Authors Interviewing Characters: Christine Stringer

Charity Trickett is Not So Glamorous

Bridget Jones fans will fall hard for this based-on-a-true-story, behind-the-scenes tale of a young woman’s calamitous adventures trying to break into the movie industry in 1990s Hollywood.

Hollywood, 1997. When Charity Trickett moves to LA to assist the director of the biggest blockbuster film of the year, she quickly realizes that Hollywood isn’t all red carpets and Rodeo Drive. But her determination to become a screenwriter and producer in this glamorous yet cutthroat industry cannot be stifled. Working harder than she ever has before, she impresses the top brass at Canopy Studios and inches herself closer to her dream. But her ambitions and tender heart are threatened by backstabbing coworkers, an evaporating bank account, love gone wrong, a mistake that could cost the studio hundreds of millions of dollars, and an FBI investigation that could land her in jail.

Surrounded by fame and money but unsure how to access either one, Charity’s grit and kindness steer her toward devoted friends and hopeful artists. If she can manage to stay out of trouble, maybe she can change bad to good.

I’m Christine Stringer, author of Charity Trickett is Not So Glamorous. Today. I’m sitting down with Charity Trickett at The Coffee Bean in Beverly Hills to discuss felonies, Hollywood and Chumbawamba. She arrives twelve minutes late. 

CT: Sorry! Sorry! Oh my God. I’m never going to get used to LA traffic. It’s insane. 

CS: No worries. I got you a green tea. 

CT: Ugh. 

CS: What? I thought green tea was your drink. 

CT: It is. But I can’t drink green tea here. Why are we here anyway?    

CS: I thought it would be fun for the interview. You know, a real location from the book. 

CT: You want a real location from the book, and this is what you pick? 

CS: Yeah. 

CT: You could have picked Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, or The Santa Monica Pier, Chateau  Marmont, or that cute coffee shop in Venice where Kai and first hung out. So many cool LA locations with amazing memories and you pick the Coffee Bean in Beverly Hills.

CS: I thought it would be dramatic.

CT: Try traumatic. 

CS: Do you still feel traumatised? 

CT: I was interrogated by the FBI at that table, right there, while drinking this same green tea. 

CS: Green tea at an interrogation. Intense. 

CT: I’m sweating. Do I have pit stains? 

Charity lifts her arm for my inspection.

CS: You’re fine. 

CT: I can’t get a good breath. Did you watch the news this morning? What’s the air quality? 

CS: The air quality is fine, Charity.  

CT: You sure? I’m sure, you’re sure. It’s in my head. This is actually, my first time in a Coffee Bean since being interrogated at this Coffee Bean. 

CS: We didn’t have to come here. You could have said something.

CT: I did. 

CS: When?

CT: When we talked on the phone, I was like, “Really? That’s where you want to meet?” and you were like, “Yeah. Gotta go.” 

CS: Right. I had another call coming in. Should we go someplace else? 

CT: No. I’ll be fine.

Charity disposes her green tea into the potted bamboo next to her. She digs into her purse and pulls out a minibar size bottle of white wine and pours it into her mug. She takes a rather large sip.

CT: Okay let’s start the interview. 

CS: Well, can I have one? 

As Charity digs through her purse. I too, pour my green tea into the potted bamboo. Charity fills my mug with another minibar size bottle of white wine. I sip. 

CS: It’s warm.

CT: It’s the emergency pinot grigio I keep in the glove compartment of my car. 

CS: At what point does wine become an emergency? 

CT: This is LA. There are like a hundred pool parties happening at any given moment. I carry a bikini in my purse. 

CS: We should have gone to Chateau Marmont.

CT: Do you have a bikini in your purse too? Because they don’t let you use the pool unless you’re a guest. 

CS: No. I mean, we should have gone there for the interview. That way you’re not traumatised and we can have white wine at a more appealing temperature. 

CT: I don’t mind warm white wine. 

CS: Okay. Should we start the interview?

CT: Sure. 

CS: Here we go. Charity, thank you for sitting down with me.  

CT: My pleasure. 

CS: Is it, really your pleasure? 

CT: Just get on with it already.

CS: Okay. What was it like to be interrogated by the FBI? 

