Hometown Hollywood

One of the cool things about being based in Los Angeles is that I get to feel the adrenalin rush of stepping onto a Hollywood movie lot whenever I go to an audition. After spending a couple of hours fighting traffic, only to find the producers forgot to leave your name at the gate, you finally are recognized as "somebody" and waved onto the lot with instructions like, "Go to the Marilyn Monroe mural and turn right."Here's a mural on the 20th Century Fox lot in Century City, depicting a scene from "The Seven Year Itch." I've just joined the Screen Actors Guild conservatory to improve my skills as a performer. Who knows? I may branch out from newscaster roles and give Meryl Streep a little competition.

A Long goodbye in L.A.

The goodbye party for longtime KNBC news director Bob Long was more like a wake. Open bar, free food and plenty of nervous people. Lots of talk about NBC eliminating local news in favor of a West coast or national hub. One sage quipped,"Next they'll be outsourcing it to India." Bob is actually outsourcing himself to Turkey as a consultant.

Readers of this blog know that, in addition to talent coaching and consulting, I am very much still a journalist for hire. I want to share the very latest multimedia skills and trends with my clients and I never want to be one of those musty old people telling tales of the "good old days."

This night definitely had the feeling of the end of an era. The golden age of TV News, as I knew it during my years with CBS and NBC, is over, but we still haven't defined what the new age will look like. Stay tuned.