Fan Casting Behind the Headlines: The Louella Parsons Story

In a glittering era of Tinseltown excess, Louella Parsons was more than just a columnist—she was a gatekeeper of Hollywood's most coveted stories. Behind the Headlines: The Louella Parsons Story takes viewers behind the façade of the gossip queen, whose pen could build or destroy careers. Set against the backdrop of 1920s and 1930s Hollywood, the series explores Louella's early years as a struggling reporter in New York, her meteoric rise to the top of Hollywood's social pyramid, and the shocking scandals she both uncovered and orchestrated. Through her personal and professional battles, the show reveals the complex woman behind the headlines: a woman driven by ambition, fame, and the desire to control the narrative, even as it threatened to consume her. Each episode delves into her relationships with some of the most famous stars of the era—Greta Garbo, Charlie Chaplin, and Joan Crawford—and her complicated friendship-turned-rivalry with Hollywood mogul William Randolph Hearst. As Louella's career flourishes, the show will capture the moral dilemmas she faced, her complex loyalty to Hearst, and the toll her choices took on her personal life, including her fractured marriage and strained relationship with her children.