Memorial Weekend Zoom Webinar - Writing the Celebrity Biography

IWOSC Westside Satellite Host Robin Quinn interviews Ray Richmond,

author of  Betty White: 100 Remarkable Moments in an Extraordinary Life

 

Saturday, May 28

12:30 – 2:30 p.m. Pacific

Free to IWOSC members

$10 for nonmembers

Online using Zoom

Registration closes at noon, May 27

More info & RSVP: https://iwosc.org/writing-the-celebrity-biography/

Los Angeles | May 24, 2022 – Originally Ray Richmond was approached to write a Betty White biography to coincide with her 100^th birthday, January 17^th, 2022. Unfortunately the world lost Betty on December 31, 2021 – just 24 days after Ray’s book about her was released. Fans were drawn to the original hardcover edition of Betty White: 100 Remarkable Moments in an Extraordinary Life, and it outsold its first print run. A packed schedule of media interviews followed for Ray.

During IWOSC’s May Westside Satellite, Host Robin Quinn will interview Ray about his writer’s journey on the book and his experience of telling the story of Betty White’s life.

o How he got the job

o Choosing an approach to the book

o Selecting Mary Tyler Moore co-star Gavin MacLeod for the Foreword

o How he started the book

o Selecting material from all the options

o Getting to the person behind the image

o Interviewing other celebrities about Betty, including Carol Burnett and Candice Bergen

o Managing photo rights and credits

o Navigating the media attention when the book sold well

o How this experience was different than writing previous celebrity memoirs

o And more!

Ray Richmond has worked as entertainment journalist and author since 1984. He has served as a TV critic, columnist and reporter for a number of publications, including The Hollywood Reporter, Daily Variety, The Los Angeles Daily News, The Orange County Register and (online) Deadline Hollywood. He has interviewed many of the most famous celebrities and icons in the world, including Elizabeth Taylor, Lucille Ball, Shirley MacLaine, George Burns, Chris Rock, Martin Scorsese, Ben Stiller, Amy Schumer, Steve Carell and Jimmy Kimmel. Ray is the author most recently of the best-selling coffee table biography Betty White: 100 Remarkable Moments in an Extraordinary Life that was published in hardback on December 7, 2021 and released in paperback on April 12, 2022. His other books include The New York Times bestseller The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family (1997) and TV Moms: An Illustrated Guide (2000). He has also ghostwritten and collaborated on many books, including the memoirs for the legendary actress Janis Paige (Reading Between the Lines [2020]) and character actor William Sanderson (Yes, I’m That Guy [2019]). In August 2022, he will take over teaching a graduate course on the “History of Television” at Chapman University in Orange, CA. Ray was born in Whittier, and he currently lives in Valley Glen, CA.

Westside Satellite Host Robin Quinn is an LA Book Editor and Coach, who has served the publishing community for more than three decades. Her recent editing projects include Amazon bestseller Everyone Is Psychic: How to Awaken Your Intuition to Improve Your Relationships, Enrich Your Life & Read Others by Ann O’Brien, the mystical novel The Hsien by Rehmannia Dean Thomas, and multi-award-winning Heroines of Avalon and Other Tales by Ayn Cates Sullivan. In addition to editing, she also provides copywriting services and ghostwriting. Her specialties include spirituality, self-help, health, memoir and uplifting fiction. www.writingandediting.biz

The Independent Writers of Southern California (IWOSC) offers monthly panels and seminars to help further the careers of indie scribes. More info at: https://iwosc.org/

Any questions or issues with registration, contact Robin Quinn at quinnrobin@aol.com. 

More on Robin's services at www.writingandediting.biz.