Burn It Down

Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood

By: Maureen Ryan

Narrated by: Samara Naeymi

Length: 13 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER

An NPR Best Book of the Year

In this spectacular, newsmaking exposé that has the entertainment industry abuzz and on its heels, Vanity Fair's Maureen Ryan blows the lid off patterns of harassment and bias in Hollywood, the grassroots reforms under way, and the labor and activist revolutions that recent scandals have ignited.

It is never just One Bad Man.

Abuse and exploitation of workers is baked into the very foundations of the entertainment industry. To break the cycle and make change that sticks, it’s important to stop looking at headline-making stories as individual events. Instead, one must look closely at the bigger picture, to see how abusers are created, fed, rewarded, allowed to persist, and, with the right tools, how they can be excised.

In Burn It Down, veteran reporter Maureen Ryan does just that. She draws on decades of experience to connect the dots and illuminate the deeper forces sustaining Hollywood’s corrosive culture. Fresh reporting sheds light on problematic situations at companies like Lucasfilm and shows like Lost, Saturday Night Live, The Goldbergs, Sleepy Hollow, Curb Your Enthusiasm and more.

Interviews with actors and famous creatives like Evan Rachel Wood, Harold Perrineau, Damon Lindelof, and Orlando Jones abound. Ryan dismantles, one by one, the myths that the entertainment industry promotes about itself, which have allowed abusers to thrive and the industry to avoid accountability—myths about Hollywood as a meritocracy, what it takes to be creative, the value of human dignity, and more.

Weaving together insights from industry insiders, historical context, and pop-culture analysis, Burn It Down paints a groundbreaking and urgently necessary portrait of what’s gone wrong in the entertainment world—and how we can fix it.

©2023 Maureen Ryan (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

Illuminating and necessary

Burn it Down was a deeply riveting and engrossing novel that stayed with me long after each listen. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to peek behind the proverbial curtain and deep dive into toxic, predatory Hollywood workplace cultures that people of any workplace can probably relate to on some level.

Eye opening!

Highly recommend this. I was riveted even when the narrative focused on shows I had not watched.

Good reporting

That was a lot of work! Ryan did the thing, and the results are good. No matter how difficult Hollywood is and has always been, this book opens up the problem and creates a process for a better creative space. Well done.

Hollywood Is Burning

This was a great behind the scenes look into some of the worst parts of Hollywood. So many of my tv questions were answered with these interviews and while this book doesn’t have a final answer to the overall problem in Hollywood but it does lay out some steps we can take and point out while it is little, changes are being mad. I really wish she spoke about The Vampire Diaries cause what they did to Kat Graham was terrible

Incisive, shocking, and inspiring

Fantastic book about the institutional oppression/abuse of the patriarchy and white supremacy. While it’s specifically about Hollywood, so much of what is examined takes place in all sectors of our society. Bravo to Ryan for shining a light. Also, I fully admit I enjoy gossip, and there are some juicy (and enraging) tales.

Truth bombs

She holds us all accountable. Such an important book. A must read for anyone who works in tv

Great Read for Industry Newcomers

I work in the industry, so none of this is news, but it's validating. If you're thinking about becoming a filmmaker, most of us are trying to escape. Ryan explains why. It's one of the most exhausting, toxic industries and I felt seen with my experience.

Informative, timely and insightful

Highly recommended. This will give you great insight into the current strike and what’s needed to improve the industry.

Really Disturbing

No wonder people in the entertainment industry are fighting addiction and can’t make their personal lives work.
This is an expose of the most toxic exploitative work environment imaginable.

Necessary, but a Bit Unfocused

As others have said, this book is necessary. Heck, we probably need a whole series of them. Ryan’s unveiling of some truly nightmarish behavior behind the scenes is riveting and indicting. But those moments are also unfocused at times. You’re listening to a chapter about Lost and all of a sudden, Ryan’s writing about Mad Men for a few random pages before returning to finish her point about Lost. The tone also isn’t for me. I think you can make your points and inform readers without devolving into sarcasm and snark. Still, this is an essential read for anyone interested in the business of Hollywood or how big corporations continue to put profit ahead of people, even to the point of covering up abuse, assault and other awful crimes.