Casting Couch: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

The time-dishonored method for young aspiring actresses (and actors, too) to advance their careers: by sleeping with the producer. Although the term itself stems from the entertainment industry, the concept itself is universal and spans numerous business paths.

 

Naturally, this is very common in porn. There are sites ([[Blatant Lies|claiming]]) to specialize in it.

 

To avoid [[Flame War|controversy]], [[Real Life]] examples [[No Real Life Examples, Please|should not be discussed]]. Examples should stick to this trope as treated in fictional shows about show business.

 

 

{{noreallife|All The Tropes is not a gossip site.}}

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* In ''[[Tokyo Babylon]]'', Subaru encounters the ghost of an aspiring actress who had resorted to this to land a minor role in a film. While the producer did give her the part, the film ended up getting canceled because the lead actress had a breakdown and walked off the set. The woman [[Driven to Suicide|threw herself off a building]] in despair shortly afterward.

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* Starlight in ''[[The Boys]]'' is told she has to give The Homelander, A-Train and Black Noir oral sex or she won't be allowed on the team.

 

== [[Film]] ==

* In ''[[Chicago]]'', Roxie is implied to have slept with Fred Caseley because he was lying about having connections in the show biz and finding her chances.

* The whole premise of ''[[The Lonely Lady]]''. Apparently everyone in Hollywood wants to get into the pants of aspiring screenwriters, or at least aspiring screenwriters who look like [[Pia Zadora]].

* In ''[[Bunty Aur Babli]]'', Vimmi wants to enter the Miss India pageant, but when [[My Girl Is Not a Slut|she refuses to comply with this trope]], she is dropped from the contestant roster.

 

* In ''[[Entourage]]'', the guys often try this, but they never really score, probably because it would be too unsavory.

** In one particular episode, a well-heeled investor wants [[The Charmer|Vince]] to sleep with his (the investor's) wife, before he'll front the money needed to make Vince's pet project. Apparently, she's a big fan. Vince ultimately refuses and the guys finance the movie themselves.

* ''[[Friends]]'': Joey is led to believe that he will not get a part on ''[[Days of Our Lives]]'' if he does not sleep with the producer. He decides not to sleep with her because he does not wish to get the part that way. However, when he stands up to her he is offered a better part (and ends up sleeping with her anyway).

** Given Joey's immediate reaction after telling his friends (that he needs to go take a shower), it seems more likely that rather than offer him a part because he stood up to her, she instead upped her offer and he accepted it.

* In ''[[Castle]]'', an actress begins a relationship with Castle and Beckett accuses her of only sleeping with him to get cast in the film adaptation of the ''Nikki Heat'' books. Castle brings up the possibility to her which sends the actress running away crying. It later turns out that Beckett ''was'' right as one of their suspects', the head of TV network, alibi was that he sleeping with the same actress the night of the victim's murder because she wanted a role on one of his sitcoms. The actress later seems a bit remorseful that she had to lie to Castle about her intentions.

** Castle later recommends her for the role, because she was a good enough actress to fool him.

* In ''[[Married... with Children]]'', Al gets himself a [[Vanity License Plate]] that reads something like "PRODUCR" for a trip to Hollywood.

* Subverted in ''[[30 Rock]]'' when Jenna sleeps with the man she thinks is Jack's boss to avoid being the actor who's about to be fired from the show. Except that the man was an actor ''playing'' Jack's boss in the upcoming sketch that she mistook for the real thing. Also, the rumor about them firing an actor was completely made up.

* In an early episode of ''[[Glee]]'', [[Depraved Bisexual|Sandy]] refers to a couch in his living room as such.

* A ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus|Monty Python]]'' sketch has a rural gent (John Cleese) whose "rustic monologue" is cut short complain: "I'm not sleeping with that producer again."

 

== [[Theater]] ==

* In ''[[Follies]]'', retired Broadway producer Dimitri Weismann brags about having used this on his girls.

* In ''[[Evita]]'', this is mostly how Eva worked her way up before marrying Juan Peron.

* In ''[[City of Angels (musical)|City of Angels]]'', Buddy Fidler casts his wife, Carla Haywood, as Alaura, and cheats on her with the starlet who plays Mallory. As Carla says, "It's hard to replace someone who's sleeping with the director. Of course, in this director's case, that's a cottage industry." The [[Show Within a Show]] also has a flashback in which Irwin S. Irving (Buddy's [[And You Were There|counterpart]]) is caught trying to make a star out of Bobbi.

* In ''[[Fame]]'', it is implied Carmen Diaz is stuck in a nightmarish prolonged casting couch situation, beginning with the classic scene but turning into an abusive relationship.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

[[Category:Sex Tropes]]

[[Category:Truth in Television]]

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