How the 'Bad Actor' Documentary Exposed Hollywood's Ponzi Scheme

SPOILER WARNING: This story contains plot details from “Bad Actor: A Hollywood Ponzi Scheme,” which premiered Thursday at the Tribeca Festival.

Is it easy to be deceived?

That's the central question of “Bad Actor: A Hollywood Ponzi Scheme,” a documentary premiering this week at the Tribeca Festival that details aspiring movie star Zach Avery (aka Horwitz) who defrauded investors out of $227 million and won the biggest Ponzi in the entertainment industry. scheme. Nobody ever believes it they would have be the ones stupid enough to ignore the warning signs and fall prey to such a hoax. So how exactly did Horwitz, a D-list actor with no notable credits, fool so many people? Director Joslyn Jensen, who appears throughout the film while interviewing law enforcement, scam victims and people who know Horwitz, ultimately discovered that it was much easier than people think to be deceived.

After all, she wasn't the one who directed the film.

Although Jensen introduces herself as the filmmaker to everyone she meets in the documentary, it is revealed in the final moments of “Bad Actor” that Jensen is just an actor playing a director. Documentary filmmaker David Darg, whose credits include the Oscar-nominated short film “Body Team 12,” was actually the one behind the camera.

“I knew it would be very unlikely that we would have access to Zach Avery,” Darg said during a joint Zoom interview with Jensen. “So I started thinking about creating a film that would be an act of deception; how we could deceive our audience in order to show how easy it is to be deceived.

So Jensen has been claiming for months, on and off screen, that she made a documentary for Neon that is now in competition at Tribeca. To mix the lines of fiction and reality, it was publication about the project on Instagramwhere her friend, Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone, was one of many people who commented to congratulate Jensen on her directorial debut.

“It was uncomfortable introducing myself as the director of this film to my family and friends,” Jensen says. “But it was worth it because our goal is to give the public the experience that we had, which is the revelation that anyone can get scammed.” As for Gladstone, the faux documentarian adds: “I may have talked to her about making this film a while ago, but she's had a busy year. I don't expect her to remember all the details. Should I text him? I probably should.

This also meant that Darg couldn't tell most people what he had been working on – nor have his name attached to the film before its release. That kind of humility is probably foreign to someone like Zach Avery. “I had to let go of some of my pride as a director for this experience,” he says. “But the deception is not that deep. Fortunately, my family and friends knew what I was doing.

Horwitz, 37, declined to be interviewed for “Bad Actor,” which didn't surprise Darg. “If I were prosecuted,” cracks the director, “I would never speak to a documentary filmmaker. »

Horwitz was arrested in 2021 for operating a Ponzi scheme that raised up to $650 million and was arrested. sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in federal prison. It told investors it would acquire the international film rights and then license them to platforms like Netflix and HBO. But the whole affair was false; Horwitz falsified documents and fabricated email and text message exchanges with executives to further the scam. He then used the victims' money to pay off previous investors and buy a $6 million Los Angeles, luxury cars and private jet trips, according to prosecutors.

“For a Ponzi scheme to be successful, the investment needs to be slightly confusing for the investor,” says Darg. “It worked to Zach's advantage to not take it out on people in Hollywood. Many of his investors came from the heartland, from his hometown, and embraced the glamor of Hollywood. I barely understood what the real project was because it was quite complex.

For their research, Darg and Jensen devoured news articles then hit the road to visit Horwitz's birthplace in Indiana, where they interviewed his classmates and teachers, as well as in Chicago and Los Angeles, where he lived with his wife at different times. This is where filmmakers began to uncover inconsistencies in Zach Avery's rags-to-riches story. For example, Horwitz told a podcast interviewer that an injury kept him from playing football at Indiana University. He tore his ACL, but it was from playing an intramural sport.

“We started to uncover a lot of his story that actually wasn't true,” Darg says. “He would say something in the media, and then we would realize it was a quote from a movie. It was obvious that almost everything in this man's life was a lie.

Pretending to be the director, Jensen said, helped him put himself in the mind of someone trying to pull off a scam. “The more we talked about victims, the more I realized that if you present yourself in a certain way – as someone you are not but aspire to be – you can convince people. »

One of the challenges for Darg was determining how much of a presence Jensen should be in “Bad Actor.” The real director wanted to show his avatar as often as possible without revealing the ulterior motive of his presence in the film.

“It was a juggling act of making sure that Jocelyn appeared enough to remind the viewer, 'Here's the director,'” Darg recalls, “but also to hold her back because she was on screen so much that they would say, 'Wait a minute,' is this person acting up?'

The duo had tips for maintaining the illusion while ensuring Darg could offer notes during filming.

“We went to FBI headquarters and I was already nervous because we had to do background checks,” Jensen says. “David was behind the camera. So this is my way of saying, “Do you have any adjustments for me to make in the next take?” was[Whatdoesitlooklike?[Andheeithersaid“Itlooksgreat”or“Standbackalittleslowdown”Hegavealotofdirectionbutnoonewouldhavetimedhimsaying“Helicoptercontrolhere?”Itwascollaborative[Howdoesitlook?[Andhe'dsayeither'Itlooksgreat'or'Scootoveralittleandslowdown'HewasgivingalotofdirectionButnoonewouldhaveclockeditlike'Heywho'sinchargehere?'Itfeltcollaborative”[Aquoiçaressemble?[Etildisaitsoit:« Çaal'airgénial »ou« Reculezunpeuetralentissez »IldonnaitbeaucoupdedirectivesMaispersonnenel'auraitchronométréendisant :”Héquicommandeici ?”C’étaitcollaboratif[Howdoesitlook?[Andhe’dsayeither‘Itlooksgreat’or‘Scootoveralittleandslowdown’HewasgivingalotofdirectionButnoonewouldhaveclockeditlike‘Heywho’sinchargehere?’Itfeltcollaborative”

Despite the film's deceptive nature, Jensen was comforted to learn that humans instinctively want to trust each other. But she advises people against thinking with their wallets. “Be diligent. Be careful,” she warns. “If something doesn’t feel right, trust yourself. »

Darg offers another life lesson. “We had a running joke on set that you can never trust an actor,” he says. “I do not believe that. But if someone who is a professional liar by trade asks you to invest in a questionable company, maybe ask more questions.