The demoralising reality of being a showbiz reporter on the red carpet
The stars moan about being on the red carpet and having to do press for their work ventures these days – but try being on the other side. Now, that’s a shitter!
Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome!
I was listening to Katherine Ryan’s podcast this week where she dissected the red carpet from her point of view.
It was an interesting take where she explained how she was there to promote her show and mainly appear there to highlight the beautiful designs of Georgina Chapman’s Marchesa label - of whom she’d been chosen to wear that night at the TV Baftas. It was a good listen hearing her point of view. But what I experienced across 16 or so years of hanging around on the red carpet was oh-so-different. It’s also time people saw the realities of being a writer in the press pen on those carpets. It’s not all hunky dory.
Here’s Katherine’s take btw…
SO HERE GOES…
It's quite often the case that celebrities these days bemoan the fact they’re forced by studios, film companies, TV publicists and their own agents to attend events. They can’t stand the questions. The hysteria. The way they’re shepherded through the photographers. The peacock parade, if you will.
Well, try being on the other side of the fence. Because when you’re a showbiz writer and your job is to garner some sort of exclusive in the throng of a red carpet event it’s a complete shitshow to navigate.
I’d often leave with zero exclusive quotes for my publications the next day, I’d often be stood in the rain and cold for hours on end (the film publicists would always insist you arrive hours before the stars arrived) and occasionally it would make you question why you’d even decided to be a showbiz writer in the first place.
Fortunately, it wasn’t always like this. When I first started attending these events back in 2000 I couldn’t have been more excited about the scenario of a red carpet. Back then it was magical.
I didn’t give a crap about the perils of being there. I just wanted to see my favourite stars up, close and personal. I met everyone on those carpets. Sandra Bullock. J-Lo, Christina Aguilera (below), Madonna, Brad Pitt, Clooney, Cameron Diaz, Pfeiffer, Cruise, Julia Roberts – the list was endless. Seeing them inches from your face was often incredible. Some were plastered with make-up. Some were rude and abrupt. Some you could tell hated every minute of being there. But I didn’t care. I just wanted to meet them ALL.
One of the first events I attended was the Madonna premiere for her film with Rupert Everett called The Next Best Thing. She was there alongside the stars, and it was the first time I saw my Queen in real life. It was thrilling. The excitement in Leicester Square that night was insane and I wasn’t covering the event, I’d just been given a pair of tickets by the showbiz team at the Mirror as a treat. I took my mum. We walked up that carpet like aliens who had landed from Outer Space. We had no idea what happened at an event. We just sat in awe of the whole experience. It felt impossibly glamorous. Paula Yates walked in, and the wall of paps went WILD. She looked strained in those years parading infront of the world under so much continual scrutiny. Boy, did she look amazing though. I seem to remember she was wearing a green Vivienne Westwood dress and if I close my eyes, I can still see the way she walked the carpet. Naturally, avoiding all journalists as they cowered and cooed for her to come over and speak to them.
As I’ve mentioned before, I didn’t have much of an idea what I was going to do in the showbiz world at the beginning. I just knew the lure of the red carpet and the sparkle of ‘showbiz’ was strong. One way or the other I’d make it into the showbiz world.
But that night in particular really sticks out as the night my life changed and I realised my pipedream of becoming a showbiz journalist was something I was really going to enjoy. The buzz of a premiere felt incredible. We even had aftershow party tickets and we met Graham Norton - a real celebrity. It was tres showbiz.
But within the first two years of the job when I was probably stood on 5-10 red carpets a week the reality of the difficulty endured covering an event with a spot on the red carpet became oh so clear.
Firstly, you’d often be near the gaggle of radio reports. They’d turn their reports around within hours and their quotes would be on the radio. So, you had to be far enough away from them to not hear your line of questioning. There were big rows over people stealing your quotes with a sneaky microphone being quietly inserted on your ‘private’ chat. Don’t forget also, we didn’t have smartphones. I’d often take snaps of people with my chuckaway which would startle them as they approached. You’d do your chats and record it with a Dictaphone then rush off to a local hotel and transcribe your words before having to call copy takers to file your quotes for the column the next day. I fully understand any Gen Z’s reading this will be totally confused by this scenario. I loved the fact the speed of the showbiz industry was so much slower then. It made for a much nicer world.
The next nightmare of the press pit was the terrible realisation that in the print press area (everyone was split into separate areas) you’d have your competition within the same 6x6ft area. How the hell did you get exclusive quotes? Well, you’d generally hope your competition failed to show. Being a Mirror boy, the best red carpets would be when The Sun failed to pitch up. The main competition being out of the picture meant you’d get something from the experience for the paper the next day. If the weather was terrible (cold and rainy) you’d generally make sure you were there as it was far more likely other journos would bail. But you’d be on that carpet for HOURS freezing your tits off. A Catch-22 or what!
