18 hours ago
3
Really seems like there are so many of these guys now? While it’s probably not good for our society, frauds like Zach Horwitz are wonderful fodder for documentary stuff, and Hollywood Hustler: Glitz, Glam, Scam on Prime Video is the latest. The three-episode docuseries, directed by Rebecca Chaiklin and executive produced by Chaiklin with Chris Smith, each Emmy-nominated for their work on Tiger King, interviews Horwitz’s ex-wife, his former friends, various bilked investors, and more – including Horwitz’s Las Vegas mistress – as it tracks how his lavish lifestyle was not a manifestation of grindset, but a ponzi scheme worth hundreds of millions, much of which is still missing.
HOLLYWOOD HUSTLER – GLITZ, GLAM, SCAM: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: A luxury sports car pushes around a scenic bend on the Pacific Coast Highway. We hear a voice message from Zach Horwitz. “I get that there’s a ton of shit that’s in a grey area, looks weird…”
The Gist: As Mallory Hagedorn tells it, she was swept up in the sweet life of Zach Horwitz the second they met, in 2009 at Indiana University. Handsome and confident and from apparent wealth, Horwitz brought Hagedorn and college friends like Justin Scheffel and Stefan Cooper along as his entrepreneurial hustle eclipsed their college life. Fül, his smoothie startup in Chicago, failed. But so what? Horwitz had Howard Schultz, the former Starbucks CEO, on speed-dial. Mallory moved to Los Angeles with Zach, and by 2014, they were engaged.
“I think he had a deep desire to be important, and to be famous.” That’s Cooper in Hollywood Hustler: Glitz, Glam, Scam, and it’s Exhibit A for what basically everybody in Horwitz’s life says. They believed in his promises as much as he believed in his dreams. To act – footage from his low-budget outings as “Zach Avery” reveal a profound lack of talent – to be seen – there he is at the Golden Globes; turns out he kind of just leaned on the sign outside – and to live life like a grindset king from the age of too many manosphere podcasts. A matte black Lambo. A private jet. A mansion in Beverlywood for his family, which by now included two young children.
All financed on the backs of investors, who were sometimes his friends, and who all believed his lies.
Was Horwitz getting texts from Shultz? It sure seemed like it. Were his promises to investors sound? “The original pitch and the rate of return seemed interesting, and sexy,” investor Doug Pacht says. He reinvested. And what about those contracts Horwitz had in hand, to license film content to big streamers like Netflix and HBO? The documents fooled the right rich people, who opened their wallets, and Zach Horwitz just kept living that baller life. Entourage much?
Hollywood Hustler kicks off with Horwitz’s arrest in April 2021. So as it tells this backstory and drives toward the moment of truth – when the scam financials fell apart, and the FBI got involved – the docuseries focuses on the people Horwitz hurt and who he left behind. (His wife Mallory chief among them.) They are the collectively duped, says New Yorker staff writer Evan Osnos, who wrote a feature about Horwitz’s scheme. “The people closest to him were caught completely unaware.”
Photo: Prime VideoWhat Shows Will It Remind You Of? The Entourage angle becomes quickly apparent in Hollywood Hustler, as it gets into Horwitz’s movie star dreams and beyond-his-means big money spends. So it’s hilarious when, minutes into the doc, Mallory Hagedorn is like: “He watched Entourage over and over again.”
Fakery, though, is an entertainment business commodity, and its fallout can be tracked through documentary material. Generation Hustle. The Hollywood Con Queen. And be sure to add the inevitable Bitcoin twist, for extra heinous “nothing is real” spice.
Or you could watch an entirely different documentary about Zach Horwitz and his schemes, which came out literally last year. Directed by David Darg, Bad Actor: A Hollywood Ponzi Scheme interviews a few of the same people as Hollywood Hustler as it explores Horwitz’ life and lies through the lens of his absolutely terrible acting. Bad Actor streams on Hulu.
Our Take: It can’t be fun to admit on camera that you were a dupe-ee. But over and over again in Hollywood Hustler: Glitz, Glam, Scam, that’s what happens. Zach Horwitz’ ex-wife, his closest friends, the business types who gave him big stacks of cash – everybody says nobody knew. But a lot of them also say they never asked any questions. When the private jet showed up, they got on it. Maybe they bought into the lies because it was all part of the bigger lie we’re all telling ourselves. That the life we deserve, full of better parties and bigger paydays, is right around the corner. Zach Horwitz was one of these people with his shame button switched off. Why not lie to everyone until it becomes true?
It’s crazy that there is just documentary after documentary about this now, the tempting idea, as Evan Osnos says in Hollywood Hustler, “to fake it til you make it.” Or not so crazy. The players and the gameboard are different, but the style of Zach Horwitz’ sham hustle is the same as what Elizabeth Holmes pulled with Theranos. It’s the same as Nicole Daedone and Orgasm Inc: The Story of OneTaste. It’s the fact that all the people in Horwitz’ life trusted the aura, the social media, the assurances of legitimacy, and nobody ever made a phone call to verify anything until the checks stopped showing up. Can you blame any of them? Sometimes it seems like nothing is real anymore. Might as well get on the jet.
Photo: Courtesy of PrimeSex and Skin: Some suggestive material.
Parting Shot: “Everyone knows the mistress has more fun.” Meet Bexxx, a dancer and performer in Las Vegas, who sets up Episode 2 of Hollywood Hustler with a thirsty tease. “I hold the key to many people’s secrets.”
Sleeper Star: We really liked the juxtaposition Hollywood Hustler establishes between Zach’s smooth operator mythmaking and the reactions from Mallory’s plainspoken, small town Indiana parents.
Most Pilot-y Line: New Yorker staff writer Evan Osnos: “There was something about Zach Horwitz that just pulled people in, to such a bewitching extent.”
Our Call: Hollywood Hustler: Glitz, Glam, Scam is a Stream It, but on a societal level, it might make you feel like Zach Horwitz’s loved ones, friends, or one of his hundreds of defrauded investors, who were sometimes those same loved ones or friends. It’s so aggravating that terrible people wired like Horwitz just seem to be multiplying.
How To Watch Hollywood Hustler
If you aren’t a Prime Video subscriber yet, you can get started with a 30-day Amazon Prime free trial, including Prime perks like the Prime Video streaming service, free two-day shipping, exclusive deals, and more. After the free trial, Amazon Prime costs $14.99/month or $139/year.
All 18- to 24-year-olds, regardless of student status, are eligible for a discounted Prime for Young Adults membership as well, with age verification. After a six-month free trial, you’ll pay 50% off the standard Prime monthly price of $14.99/month — just $7.49/month — for up to six years and get all the perks.
Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.
English (US)