This image is the cover for the book Hollywood South

Hollywood South

A studio insider reveals the dramatic story of politics, conspiracy, and crime behind Louisiana’s film industry boom.

From her work in Los Angeles to her role as an executive with Emerald Bayou Studios, Linda Thurman had a front-row seat to the tumultuous beginnings of Hollywood South. She knows first-hand how a conspiracy to manipulate the Louisiana film industry resulted in prison terms for film executive Malcolm Petal and state official Mark Smith.

In what reads like a modern-day crime novel, Thurman tells the full story—from the chairman’s office of a Hollywood studio to the corridors of the Louisiana legislature. Part memoir and part exposé, Hollywood South sheds light on the shadowy and convoluted relationship between politics and entertainment in both Hollywood and Louisiana.

Linda Thurman

A leading authority on Hollywood South and the impact of technology on the entertainment industry, Linda Thurman was a founding member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (Emmys) Interactive Media Peer Group and was awarded a Lifetime Membership to the Los Angeles Songwriters Showcase in 1989. She has been a featured speaker for the Hollywood Film Festival, Fuji Television, National Association of Broadcasters, Black Screenwriters Association, MIT Club of Southern California, eTV World, Mac World, and Internet Content West. Her articles have appeared in the NATPE News, the Los Angeles Voter, and Woman Spirit magazine, and she has been quoted in the Los Angeles (CA) Times and New Media publications.

Pelican Publishing Company