So, you want to be a showbiz journalist? Here’s how to do it in 2025.

I had a reunion recently with the OG tabloid journos of my time on Fleet Street and it inspired me to think about the role of a showbiz reporter today.

Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome!

A couple of weeks ago I met up with a group of friends from my time as a writer on Fleet Street. Most of whom I met post my time on 3am – as those days were proper early doors when I started my role in 2000.

It was nostalgic, funny and cute to relay the old days, all the craziness that we got up to and chat through where our lives were now. In short, many have moved roles or write a lot less. Partly because there’s so much less work there. Partly because we’ve gotten older, and we can’t be out every night endlessly. Then there’s kids etc.

We didn’t stop yacking on about where we were now and what we all went through in our roles as columnists and showbiz editors. It filled my heart with joy.

We even decided to use the word SQWAUK is we wanted to discuss a current day subject or somebody that we knew. Just so the cards were firmly laid on the table and we knew we had to be a tad guarded about what we knew. Classic.

Now, not that I’m a neggy Sue when it comes to the industry but it’s safe to say the print world has changed tenfold compared to when we ran the nightlife of London and wrote about our escapades for the papers and magazines. I’ve gone on the record so many times in the past couple of years saying I wouldn’t recommend a young journalist tries to get into the entertainment reporter world. But there’s a slice of my heart that feels a little sad about that. I genuinely think all papers and columns will be gone in ten years absolute tops. But what about another 20-year-old kid like I once was who is continually wanted to write about the celebrities. What does he/she or they do? I wanted to offer some advice.

These top tips are here to help aid young writers, journalists and future stars of journalism in the showbiz and entertainment sector.

Do send this newsletter on to any kids that you think will get something from it. I’m writing from the heart on this one. Genuinely wanting to help people who are keen to enter a dying industry and give them a chance to make it happen.

P.S. The above picture of me was with Patsy Kensit when I was 18. I think she was opening a cinema in Portsmouth and I turned up and got an interview with her off the cuff. THE HAIRCUT! LOLZ…

Above: The OG Showbiz reporters from the hey day of celebrity. Alistair Foster, Sam Dowler, Sofia Zagzoule, James Ingham, Ashleigh Rainbird, Moi and Halina Watts.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

If you want to enter the showbiz world as a reporter, you need an encyclopedic knowledge of the biggest players. You need to read, research, understand the hierarchy and get to know the process of how things work. Truth be told, it’s nothing like when I began now.

I used to know the ages of celebrity children and dress sizes off by heart when I was at Closer. I ALWAYS knew who was dating who. I knew who was starring in all the top films (thank you Empire and co). I knew all the new TV shows coming up (I still do ;-)). You need to know the annual calendar of awards season. Which stars are looked after by which agent or PR. Just anything you can get your hands on with regards to information.

These days, I rely on some Substack newsletters for my knowledge but the majority of my knowledge (and keep in mind I don’t need to take on a 10^th of that information these days) comes from online articles, social media and a tiny amount of print media.

In short, if you’re going to make showbiz your genre you have to live and breathe the industry. I remember being at my local newspaper (ahem, biggup the Sutton Guardian and Comet) and telling our publisher I’d be leaving soon for a job in Showbiz. She literally said it would never happen. I left eight months after I joined for the Daily Mirror and 3am. You can do it. Have goals and go for them.

DON’T RELY ON SOCIAL MEDIA FOR EVERYTHING

The best thing about my job was I was out there meeting the stars, getting the gossip from the horse’s mouth and getting my own idea of who the celebrities were. We didn’t have Instagram and Twitter to rely on. Now, I totally appreciate that in 2025 probably 80% of the celebrity gossip stories involve some sort of social media. BUT strive to be better, kids. Strive to get interviews with the stars. Strive to get yourself on a red carpet to meet people.

Before I’d even made it to a job in journalism (I was studying at college) I was taking myself off to Party in the Parks where it was so much easier to gain press access and interviewing as many famous popstars as I could. From those interviews I’d file into the papers on an email and through doing that it opened the door to me being able to flog shorts and little pieces of gossip to the showbiz desks. Those little moments and my dedication to the cause really helped prise the door open for me to gain a reputation on Fleet Street.

Now, sure Party in the Parks don’t happen now – but there are a loads of summer series concerts – so why not get in touch with that random festival in your local area and get a telephone chat with one of the acts or go down on the day to try and meet the band?

Below: My first Spice encounter with Emma Bunton at a Party in the Park (no idea where)

DO CONSIDER YOUR OWN SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVATION

I’m obsessed with Nicky Bell and what he’s managed to do with the fashion world. It’s safe to say what he’s done has turned the fashion world on its head. His irreverent remarks on celebrity red carpet lewks has got everybody talking. It’s got to the point where his red-carpet commentary is the first thing I want to see the morning after a big event. It’s so clever.

