobs mostly just come up when they're speaking out-of-character (e.g. in the after-show ''Talks Machina'' or the indepth personal interviews titled ''Between the Sheets'') or in the psychological horror one-shot adventure ''Liam's Quest: Full Circle'' where the cast play child versions of themselves, traversing a post-apocalyptic nightmare version of the Hollywood area and their usual recording studios. While most of the cast just talk about being awkward/nerdy kids dealing with regular-type pubescent angst and loneliness, [[Creator/SamRiegel Sam]] mentions that he didn't have any friends as a young child because he was too busy working on Broadway to go to school. And [[Creator/TaliesinJaffe Taliesin]], [[FormerChildStar who was put in front of a camera (naked!) when he was 5 by his film-business parents and according to IMDB kept working steadily until he hit puberty]], speaks with a certain bitterness about the fact that he was a very small, cherubic and "marketable" child.[[note]] (One wonders if the "recovering teenage goth" thing may not have been his way of ensuring that he stopped being so cute and so could at least attend highschool like a normal kid...) [[/note]] In the end, during [[Heartwarming/CriticalRoleOneShots his love-letter to his friends]], [[Creator/LiamOBrien Liam]] even congratulated Taliesin specifically on having survived a Hollywood childhood with his heart and spirit intact.

* ''Film/AmericasSweethearts'': Mostly focused on the tropes surrounding celebrity romances and an agent exploiting it for movie promotion.

* Several issues of ''Cinema Purgatorio'' were hatchet jobs directed at the dark side of Hollywood culture - some would aim at a single creator, while others just criticized standard practices, such as the disregard for stuntpeople's health, the hypocrisy of political persecutions, and the criminal behavior that's so often swept under the rug.