Thursday, September 10, 2026

I Know the Mood of Hollywood Every Day


What did Hollywood really feel like from inside the newsroom in 2002 when Hollywood had an average of 100 industry-related parties a week in L.A. County alone?

In this episode of Let’s Talk About Hollywood, I return to October 2002, when a promotion at The Hollywood Reporter suddenly put me closer to the suits, publicists, agents, directors, stars, aspiring stars and everyday intrigue that kept the town running.

I was learning the business of Hollywood, and how to budget millions, while Hollywood was also learning who I was.

There’s a disastrous industry party, an increasingly ridiculous fight over press coverage, a $600 newsroom telephone I told the publisher will “pay for itself in exclusives,” (it did), and an invitation to a rooftop book party with Margaret Cho, Mark Wahlberg and Courtney Love on the guest list.

But outside the Hollywood machinery, real life keeps moving. Bebbles and I worry about the terrifying sniper shootings back home in Maryland, industry realities - both petty and grand - (my em dashes!) and one very ordinary conversation about buying a car reminds me that balancing millions of dollars at work is sometimes easier than balancing thousands, feelings and a marriage at home.

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Written and read by Karl Gibson.

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Check out this episode!

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