In this episode, the 2002 Oscar nominations are out, the annual American Film Market (AFM) comes to Santa Monica and Hollywood's nerves are on edge.
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In this episode, the 2002 Oscar nominations are out, the annual American Film Market (AFM) comes to Santa Monica and Hollywood's nerves are on edge.
💛 To support the podcast and help keep it independent:
https://donorbox.org/please-support-the-let-s-talk-about-hollywood-podcast-series
Listen, connect or subscribe at: letstalkabouthollywood.com
Episode 18: Hot Topics: Lily Allen-David Harbour, Britney Spears, WGA, AI, DEI Hope
Pop-culture topics for the week of Nov 2, 2025 including the divorce album heard around the world, in defense of Britney Spears, WGA talks, AI and layoffs, DEI hope for a world that's already there.
💛 To support the podcast and help keep it independent:
https://donorbox.org/please-support-the-let-s-talk-about-hollywood-podcast-series
Listen, connect or subscribe at: letstalkabouthollywood.com
Episode 18: Hot Topics: Lily Allen-David Harbour, Britney Spears, WGA, AI, DEI Hope
Pop-culture topics for the week of Nov 2, 2025 including the divorce album heard around the world, in defense of Britney Spears, WGA talks, AI and layoffs, DEI hope for a world that's already there.
💛 To support the podcast and help keep it independent:
https://donorbox.org/please-support-the-let-s-talk-about-hollywood-podcast-series
Listen, connect or subscribe at: letstalkabouthollywood.com
Episode 2: If Hollywood Gets To Be Too Much
It’s the start of 2002 and awards season is in full swing with growing pains, staying out of the fray as an assistant, and hoping I can do a full year at The Hollywood Reporter.
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Listen, connect or subscribe at: letstalkabouthollywood.com
Episode 2: If Hollywood Gets To Be Too Much
It’s the start of 2002 and awards season is in full swing with growing pains, staying out of the fray as an assistant, and hoping I can do a full year at The Hollywood Reporter.
💛 To support the podcast and help keep it independent:
https://donorbox.org/please-support-the-let-s-talk-about-hollywood-podcast-series
Listen, connect or subscribe at: letstalkabouthollywood.com
It's Season 2! This is a super-sized episode with 83 minutes on the state of the industry right now in 2025, from someone who's been inside it for 24 years and can give some positive and very real perspective. It's honest, thoughtful talk about what's broken, what still works, and why faith matters when everything feels uncertain.
💛 To support the podcast and help keep it independent:
https://donorbox.org/please-support-the-let-s-talk-about-hollywood-podcast-series
Listen, connect or subscribe at: letstalkabouthollywood.com
It's Season 2! This is a super-sized episode with 83 minutes on the state of the industry right now in 2025, from someone who's been inside it for 24 years and can give some positive and very real perspective. It's honest, thoughtful talk about what's broken, what still works, and why faith matters when everything feels uncertain.
💛 To support the podcast and help keep it independent:
https://donorbox.org/please-support-the-let-s-talk-about-hollywood-podcast-series
Listen, connect or subscribe at: letstalkabouthollywood.com
Episode 15: The Season 1 Finale!
In this episode, 2001 draws to a close, the labor market in Hollywood gets soft, layoffs are sure to happen and a New Year – 2002 – awaits!
💛 To support the podcast and help keep it independent:
https://donorbox.org/please-support-the-let-s-talk-about-hollywood-podcast-series
Listen, connect or subscribe at: letstalkabouthollywood.com
Episode 15: The Season 1 Finale!
In this episode, 2001 draws to a close, the labor market in Hollywood gets soft, layoffs are sure to happen and a New Year – 2002 – awaits!
💛 To support the podcast and help keep it independent:
https://donorbox.org/please-support-the-let-s-talk-about-hollywood-podcast-series
Listen, connect or subscribe at: letstalkabouthollywood.com
This episode is extra personal. It’s a goodbye and a thank-you to Bebbles Stone, who was my partner, my love, and the person who saw me through more chapters than most ever got to witness.
It isn’t a typical episode, but it’s a moment of reflection, love, and loss. It's a way to honor a person who shaped my life and, in many ways, The Hollywood Reporter seasons I worked and experienced, as well as my career to come.
Thank you for listening, for being part of this serial Hollywood memoir podcast, and for allowing space for moments like this. I know I'm not alone and wanted to share with you in this episode before the Season 1 finale. - Karl
💛 To support the podcast and help keep it independent:
https://donorbox.org/please-support-the-let-s-talk-about-hollywood-podcast-series
Listen, connect or subscribe at: letstalkabouthollywood.com
This episode is extra personal. It’s a goodbye and a thank-you to Bebbles Stone, who was my partner, my love, and the person who saw me through more chapters than most ever got to witness.
It isn’t a typical episode, but it’s a moment of reflection, love, and loss. It's a way to honor a person who shaped my life and, in many ways, The Hollywood Reporter seasons I worked and experienced, as well as my career to come.
Thank you for listening, for being part of this serial Hollywood memoir podcast, and for allowing space for moments like this. I know I'm not alone and wanted to share with you in this episode before the Season 1 finale. - Karl
💛 To support the podcast and help keep it independent:
https://donorbox.org/please-support-the-let-s-talk-about-hollywood-podcast-series
Listen, connect or subscribe at: letstalkabouthollywood.com
More details from a different vantage point of The Hollywood Reporter's 2001 Next Generation event in Hollywood as reporters, agents, writers, worker bees (me) and more converge for our own mini-party, I find some clarity and plenty to be grateful for in retrospect and, inside, a director goes off the rails.