He's serving some Joan Rivers vibes. But he’s got a heart and that’s what saves him and makes him so likeable.

But what are your posts going to be like? You have a great opportunity to take people behind the velvet rope with your social media. I mean, we didn’t even have camera phones when I was a starting out reporter. I’m thrilled that was the case in many ways, but the fact is you need to work out how you’re going to present yourself to the world, get your tone right and give people the content that is going to go viral.

Hilariously, it feels like only now are titles starting to properly realise the death of print is coming forth. Newspapers and magazines are throwing a lot of money into podcasts productions and really trying to work out how to monetise the way their reporters are working.

If it was me? I’d work out how to do something clever like Nicky has. In my day we had Liquid News that delivered our showbiz gossip. I think I was on it once. But there’s a gap for somebody to be doing something clever with red carpet reporting to make it fresh. Red carpets have become so boring to watch and follow these days.

So, maybe it’s your time to shake things up?

FIND YOUR CELEB NICHE

I cannot deal with reality stars. It’s never been my thing. I’m also not great with up-and-coming actors and people you ‘kinda know but you’re not quite sure’. I like old-school celebrities. That’s my bag. I guess that makes me a bit of an old man but I don’t want to work or deal with the influencer world. They aren’t celebrities to me. They’re influencers. I like household names where people go “oh yeh, I know of them”. I like to concentrate on people who apply for a passport and when they get to the occupation box, they put what their actual occupation is. Might sound funny, but I’ve worked with some people who didn’t know what to put and that was just plain silly.

Now, I’m not saying it’s bad to like reality television or influencers – that might be your area of expertise – if so, go for it. They’re bankable as a journalist and lots of my writer friends can make good money out of doing interviews with twats off Love Island or TOWIE. It’s not a bad thing – it’s just a case of whatever floats your boat.

I tried when I was at Closer to write about people I had zero interest in. The reality? A 750-word article on Kerry Katona took five hours for me to write. An article on Madonna of the same length took 30 minutes. Make your life easier, gang. Know what flips your switch.

Below: Kerry Katona had left the band by the time I first met Atomic Kitten. Wild how young we all look.

BE WILLING TO WORK FOR FREE TO GET IN THE DOOR

I made so much tea. I wasn’t earning a bean for quite some time. But that didn’t matter – just get in there. The best thing to do is work out whose writing you like, which title works for you (politically and personally) and then get an email together for the correct journalist.

There’s a lot less money around these days. When I started, people would get paid a few grand in a brown paper bag. It was a legendary time to be alive. But these days it’s more a day shift rate and there are a lot less of those around too. Again, work out where you’d love to be and go for it. Email with a CV, offer to go in on work experience and go from there. Don’t be annoying. Know when to shut the fuck up on the floor. Etc.

But it’s not impossible to get into a title on work experience if you have the right vibe and the credentials.

REMEMBER IT’LL TAKE YOU A MINUTE TO LEARN THE WRITING STYLE

I couldn’t write for shit when I first got to the Mirror. I really couldn’t. I learnt on the job, no question about that. Fortunately, I knew how to get a story and what a story was. I genuinely think it’s better to be able to get a story rather than write the story. You can always learn to write on the job. And tbh even if you can write you’ll still need to tweak your style for the publication.

START A SUBSTACK OF YOUR OWN…

To be frank, working on a Substack newsletter that’s witty, sharp and informative could be a much better way of breaking into the industry. If you have stories, amazing features and articles on the celebrity world just get writing. Substack’s all about community building – the key to any online media these days.

It’s not rocket science…

But you could do a lot worse than forming your own online column for readers to enjoy and getting the attention of the editors and writers on the print publications by doing so. In some ways, you could just focus on Substack as your outlet and sack off the print side. In many ways, I’m just a little old school in my mentality and I always see print media as an esteemed way to write and be recognised. If you’re a young whipper snapper you could just do things your way and ignore me.

THINK PODCASTS

Podcasting is journalism. If you’d like to go down this route and you’re a strong interviewer, then get cracking – there are so many opportunities in this sphere.

I much prefer listening to a podcast where a celebrity sits down for a long form interview. It’s easy to set one up and get cracking without the fuss and bother of entering the dying print press industry. It might work better for you and that’s FINE. Don’t see podcasting as a side bar that doesn’t carry as much gravitas – they’re brilliant.

I love what Josh Smith did with his career after being at jobs in the print industry. He left and set up Reign and nowadays has the crème de la crème of Hollywood knocking on his door to be a guest. His podcast works as it’s about a niche subject. So, find your niche genre and make it happen. Check out Josh’s podcast below.

AND FINALLY…

Below: When me and my cornish pasty chins met Mariah backstage at Top of the Pops. I think this around the Dreamlover age.