Latest news with #ChristineStringer
CBC
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
Vancouver author and former MGM assistant's debut novel is based on her own Hollywood blunder
In the early 2000s, Christine Stringer worked as an assistant on film sets in Vancouver. She brushed shoulders with stars and knew the inner workings of Hollywood North. While working on a film starring Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson, the director hired her to move to Los Angeles and be his assistant while they finished up the movie — Walking Tall. "It was just my dream come true," she said. But her dream became something of a nightmare when she was accused of stealing a copy of the film and investigated by the FBI for piracy after she lost a DVD. That story is the inspiration for her debut novel, Charity Trickett Is Not So Glamorous, a light-hearted, comedic take on what Stringer actually endured — which includes a scene where Charity takes a date to a movie premiere only to learn he wasn't quite what she thought. "Jack is definitely a real guy that I went on a first date with in L.A. and he used me to sneak into the premiere of Mean Girls," Stringer told CBC's North by Northwest host Margaret Gallagher. 'She's a better version of me' Stringer set the book in the '90s, a little earlier than when she found herself in Tinseltown. "I am such a lover of Hollywood and, in my mind, if I wanted to write this book and have it represent the Hollywood that I grew up with and I loved, I had to move the timeline backwards a little bit," she said. She said she has already planned two more books for Charity Trickett, which will move into the early 2000s. Charity Trickett, who gives off true main character energy, is "everything that I wish I was in my early 20s when I lived in L.A.," Stringer said. "She's feisty, she's smart," she said. "I think that hindsight and age has given Charity … she's a better version of me because of it. When I was in L.A. and I was under FBI investigation, all I could think about was how it impacted me. I didn't realize, then in my 20s, how it was going to impact my boss who was on the verge of getting married, or how it would impact the executives at the studio who had decades of experience in their industry and have kids that they have to send off to university." In the novel, things go awry for the protagonist when she loses a copy of the big film she's been working on. If this happened today, Stringer said, the fallout would have happened more quickly. "With HD, that film could be distributed globally within seconds." In Stringer's case, things did eventually settle down. She continued to work in film for a few years before leaving the industry in 2011. As for the missing DVD, she said investigators told her that she had been pickpocketed. "He was trying to extort MGM for, like, millions of dollars — this is the story I was told, mind you, and then they caught him. Nobody would tell me any details, but that's the story they gave me."
The Province
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Province
This Vancouver author lost The Rock's movie — and lived to write about it
Christine Stringer's new novel Charity Trickett is Not so Glamorous is an entertaining romp into the world of a Hollywood assistant Vancouver author Christine Stringer has plenty to celebrate as her debut novel Charity Trickett is Not So Glamorous: A Novel is out now. The author draws on real life stories of her time working as a personal assistant on Hollywood TV/film productions for her fresh, fun perfect-for-the-beach book. Photo by Arlen Redekop / PNG Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Vancouver author Christine Stringer has turned her decade-plus career in the TV/film business into a fun and entertaining novel perfectly suited for a summer beach bag. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. 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REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors 'I want this to be a nice break for people,' said Stringer about her book. 'I want you to be able to take it to the beach and then be distracted by people on the beach, to be able to people-watch, and then get right back into the book.' Set in 1997, Charity Trickett is Not So Glamorous follows a young Vancouver woman who heads to Los Angeles to work as an assistant for a top director. But, like many others who have done coffee runs on a film or TV set or picked up a producer's dry cleaning, Charity dreams of becoming a screenwriter and producer. Once in L.A., Charity discovers her new life is far from the glitz and glam of red carpets and A-list celebrity parties. Instead, Charity finds herself working long hours and making no money, while trying to outwit a co-worker who appears to spend most of her time trying to undermine Charity's attempts at career advancement. To make matters way, way worse, Charity manages to lose a copy of a studio's yet-to-be-released summer blockbuster film. Essential reading for hockey fans who eat, sleep, Canucks, repeat. