All situations are ripe for abuse, when the abuser is the one with the power. And there are lots of abusers with power.
Kicked out of another organization:
http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/16/media/producers-guild-weinstein/index.html
It is common practice to conduct business in hotel suites at film festivals. A lot of distribution and production deals are made at film festivals. That is the main reason for a big film festival, to sell film to distributors.
Every production company and distribution company rents big hotel suites for cocktail parties and meetings. It would not be unusual to be invited to the Miramax Suite or a producer’s suite.
I really wish I had your kind of faith in corporate HR departments and lawyers. In my experience, the HR departments exist to serve the organization, not the low level employees. Sure, when a woman reports harassment or abuse from a peer or lower level employee the HR department may step in to enforce the rule book and protect the company (not the employee) from a lawsuit. When the accusation is against a high level, big money principal with powerful allies on the BOD, do you really think they are going to get rid of that guy?
Sadly, in most cases They are paid to protect the status quo and make problems for the organization “go away” and they will do whatever is necessary to accomplish that.
Most production companies are treated as independents. When you see a movie come out under ‘Warner Brothers’ it was produced independently and sold to Warner Brothers for their strong marketing and distribution.
So, they are small and large entities who employ contract workers for project production. They keep the minimum full time employees who would fall under HR
@busdriver11 – yes, those situations are ripe for abuse – and most people know it.
Which is why Weinstein arranged his meetings with his young prey through female assistants: the actresses thought there was going to be another person, a woman at that, to keep things on the up-and-up. Only once they arrived at the suite it turned out the assistant wasn’t there – or would leave right away – leaving them alone with a predator.
But there are also many other work situations that are ripe for abuse that don’t involve hotels, or the entertainment business. The vast majority of sexual abuse/harassment occurs in much more quotidian settings.
BTW, if you read the New Yorker article, the very first assault discussed occurred in TWC’s offices–not a hotel room.
Geez, I’m having flashbacks to Jim Comey’s dinner with POTUS that turned out, to his surprise, to be awkwardly private. No wonder that resonated with so many women.
You’re not saying Mr. Comey was sexually harassed, are you? 
Then again, I guess we can wait for the memo 
I remember that some of Comey’s questioners asked why he didn’t just get up and walk out, or gasp in horror at the idea of being asked for his loyalty. At the time of Comey’s hearing, people did compare his situation to that of a woman asked why she didn’t fight back harder.
Victim-blaming.
I think this piece by Scott Rosenberg who worked with Miramax from 1994 though 2000 is a very honest, believable explanation of why HW was able to get away with this for so many years. He’s a screenwriter so it’s a very easy read.
He confirms that “everyone knew” but then goes on to say:
Then he apologizes.
Wow. @HarvestMoon1 that is a great account. Thanks for sharing.
@HarvestMoon1 - excellent (and remarkably well written) article. Thanks for sharing.
Wow powerful. And sad.
@HarvestMoon1 I too thank you—it really comes across as honest.
I always liked Carrie Fisher. 
"‘I just saw blank at Sony studios. I knew he would probably be there, so I went to his office and personally delivered a Tiffany’s box wrapped with the white bow. It was a cow tongue from Jerry’s Famous Deli with a note that said, ‘If you ever touch my darling Heather or any other woman again, the next delivery will be something of yours in a much smaller box.’”
https://www.thecut.com/2017/10/carrie-fisher-sent-cow-tongue-to-man-who-assaulted-friend.html
Wow!
How brilliant of Carrie!
I wish I were a feisty woman like that.
Except Meryl Streep.