Television shows. Biopics. Documentaries. The fascination of seeing a film or show inspired by a true story is a feeling Hollywood has captured and exploited. Within the past few years, major pictures and hit television shows shone a light on not only celebrities but people who — by momentary fame or infamy — have stepped into the spotlight. Examples include “King Richard” (2021), “Elvis” (2022), “Priscilla” (2023), “Pam & Tommy,” “The Act,” and most recently, “May December” (2023). While it’s expected to enjoy these mediums of entertainment, I can’t help but think of the ethics of it all.

To have one’s life broadcasted on screen to thousands — perhaps millions of people — is  no small feat. While entertaining audiences, these films and television shows have also received backlash from the public, the celebrity or person the media is inspired by or even living relatives. 

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This begs the question: How much privacy is someone in the spotlight entitled to? What is the price of fame?

Over the years, celebrity culture seems to have skyrocketed, especially with the introduction and rise of several social media platforms like X — formerly known as Twitter — Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram. Celebrities can now interact directly with their mass audience. While this has benefits like connectivity and authenticity, this one-click stop into a celebrity’s life has snowballed. 

The internet has placed all information at our fingertips, including scandalous histories, that celebrities would rather forget. The dramatic miniseries “Pam & Tommy” aired exclusively on Hulu in 2022. The miniseries broadcasted the marriage between Pamela Anderson (Lily James)  and Tommy Lee (Sebastian Stan) — their ups and downs, their stint with theft and the illegal distribution of the couple’s intimate tape recorded while on their honeymoon. The series was made without the involvement or permission of Anderson. Anderson discussed the show with Variety, saying, “The idea of the whole thing happening was just really crushing for me.”

This sort of controversy between biopic and subject is not new, and Anderson isn’t the first celebrity to be displeased with a show made about their life — without their consent. 

Back in 2009, the biopic “Notorious” was made, focusing on the life and untimely passing of the Notorious B.I.G. (Jamal Woolard) Intertwined with his life and success was his romantic involvement with rapper Lil’ Kim (Naturi Naughton) — who disagreed with the portrayal of her life on the big screen. She said to The San Diego Union-Tribune, “The film studio and producers involved were more concerned about painting me as a ‘character’ … instead of a person with talent, self-respect and who was able to achieve her own career success through hard work.”

However, it’s not just celebrities dealing with this. Hulu released “The Act” in 2019, a television series that follows Gypsy Rose Blanchard (Joey King), a girl coping with Munchausen syndrome by proxy. This illness involves a caretaker either fabricating  or causing symptoms to make it appear that a child is sick. The situation between Blanchard and her mother ultimately led to Blanchard serving time in prison on a second-degree murder charge. 

Upon her release, Blanchard commented on “The Act” to Bustle stating, “I feel it is very unfair and unprofessional that producers and co-producer Michelle Dean has used my actual name and story without my consent, and the life rights to do so.”

Most recently, there was a controversy between Vili Fualaau and the new movie “May December” (2023). Based on Fualaau’s life, the drama film “May December” follows the fictional events of actor Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) as she travels to Savannah, Georgia, to research her part in a movie that follows the scandalous love affair between characters Gracie (Julianne Moore) and Joe (Charles Melton). 

Now, while the character Elizabeth is fiction, the unfortunate and turbulent relationship between Fualaau and his former sixth-grade teacher, Mary Kay Letourneau, is not. While the movie is blatantly based on Fualaau, no one involved in “May December” reached out to him. He told The Hollywood Reporter, “I’m offended by the entire project and the lack of respect given to me — who lived through a real story and is still living it.”

These are just a few examples of Hollywood taking advantage of the lives of those in the spotlight in the name of entertainment. Privacy is a right, not a privilege, and regardless of the scale of the spotlight, there must be systems in place to gain the consent of the subject of these projects. No matter how public, people’s lives, relationships and convictions are, they’re not fair game to Hollywood. This is not entertainment. It is exploitation.