In and Out in Hollywood [Hardcover]

Ben Patrick Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 25, 2002

This book is a wild ride on the Hollywood highway of fame. A young man named Freddie is plucked from obscurity and groomed to be the host of a new entertainment TV show. But the show's producers and Freddie both learn that altering the package doesn't change the contents inside. During all of this, Freddie is also trying to sort out his love life. It's all good until an incident at the company picnic...

Editorial Reviews

Review

Ben has painted a fascinating portrait of contemporary Hollywood's lost soul. -- Dirk Shafer, writer/director

Johnson tells a great story in a vivid, emotional way... -- J. Randy Taraborrelli, author

[Ben] covers all the basic food groups that nourish Hollywood: Sex, Power, Dreams and Deception. What a great read. -- Steve Kmetko, E! Entertainment TV

About the Author

Ben Patrick Johnson is an in-demand announcer and voice-over talent who can be heard on shows such as Entertainment Tonight and Judge Joe Brown. He is also an accomplished freelance writer. This is his first novel.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 220 pages
• Publisher: Palari Publishing (September 25, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1928662021
• ISBN-13: 978-1928662020
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,358,106 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It was OK.., January 15, 2003

By 

Michael T. Rognlien (Palo Alto, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In and Out in Hollywood (Hardcover)

I read this book from cover-to-cover on a flight from Sacramento to Phoenix. Since the flight's about 2 hours long, I either read REALLY fast, or it was a bit light on content.

Either way, the story IS very similar in nature to Christian McLaughlin's "Glamourpuss" but definitely focused a lot more on anger and defeat. The main character is supposedly beautiful enough on the outside to land a job anchoring a TV show but is then relegated to behind-the-scenes work only when it's discovered that he's gay. The rest of the story is basically the show's managers screwing him over, and him making a whole lotta stupid decisions instead of (I know this is a stretch) quitting?

Overall, the book was well-written, but the story was a disappointment. It's a bit hard to sympathize with a main character who seems so clueless about everything from his personal and physical appearance (like there's such a thing as a gay man living in West Hollywood who is completely unaware of how to use his looks.. right!) to the politics and superficiality of Hollywood.

This is about the 5th fiction book I've read about gay men and Hollywood/Showbiz, and it'll be my last.. Enough alcoholics, psychotic egos, drugs/drugs/drugs.. I think everything 'important' (and I use that word very loosely) that needed to be said on the topic has been said.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Basically Unsatisfied With Hollywood, March 31, 2004

By 

Jak Klinikowski "justjak13" (El Paso, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In and Out in Hollywood (Hardcover)

After reading the promotional material for this novel, as well as the jacket's brief biography of the author, I could not wait to get this book home for a good dishy read. Unfortunately, I was disappointed and aggravated with the material. I was disappointed because the protagonist was spineless and horrendously gullible. Freddie, our hero, starts off as a secure gay man, proud to be out. It is hard to believe that someone with so much self esteem could allow himself to be so completely bamboozled and re-closeted by his new employers. I could accept Freddie as inexperienced and green, but not for the entire year of his employment. If he's been around the block enough times to hold his own with Broadway Divas and Drag Queens, then he should have seen his situation at his new job in television for what it was, and acted appropriately. It is difficult to muster much sympathy for such a total cry baby. I was aggravated because I can not recall ever having read a published manuscript with so many TYPOS. Did any one proof this book before or after it hit the printers? I for one find the overabundance of mistakes with the printed text to be very disconcerting. On a positive note, I think the author shows great potential. The plot was well balanced and the supporting cast was amusing. I hope with his next offering, Mr. Johnson will provide his readers with a stronger more self assured lead character, someone who is not only openly gay, but someone who is not willing to be pushed around because he is.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In and Out in Hollywood by Ben Patrick Johnson, December 13, 2008

By 

Elisa (Italy) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: In and Out in Hollywood (Hardcover)

All right, I admit that I bought this novel more for the author than for the story... but have you read Ben Patrick Johnson's personal story? How similar is to the blurb of the book? So you can imagine how curious I was to read how the main character of this novel behaves since in a way it would be like spying on Johnson's life. But all in all, I believe that Johnson's output in life is better than Freddie's, the hero of this novel.

It's an unusual novel for me to read, since more than a love story is a life story, the adventures of gay Freddie in the glittering and fake world of Hollywood. Freddie is an openly gay radio DJ who lives in West Hollywood with his hunk jamaican boyfriend. Perfect, isn't it? Well, not exactly... Freddie's work is not so exciting and his relationship with Xavier is slowly wearing down. And so when he is talent scouted on the street and in two days offered with the chance to be the host in a new television show, he jumps at the possibility. Freddie, now renamed Daniel, is groomed and taught to be the perfect anchorman, all people around him praising him for being fresh, new and green! Posh hotels, limousines, all around him is glittering and friendly. But Freddie makes a big mistake: he doesn't hide his boyfriend, he brings him to official events... no, no, no dear Freddie, you can be gay at Hollywood, but you should be asexual, it's not good for families to have the proof that you actually have sex with men!

Probably if his relationship with Xavier was happier, Freddie would fight for it, and instead he decides to play along what the network requires, and he slowly is pushed behind the scene, from the front line to the Z position, despite his good works and his clearly predisposition to be on video.

Freddie is a strange character, I don't know if I like him so much; in a way he is not a fighter, and he is also a cheater... well, this last I don't know, it depends on his relationship with Xavier, I don't know what are their agreement, and well, he plays around since Xavier is behaving bad, but still... Lucky for Freddie, he meets a good guy, Charlie, who maybe, gives him the right reason to fight back, even if, maybe, he takes his decision at the very last. Probably I'm a bit too harsh with Freddie, I have in mind this "hero" image, and instead Freddie is probably only a man facing something bigger than him; sometime I almost feel tenderness for him, I almost want to comfort and saying that all will be right. Truth is that he didn't meet so many nice figure, and some of them are disguising so well that you almost mistake them for the bad guy... and what you think a good guy is fake like sometime Hollywood is.

Anyway, the book is a good mix of real life with some nice add of romance; I wouldn't mind for the sex scene to be a bit hotter, but still, they are nice, even if all behind closed doors.