I swear that half my emails—like half the conversations around town, I suppose—could be categorized as either: Can you believe how badly this company is screwing this person? or Can you believe how badly this person is screwing this company? Those sentiments are not unique to Hollywood, of course, but I do think there’s a heightened mistrust ingrained in a business that began through decades of exploitation of talented people, then flipped to a long era where in-demand talent could—with many exceptions—earn what they were worth (and then some), and is now regressing back to an earlier, take-it-or-leave-it period for all but those with the most leverage.