Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas has spent decades in the background of Hollywood as an agent and producer, working with Jennifer Lopez, Madonna, and Julia Roberts. But as her former boss once told her, “Background people keep the secrets. They know all.” After years behind the scenes, Goldsmith-Thomas finally picked up a pen to write her own story. Her novel, Climbing in Heels, follows three women trying to thrive in Hollywood in the 1980s, which Goldsmith-Thomas refers to as the “wild West.”
The fictional tale follows Beanie, Mercedes, and Ella through this wild time, weaving in bits and pieces of Goldsmith-Thomas’s experiences and things she’s overheard. It’s been called a story of “sex, drugs, and back-stabbing,” and while it’s got plenty of that, it’s also about friendship, she tells us over the phone. She likens the buzzy read to a Jacqueline Susann or Jackie Collins romp like Valley of the Dolls, and it’s already been green-lit for a TV adaptation on Peacock with Darren Star signed on to write and co–executive produce with Goldsmith-Thomas.
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Until you can take in the glitz, glamour, and padded shoulders of the ‘80s on the small screen, we caught up with Goldsmith-Thomas for the stories that didn’t make it into the novel.
You mentioned that Jennifer Lopez pushed you to write the book, but a lot of the novel is based on stories from your career. Was there a particular story that inspired you to finally start writing?
I’ve always been a writer, but I was really good at being an agent, so I thought I could only do that. Then I became a producer, and I kept writing quietly. At a certain point and time, you realize you don’t only live once: You only die once, and you live everyday. If you have talent and passion to do more than one thing, fucking do it. We might all be multi-hyphenates and we might have to take off the corset strings that limit us to one lane. It’s like only traveling to one country or eating one food.
How has the industry changed since you started? Your novel is set in the ‘80s. Do you think it could take place today?
The world has changed because of Me Too. When you look at these women and the terrain they had to climb through the prism of 2025 glasses, you go, “Oh my God, how is that even possible?” Guys would come up to you in the hall and say, ‘Can I have a little head?’ It just wouldn’t happen now, but that’s not to say there aren’t challenges now. Every generation faces its own challenge; the terrain is different but equally as difficult. In my time, it was the wild, wild West, where the bullies had their hands slapped but were secretly applauded. Now the business is constricting, and it’s hard to raise your voice to be seen or heard to break through.
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Do you think Hollywood is still a boys’ club?
I don’t know about Hollywood; I would say look at the world. Bullies seem to be pervasive.
Are there any stories from your career that didn’t make it into this book? Why?
There’s a lot that happened that I didn’t include, and some of the stories are imagined. A story I’ve told is that Bill Cosby gave a luncheon for the secretaries, and I was one of them. I was so happy to be there. In those days, when you were a secretary, it was the “male” room; you couldn’t get into the male room. You had to say you wanted to be a secretary, and Mr. Cosby said to me, “I can see you want to do more,” and I was bold enough to say, “Yes sir, I want to represent you, and one day I’ll be the best agent you ever had.” And he laughed. Later, I got a call saying he wanted me to go to his hotel to sign contracts or something, and I almost went, but my friend said not to go. Years later, I was thankful, and I didn’t put that in the book.
The book is about background people, the people who stand close enough, hoping maybe some of the power or fame rubs off.
Also in the book, one of the trainees tells Beanie that his boss lets him listen on the intercom as he “auditions actresses,” encouraging them to relax, take off their shoes or clothing, and then getting a casting director on the phone. It was a cabal of boys who were all friends, who ran together and passed around favors and actresses and recommendations.
“Page Six” summarizes the novel as “sex, drugs, and back-stabbing in Hollywood.” Would you say that’s accurate or do you have a different summation of it?
I think it’s a story of friendship, survival, and betrayal. I also think it’s a story of women becoming like the monsters they worked for. I think you can’t judge them at the end of the day; you have to applaud them because they had to scale a mountain in heels that was unscalable. When you’re running the maze, you have to figure out a different way in, and that’s what these women did.