💛 To support the podcast and help keep it independent:
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Listen, connect or subscribe at: letstalkabouthollywood.com
More details from a different vantage point of The Hollywood Reporter's 2001 Next Generation event in Hollywood as reporters, agents, writers, worker bees (me) and more converge for our own mini-party, I find some clarity and plenty to be grateful for in retrospect and, inside, a director goes off the rails.
💛 To support the podcast and help keep it independent:
https://donorbox.org/please-support-the-let-s-talk-about-hollywood-podcast-series
Listen, connect or subscribe at: letstalkabouthollywood.com
After a long Emmy night and a lesson in newsroom politics, Karl finds humor, observational realities, and a touch of childhood fandom at The Hollywood Reporter’s Next Generation gala....including a surprise encounter with Three’s Company’s Jenilee Harrison.
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Free to subscribe for new episodes at: letstalkabouthollywood.com
After a long Emmy night and a lesson in newsroom politics, Karl finds humor, observational realities, and a touch of childhood fandom at The Hollywood Reporter’s Next Generation gala....including a surprise encounter with Three’s Company’s Jenilee Harrison.
💛 Support the podcast and help keep it independent:
https://donorbox.org/please-support-the-let-s-talk-about-hollywood-podcast-series
Free to subscribe for new episodes at: letstalkabouthollywood.com
Karl lands his first major job in Hollywood at The Hollywood Reporter, with his contract being bought out to work there full time as an editorial assistant. Long hours, adjusting and balancing the rhythm of home and the Industry's needs is a learning curve, especially at home.
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Subscribe for new episodes at: letstalkabouthollywood.com
Karl lands his first major job in Hollywood at The Hollywood Reporter, with his contract being bought out to work there full time as an editorial assistant. Long hours, adjusting and balancing the rhythm of home and the Industry's needs is a learning curve, especially at home.
💛 Support the podcast and help keep it independent:
https://donorbox.org/please-support-the-let-s-talk-about-hollywood-podcast-series
Subscribe for new episodes at: letstalkabouthollywood.com
Episode 10: Character Studies
In this episode, the Emmys are postponed for a month, anthrax attacks hit the mail, war is looming, and Hollywood studios are warned about bomb threats.
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https://donorbox.org/please-support-the-let-s-talk-about-hollywood-podcast-series
Listen, connect or subscribe at: letstalkabouthollywood.com
Episode 10: Character Studies
In this episode, the Emmys are postponed for a month, anthrax attacks hit the mail, war is looming, and Hollywood studios are warned about bomb threats.
💛 To support the podcast and help keep it independent:
https://donorbox.org/please-support-the-let-s-talk-about-hollywood-podcast-series
Listen, connect or subscribe at: letstalkabouthollywood.com
The world witnesses the events of 9/11 and The Hollywood Reporter's coverage, devoted to the news of the day, sets a standard for Hollywood trade magazines. Negotiations continue over my future role with the magazine and a theater legend's funeral leads to some stark realiziations.
💛 Support the podcast and help keep it independent:
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Subscribe for new episodes at: letstalkabouthollywood.com
The world witnesses the events of 9/11 and The Hollywood Reporter's coverage, devoted to the news of the day, sets a standard for Hollywood trade magazines. Negotiations continue over my future role with the magazine and a theater legend's funeral leads to some stark realiziations.
💛 Support the podcast and help keep it independent:
https://donorbox.org/please-support-the-let-s-talk-about-hollywood-podcast-series
Subscribe for new episodes at: letstalkabouthollywood.com
There's a vacancy at The Hollywood Reporter and I'm up for the job. Will my agency blow it? A high-placed newsroom caller goes off and a full-time role is within reach.
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Karl starts at The Hollywood Reporter for a two-month assignment that ultimately becomes a 7-year full-time role, from one day in the mailroom to the newsroom for good.
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Episode 6: Workable Beefcake
In this episode, a nearly month-long gig at UCLA Westwood comes to a close, Karl and Nigel from Hawthorne go to Vegas, a couple of news items bring back memories in the recap, and The Hollywood Reporter experience is just days away. Karl shares memories of working with Danny DeVito, Courtney Love, Christopher Lloyd, Marilu Henner, Carol Kane, Jeff Conaway, Milos Forman and an onset hairstylist who almost blows the whole thing!
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In Episode 5 of Let’s Talk About Hollywood™, we rewind to the summer of 2001, before my first big break at The Hollywood Reporter. In this episode, one job is about to end and Bebbles Stone and Karl, together for two years, hit a wall.
For transcripts and extras, visit letstalkabouthollywood.com
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In Episode 2 of Let’s Talk About Hollywood™, we rewind to the summer of 2001, before my first big break at The Hollywood Reporter. I had just quit my job of four years and found myself staring down the side‑eyes of temp agency managers while trying to rebound fast. This episode is about the resilience it takes to bet on yourself, the messy reality behind “breaking in,” and how those early choices shaped my Hollywood journey.
letstalkabouthollywood.com
Episode 1: Welcome to Let’s Talk About Hollywood™
In this debut episode, Karl Gibson, writer, host, and veteran of legacy studios, streaming startups, Netflix, and seven seasons at The Hollywood Reporter back when it was a daily magazine, introduces himself and shares what’s to come. From journal excerpts and career takeaways to real talk and the start of a community, this episode sets the tone for a podcast that’s personal, reflective, and audience-first.
Next up: the journals begin, starting in 2001, when Karl quit his day job and, over one pivotal summer, landed his first A-list branded big break.
Listen, connect or subscribe at: letstalkabouthollywood.com
