Scott Rudin Will Also 'Step Back' from Film and Streaming Projects Following Workplace Abuse Allegations

As BroadwayWorld reported over the weekend, following a recent story by the Hollywood Reporter about stage and screen producer Scott Rudin's abusive workplace behavior, the producer has finally responded to the various allegations, vowing to "step back from active participation on our Broadway productions."

Now according to Variety, Rudin has decided to take his actions a step further by also removing himself from film and streaming projects.

"When I commented over the weekend, I was focused on Broadway reopening successfully and not wanting my previous behavior to detract from everyone's efforts to return. It's clear to me I should take the same path in film and streaming. I am profoundly sorry for the pain my behavior has caused and I take this step with a commitment to grow and change," Rudin explained. "Much has been written about my history of troubling interactions with colleagues, and I am profoundly sorry for the pain my behavior caused to individuals, directly and indirectly."

His upcoming film projects include The Woman in the Window and The Humans.

The Reporter article spoke to to several ex-Rudin staffers who detail volatile and 'traumatizing' past experiences. The stories of abuse range from verbal tirades, to throwing a laptop at a window, and even smashing a computer monitor on an assistant's hand. The full story is available here.

In response, theatre makers are gathering Thursday, April 22 (1pm ET), for a March on Broadway. The event is organized in protest of not only recent events surrounding Rudin, but also the issue of transparency from the Actor's Equity Association and the overall lack of representation for the BIPOC, AAPI, Trans, Non-Binary, and gender-nonconforming communities that have come to light during the shutdown.

The march plans to start at Columbus Circle and will make four more stops: The Winter Garden Theatre where The Music Man is set to open, the office building of Actor's Equity Association, the office building of Scott Rudin, and Union Square.

Since his first Broadway producing credit for 1993's Face Value, Rudin has produced dozens of Broadway shows. He has won Tony Awards for The Ferryman, The Boys in the Band, Hello, Dolly!, The Humans, A View from the Bridge, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Skylight, A Raisin in the Sun, Death of a Salesman, The Book of Mormon, Fences, God of Carnage, The History Boys, Doubt, The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, Copenhagen, and Passion.

Rudin's recent slate of Broadway shows included West Side Story, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Book of Mormon. Before the onset fo the pandemic, he was due to open a revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and the West End transfer of The Lehman Trilogy. Rudin's next Broadway project was to be the upcoming revival of The Music Man, starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster.

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