Charity glares at me while taking a large sip of wine.

CT: You know that feeling when you have to poop and vomit at the same time. It’s like that. Except you can’t poop or vomit. You have to hold it in, because you’re in the middle of being interrogated by the FBI. If you go to the bathroom, they might think you’re a runner. So, you sit there, shitting your pants. You weren’t made for jail. You were made for rom coms and ski weekends. Bubble baths and beach blankets. Not shivs in the shower. 

CS: That’s a vivid description. What was it like working at Canopy Studios?

CT: Seriously? 

CS: You don’t want to talk about working at Canopy? That’s the whole book. We got to talk about it. 

CT: Okay. Canopy is the most iconic film studio in the world. They shaped the art and business of film into what it is today. You’re surrounded by movie stars, powerful executives, and the best creative minds in the industry. They have glass cases jammed with so many Oscars that it bathes a two-story room, the size of a tennis court in gold. Working there is a dream come true. But when you have possibly cost them about a billion dollars, like I did, Canopy Studios is hell on earth. People who you thought were your friends turn on you, your boss yells at you, and the CEO calls you every disgusting name in the book.

CS: Can’t all be bad. You made friends with two movie stars while working at Canopy. 

CT: Well, one of them won’t ever work with Canopy again. 

CS: Who? 

CT: Do you have any fun questions? 

CS: Yes. Here’s one: If you could choose one song to be your anthem, what would be it be? 

CT: Hmm…  you know Tubthumper? It goes like: I get knocked down, but I get up again.

CS: Chumbawamba?

CT: Yeah. 

CS: That’s surprising to me.

CT: Really? 

CS: Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great song. But it’s a bunch of dudes from England yelling.

CT: It’s a song about resilience. 

CS: There are plenty of songs about resilience. Like you could have done Hold On by Wilson Phillips. That seems more you. 

CT: Yeah, but Tubthumper is the kind of song, that if you were at the concert, everyone would be jumping up and down together. I love that feeling. 

CS: Okay. I get it. 

CT: I’m out of wine. 

CS: I want to talk about the competitive culture at Canopy Studios and how you navigated through that. 

CT: Come on, Christine. More questions about my professional downfall? This interview is like getting pins stuck in my eyes. 

CS: Really?

CT: Hundreds of pins. Don’t you have any more fun questions? 

CS: Sure, I do. 

I flip through my notes as Charity searches her purse, presumably for more warm wine.

CT: You don’t have anything fun to talk about, do you?

CS: Fun for who? Because that story about your boss’ dog puking on you, is hilarious.   

CT: You’re not seriously going to write about that, are you?

CS: I would like to.

CT: Well, that will cost you.

CS: Okay. How about we go, right now, to someplace fun for proper cocktail?

CT: Perfect. I’m all out of emergency wine. 

CS: Where to? 

CT: How about The Polo Lounge?

CS: The Beverly Hills Hotel? This story is going to cost me a pretty penny. 

CT: Don’t think of it as the cost of the drink. It’s more the cost of this torturous interview. 

While Charity and I did go to The Polo Lounge, I left the interview questions in my car. I had every intension of getting them, but then we saw Charlize Theron and Steve Martin. (Not together.) A large Russian man with a Pomeranian in a rhinestone collar sat next to us, so we had to talk to him. Before we knew it, we had lunch, a bottle of wine, saw Ozzie Osbourne and three hours just flew by. Totally forgot about the interview. 

BUY HERE

—

Christine Stringer is a former MGM assistant who was‬‬‬  investigated by the FBI for piracy of a film starring The Rock. So yeah,‬‬‬ she does find herself in little snafus from time to time. She has a BFA‬‬‬ from the University of Victoria where she studied theatre and English. As‬‬‬ a screenwriter and novelist, she strives to brighten people’s days, writing‬‬‬ stories based on her film career, love life and general mishaps. She lives‬‬‬ in beautiful Vancouver, BC, with her husband and two young children who‬‬‬ bring her joy every day, even though they have banned her from singing in‬‬‬ the car.‬ Christinestringer.com‬ IG:‬ christinestringerauthor‬

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Category: Contemporary Women Writers, Interviews, On Writing