A
coming-of-age film whose main character is a drug company
sales rep? I was intrigued. Karly Hert (Katherine Heigl) is
conflicted. She loves the perks of the job, but feels guilty
that she is forced to hide concerns about certain drugs when
she makes her sales pitches. Despite her conscience, she is
seduced by the huge cheques and becomes the company's new
darling. On the eve of the launch of the company's blockbuster
drug, however, some potentially deadly side-effects surface.
The data are squelched, but not before Karly finds out. Will
she blow the whistle during a meeting, where she will be
honoured as rep of the year?
Producer/director
Kathleen Slattery-Moschkau worked as a sales rep for a large
drug company for 10 years. She wrote the script for Side
Effects, then left the industry. Rather than succumbing to
Hollywood pressures to “dumb down” the script, she produced it
herself, releasing it in theatres that play independent films
in various cities in the USA (plans for a UK release are
underway). At the same time, she produced a chilling
documentary, Money Talks: Profits Before Patient
Safety, in which physicians, a medical journalist, and
others familiar with the drug industry talk candidly about
selling drugs, rewarding prescribers, courting physicians with
gifts, the impact of direct-to-consumer advertising, and
ghostwriting of journal articles. Both film and documentary
push the message that “most-of-what-they-do-is-profit-driven”,
but in a quirky and engaging way.
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