A look inside Hollywood and the movies. : THE BEAT : Sayer to Player

Tongues were wagging and eyes were popping a few weeks back at headlines in the Hollywood trade papers that film-beat reporter Andrea King had signed a two-year development deal at 20th Century Fox.

While it’s not unusual for tenacious reporters on the Hollywood beat (even from the Los Angeles Times) to be “hired away” by the studios, King’s route was, well, probably the most creative ever. When Fox film chairman Joe Roth asked her in to talk movie ideas, she pitched her own story.

What story would that be? King’s own experiences covering Hollywood and her fierce but friendly competition with a movie reporter at a rival publication. (Sound like the old Hollywood rivalry between Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper?)

King has aggressively covered the movie business for the Hollywood Reporter for four years--going up against the competition at Daily Variety. King was known to use intimidation, threats and other tactics to get a story first--but personally was always very amiable. The same could be said for many of her counterparts at Variety.

In the last couple of years King’s biggest competitor at Daily Variety was reporter Claudia Eller, who first gained a name for herself when working alongside King at the Hollywood Reporter before being hired away by Daily Variety.

The two have remained best friends all this time. But the hard part might be to try and visualize actors playing their parts--who could possibly play them better than themselves?

Editor’s Note: Galbraith was a film reporter at Daily Variety from 1985-89.