Mr Sausage wrote:
So, no, the burden of proof is on you: show that the term isn't inappropriate.
Well it is my experience that the usage of the word 'difficult' in the film industry is common parlance with a range of shadings suggesting anything from adversarial to downright incompetent and therefore a not very helpful catch-all phrase.
In a workplace that pits production staff against creative staff it's not really surprising is it ?
For what it's worth I have worked with crew and production staff who have used it to describe amongst others Kubrik, Scorsese, Ridley Scott, Polanski, Skolimowski, Claire Denis, LeConte, Chabrol, Arnold, Ramsay, Kevin Spacey, Russel Crowe.
No prizes for guessing who comes top of the list for the most negative connotations but one is Australian and the other deceased.
How 'difficult' was used in each instance?
The Australian told the camera operator not to look at him.
The deceased director fired someone in the art department for exceeding their rubber band quotient in the stationery budget.
I should add however that the most positive colouring of the term in being dogged and demanding commitment was for the ladies of the group.
Anyone who wants to extrapolate this nonsense into further gender based or semantic theory is very welcome.