Maggie Marr | The Dirt: A Woman In Hollywood

Like most women, I need my friends to sustain me but unlike a lot of women outside Hollywood, I also rely on my friends professionally. Making a film or television show is a collaborative process, and in Hollywood, it is often my friends who support my work. We work and play together. Do the lines get blurry? Yes, of course. But entertainment is The Industry where I found both the friendships that nurture me and the dirt that inspires me. Because to write Hollywood Girls Club and Secrets of The Hollywood Girls Club, I needed both the friendships and the dirt.

Friendship in Hollywood you say? Why that’s preposterous, unheard of, impossible. Those moviemaking madmen are a cutthroat bunch, an impossible lot. No friendship to be found there. But in Tinseltown, like anywhere, there are friends to be made and this undeniably Midwestern girl, did in fact collect a group of friends. On my first day of trudging through the long agency hallways, pushing my mail cart, dropping off letters (oh so glamorous the agency life in the beginning) I noticed two things. First, most agents were male and second, so were most their assistants. But I needed female friends. Sure guys are great, and don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of good lovin’ in Hollywood Girls Club and Secrets of The Hollywood Girls Club but I needed women to gab with, shop with, kvetch with and just be a girl with. So, I searched and I found friends.

And these friends, the women I collected on my way up the agency ladder, now as I write my books and produce my films are still my friends. Some, as is the way in Los Angeles, left ‘the biz.’ We are a transitory bunch us moviemakers. But my close friends that remain in The Industry are no longer assistants, they are now producers, studio executives, agents, managers, directors, actresses, and writers. Having completed our time in the trenches as assistants, we now enjoy the fun of Hollywood together. The glamour, the red carpet, the premieres, the film festivals, the parties and the swag. Oh yeah, great swag.

And the dirt? The Secrets? Well like any good friend, I can never, ever name names…buuut, I can tell my insider tales, and keep my friends, as long as I change the names to protect the innocent…or not so innocent…I mean, this is Hollywood.

Maggie Marr
www.maggiemarr.com/

Jerrilyn Farmer | Advice from "Mad Bean" for a Killer Event!

A great party, like a great mystery, needs to provide a few surprises and even a twist. I have given a good deal of thought to both parties and mysteries because I write about Hollywood event planner/caterer Madeline Bean, and it is her job (when not dodging murderers) to make sure every party guest has a good time.

Pulling off a remarkable party isn't a snap, but it helps to start off with the fun concept. Think vices! Do your friends enjoy imbibing? Try a wine tasting evening. Are they into gluttony? Make sure you feature gourmet goodies. Would they like to gamble? Have an Academy Awards party and keep a tote board to track each guests predictions in each category--perhaps surprising the group with a cool prize for the highest totals. Or try a casino theme. Now if your girlfriends are like mine, they don't mind flirting, so by all mean pick a theme where everyone dresses up so the women can let their necklines plunge.

In my books, the larger-than-life Hollywood types require the Godzilla of all party concepts--from a wedding held at the Natural History Museum's Hall of Predators (KILLER WEDDING) to a Black-and-White themed charity ball (PERFECT SAX) to supplying dim sum carts pushed by pretty girls at a private mah-jongg dinner on Chinese New Year (DIM SUM DEAD). Get creative with your theme and it makes all your party decisions so much more fun.

Invitations to your Vegas night can include wads of play cash to entice the big rollers. The menu on Valentine's Day can include a chocolate fountain and large strawberries for dipping. For some guests, only one drink gets them tipsy--but if that one drink is their twelfth or thirteenth, they might appreciate your party bar offering a cool signature drink. A great Mojito (theme: Cuba of the 50's) or Bellini (theme: Lotto!--buy all your guests Lotto tickets and watch the numbers called out on your big screen tv) can certainly get the party in a festive mood fast.

Have a blast designing the menu, decorating the space and providing a little interactive entertainment, and your guests will remember your party long after the night. Just a tip, though: to make sure your evening is a true success, try to avoid inviting disapproving neighbors, the dullest man in your office, or any would-be murderers.

Jerrilyn Farmer
http://home.earthlink.net/~jerrilyn/index.html