CONTENT WARNING: This article discusses sexual misconduct.
A bunch of the One Tree Hill cast members have reflected on a very awkies scene that unfolded whilst filming the hit teen drama in the early oughts.
Hilarie Burton, who plays Peyton on the show, hosts a podcast called Drama Queens with former cast mates Sophia Bush and Bethany Joy Lenz and they unearthed some pretty uncomfy stuff in the latest episode of the show about the season five episode of the show “Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace”.
Burton revealed during the podcast episode that her boss — who she wasn’t speaking to at the time — had written himself into a scene just so he could interact with her.
“I wasn’t speaking to him in real life, and so he wrote himself into the episode of me hugging him,” Burton said.
“That is so psychotic,” Bush replied.
“Can you guys imagine Shonda Rhimes or Aaron Sorkin casting themselves on their own show?”
The boss, who was not named in the podcast, was only referred to as Voldemort by Burton for the duration of the episode.
As is the nature of the internet though, people have been doing some digging to uncover the potential identity of this mystery boss man.
As per Entertainment Weekly, Mark Schwalm, who was the creator of the show, wrote the episode in question and also made an on-screen appearance as a character named Max.
This isn’t the first time Schwalm has been accused of creepy behaviour and a misuse of power on set.
In 2017, 18 female cast and crew members of One Tree Hill penned an open letter and accused him of sexual harassment as well as physical and emotional manipulation.
Schwalm has not addressed any of the allegations made against him publicly.
Burton also recounted that her discomfort and anxiety around the script for “Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace” prompted her to bring her father with her to the set on the day of filming.
“It was so creepy,” she said.
“I got the script and I was like, ‘All right, it’s one day of work. It’s just one day of work.’ And you know my boyfriend’s dad was directing, and my brother’s on set. There’s all these dudes on set and it just wasn’t quite enough, so I invited my dad to work this day and my dad came and sat behind the monitor the whole day.”
Burton would stay close to her father in between takes so as to not have any further uncomfortable interactions.
“You can’t touch me, you can’t pull me into a sidebar conversation, you can’t do any of that if I’m just making jokes with my dad,” she said.
“What an awkward day at work,” Burton added about the whole situation and yikes — an awkward day indeed.
Help is available.
- If you require immediate assistance, please call 000.
- If you’d like to speak to someone about sexual violence, please call the 1800 Respect hotline on 1800 737 732 or chat online.
- Under 25? You can reach Kids Helpline at 1800 55 1800 or chat online.