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. For the new novel Charity Trickett is Not So Glamorous, Vancouver author Christine Stringer takes some pages from her real life as a personal assistant working for Hollywood directors and producers. Photo by Arlen Redekop / PNG The story for Charity Trickett is Not So Glamorous is definitely inspired by Stringer's own Hollywood story. Between 2002 and 2011, Stringer worked in the world of TV/film production. She was a production assistant and personal assistant in Vancouver to many producers and directors, including: Chris Haddock of Da Vinci's Inquest fame; Todd Garner, who produced a number of Ice Cube projects; Eric Bross, the director behind the Emmy-winning Traffic: The Miniseries; producer Paul Schiff, who did Walking Tall, the 2004 Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson film; as well as that movie's director Kevin Bray. In fact, it was Bray who made Stringer an offer she couldn't refuse, and after the shoot wrapped in Vancouver, asked her to come with him to L.A. to be his assistant. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'It plays out almost like it did in the book,' said Stringer, who was in her early 20s at the time when Bray suggested she go south. 'I was blown away. I said yes, absolutely. It's what every assistant dreams of. But it very rarely happens. You know, all of us assistants on set, we're just like, 'Oh God, when is somebody going to discover my talent? How can I prove myself to make that next step up to producer, writer, director?' ' Stringer has plenty of personal stories to draw on. But the most notable one, and the one that anchors the new novel, is the time she lost a copy of the yet-to be-released film Walking Tall. 'The director asked me to take a copy of the film to this test screening in El Segundo, and I got pickpocketed. And I didn't know I was pickpocketed. I just thought that I lost the movie,' said Stringer. Even remembering the moment, Stringer says, causes discomfort. 'It's exactly how it is in the book. I'm standing there with all the executives, and we're chatting, and then everybody leaves. The theatre empties out, and the director looks at me, and he's like, 'OK, where's the DVD of the film?' I look down and oh, s–t, I don't have it,' said Stringer. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Not to spoil the plot, but you can probably guess that this situation is serious. If an unreleased movie gets pirated, a blockbuster's bottom line could easily become a punchline. 'I'm under FBI investigation. I can't leave Los Angeles. And I do believe, my phones were tapped,' said Stringer adding: 'It was wild, I was in my office, and I called home to tell my dad what was going on, and he says, 'I'll fly you home. I'll get you on a flight tomorrow to come home.' And then the assistant to the CEO of MGM knocked on my door, five minutes later, and told me her boss says I can't leave the country.' After a few weeks of scrutiny, Stringer learned that she was indeed the victim of a theft, but that did nothing to lessen the fact that it looked like her career had gone from promising to probably over. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'After the whole FBI thing, I was bullied into thinking that my Hollywood career was over. I was young, scared, naive and broke,' said Stringer. In a plot twist Stringer didn't see coming, she landed a job as an assistant to producer Gabe Sachs, who was shooting the new series Life as We Know It in Vancouver. 'As Gabe's assistant, I had the opportunity to work on a quality project, move back in with my parents, lick my wounds and save money,' said Stringer. That series only lasted a year, but, after that, Stringer found other gigs, including working on the TV series Psych and writing and associate-producing in the independent TV and film world. But she was never able to shake the feeling that the Walking Tall debacle was following her like a dark cloud. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Every time I interviewed for a job, even in Vancouver, I was terrified that my MGM SNAFU would come up. My job was to assist the people who came in from L.A. after all,' said Stringer. Stringer, who left TV and film in 2011 when she had her first of two children, is following the classic Hollywood sequel format and is currently working on a second Charity Trickett novel. She has plans to follow that up with a third book. And yes, she is writing a screenplay just in case her novel catches Hollywood's attention. 'I would love for the book to get optioned,' said Stringer. 'It would be a full-circle moment to have this book become a film … It would be an absolute dream to have this happen, because I love the movies.' Dgee@ Read More National Vancouver Canucks NHL Sports Vancouver Canucks
