Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s co-creator and writer Maurissa Tancharoen has revealed that she was asked if she was a porn star on her first job.
Speaking to BuzzFeed, Tancharoen recalls how she was initially overjoyed upon selling a film script to a studio back in 2001.
However, things quickly took a turn for the worse after an executive began asking her for dinner and inquiring about her dating life. One night at 2am, the executive sent Tancharoen an email with the subject line “Is this you?”
The email contained an explicit picture of an Asian porn star engaged in sexual acts.
“Needless to say, my big break was completely taken away from me,” Tancharoen said. “Of course, I took all the appropriate steps and sent that email to my reps, but that will forever be what I remember about getting one of my first jobs.”
Tancharoen added that she is grateful for her position as cocreator and showrunner on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
“The fact that I am in this position of running a TV show, that this is a very rare thing, is not lost on me at all.” she said. “You learn how to work through the system.”
In terms of dealing with inappopriate behaviour in the workplace, Tancharoen’s best strategy is to downplay it. “It’s something we need to do, to play well with others and to work and to succeed.”