Then when you’re in your spot on that carpet you had to deal with the next hurdle. The PR folks themselves. Each celebrity would have their own publicist or walker who decided what their talent would be doing on the carpet. Back then US publicists would avoid UK tabloids like the plague. They hated us. We may have well been lepers. Despite the fact if we wrote about them they’d garner some nice publicity they preferred us to pick up quotes that went up on the Press Association instead. Was a safer bet for the publicity teams. Or maybe we would have to grab our quotes from a radio interviewer who was flogging their garnered quotes on the side.
It’s no huge surprise the US publicists hated us when you think about it – especially with all the tabloids phone hacking all the stars by the early 2000s for their front-page exclusives. That might not have been anything I’d been a part of – but we were all tarnished with the same brush when it came to hacking. These days I’m a PR and I generally struggle with the thought of tabloids and whether it’s worthwhile to work with them. The reality is back then the tabloids had so much power. These days they’re becoming more pointless by the day. Arguably, I don’t think they have the power to make or break people like they did back then.
The next issue. The celebrities themselves were genuinely so uncomfortable having to do the red-carpet questioning. Mainly because they thought we were out to get them. Why was that? Well, try being on a packed red carpet with numerous guests and you’re likely to have one or possibly two minutes with them. Unlike a sit-down exclusive interview where you can spend time gelling with your celebrity guest, you had zero time to beat around the bush. It had to be a contrived effort to garner a good quote from the celebrity. We’d often group together and decide to stick to a plan together to ensure we got to ask the controversial last question that might garner us a headline. This would OBVS piss off the celebrity in question. But what choice was there? Ask them about what they were wearing? And if they were enjoying London? You could guarantee there were some journalists who would ask the generic crap to be the nice guy. But if you’re on a tabloid and ask if they’re enjoying London, you’d usually get a beasting from the showbiz desk about not being able to get a newsline that made the column. They would be miffed and you’d pay for it. Being sent on unsufferable reality TV shitty round tables that involved you working insanely hard to garner a three-paragraph nib in the paper. Nein, danke.
The US trips I made were even worse than London. These were known for being the red carpets where the celebrities would stop purely to talk about their fashion, the weather, how happy they were to be here etc. It was such tripe. I spent over six years where I was forced to stand for over FIVE HOURS on the Elton John Oscars red carpet, before I changed tactics and went for the inside access to the after party only to enable me to swerve the publicists and clipboard Nazis and ensure I got one-on-one time with the stars. It was always a much more fruitful experience.
My red carpet experience became slightly better when I began working at Closer in the late 2000s. I’d put my legwork into six or seven years on the carpets and as I was doing my own column, Mr Showbiz, there I was often invited to meet the celebrities outside of the pen and have a professional picture taken with them. That was a bit easier ;-)
So, what’s shaking with the red carpets today? Well, firstly it looks like the area that the young newbies are covering. Like me, it’s the place where I learnt so much about how to handle celebs, PR folk, agents and other members of the press. Back then it was where you cut your cloth and learnt the skills of fast interviewing and thinking quickly on your feet. Nowadays, I highly doubt there is quite the same buzz as back then. The big stars probably don’t stop for the writers at all but these poor kids are still getting forced to be there “in case”. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – the role of a showbiz reporter in 2024 involves one thing mainly. Writing 14 pieces a day for an online outlet for not enough money…mainly regarding something that happened on social media the night before. If you’re wanting to enter this universe – strive to be old school. Immerse yourself in the game. And try and exit unscathed.
And finally, celebrities, agents and PRs. If you’re going to be on a red carpet, are planning a red carpet event or attending an event with talent do one good thing. Prepare your stars on what to say that will make a story work. And always check which outlets are on the carpet – and see if there’s somebody there you could use as an ally to look after your talent. Don’t tarnish the whole press world with your strange patronizing brush. There are good writers out there trying to earn a living. And some do it on the red carpet.
And to PR folks, you know the perils of a red carpet but it’s incredible how many PR folk would march the biggest stars in the world down the carpet and leave them fully unprepared for the press. Brief your talent. It’s not rocket science. You could be ensuring you get so much more from the red carpet…even in 2024.
Finally, celebrities don’t moan about the red carpet. It should be fun. It can be fun. You just have to turn that frown upside down and get on with it. You’re exceedingly lucky to have a job that isn’t exactly coal mining. Enjoy that glam and work that carpet, Bitches.
I’ll leave you with Pfeiffer…on a carpet. I look so chuffed in this snap. I genuinely was.