Confessions of a Showbiz Reporter
The fifth book in the bestselling Confessions series.Press junkets. Premiers. Dom Perignon. They’re all in a day’s work for your average Hollywood celebrity. But, what’s it like on the otherside of the microphone? In this no-holds-barred memoir, showbiz reporter Holly Forest reveals the less glamorous side of the world’s most glamorous industry: show business.
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HOLLY FORREST
Confessions of a Showbiz Reporter
As you might have heard said before a film, everything here is âinspired by true eventsâ. However, to protect confidentiality some names have been changed and certain elements of the stories have been fictionalised. Nonetheless, they remain an honest reflection of my experience working in showbiz journalism over many years. Enjoy!
Top ten celebrity internet searches of 2012>1
Kim Kardashian
Justin Bieber
Miley Cyrus
Rihanna
Lindsay Lohan
Katy Perry
Selena Gomez
Jennifer Aniston
Nicki Minaj
Taylor Swift
These ten people are basically my bread and butter.
In my time as a showbiz reporter, the biggest change Iâve seen is just how much we rely on these internet searches. The web might have started out as a geekâs playground in the nineties, but itâs now entirely mainstream â and itâs my biggest outlet. I write stories that go up on it, I research celebs that Iâm interviewing with it and I buy things from ASOS through it when Iâve got an event to attend. Like it is for many people, the internet is part of my jobâs daily routine.
In my line of work, though, the internet has achieved a fairly unique breakthrough: it has given you more power. Youâre my boss. True, someone needs to write features about these stars in the first place, but once theyâre online, itâs up to you who you search for. Just look at the first two names for proof. Kim Kardashian and Justin Bieber became global brands purely through the power of the internet; fans latched on to their appeal way before us in the press. Iâm not sure the people watching grainy footage of Kim getting it on with her boyfriend were the same as those watching a 12-year-old Justin singing RânâB on YouTube, but the principle is the same. The media can still do a lot to fuel a showbiz fire, but more now than ever, whatâs hot is often out of our hands. With a largely free internet at our fingertips, the celebrity world is more accessible than ever before.
So after Iâve done my bit â writing and researching articles, interviewing celebrities, attending junkets â itâs over to you. Who you spend your time looking up determines who we spend our time focusing on. If you resent that eminent scientists and liberal thinkers are missing from the list, start searching for a few and maybe weâll have to take notice. But thatâs the great thing about modern media: itâs no longer so full of snobby journalists hiding out in their ivory towers, bleating about what they fancy and taking no notice of their audience. The internetâs too transparent for that. These days, weâre all in this showbiz world together.
And what a world it is â¦
Sunday 12 February 2012. Itâs the night of the BAFTA Film Awards ceremony and Iâm bloody freezing.
Weâre in the heart of what we call the âseasonâ â those few months during which all the key awards ceremonies seem to take place, everything from the Brits to the Oscars, the BAFTAs and the Elle Style Awards. The trouble with the âseasonâ is that itâs always during the winter. Fine, maybe, for the celebs who party until the small hours in the heated surroundings of the Royal Opera House or the O2, but for us reporters standing outside on the red carpet waiting for them to talk into our microphones, the setting is just a few degrees away from being positively arctic.
I watch my breath blossom into steam in the icy air and crack open yet another hand-warmer pad, tucking it discreetly into the back of my knickers so that it warms the small of my back. Bliss. Thereâs the first lesson from the showbiz world for you: underneath the opulence thereâs always something significantly more unglamorous.
Iâm huddled behind a rope with a group of fellow reporters, all women in evening dresses as per the rules of such an upmarket event. Even at an occasion like the BAFTAs, it seems odd to see people so smartly dressed packed into a small space like animals. Weâd probably look more at home in the orange suits worn by caged prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. Still, we all courteously compliment each other on our outfits, despite recognising that itâs difficult to look fabulous when youâre shaking harder than a nervous
