It Happened In Hollywood

Seth Abramovitch has one of the best gigs in podcasting. As a senior writer at The Hollywood Reporter, he gets to sit down with the actual people who were in the room when Hollywood history happened — and they trust him enough to tell stories they have never shared publicly. It Happened In Hollywood is built around long-form interviews with actors, directors, and industry insiders who lived through pivotal pop culture moments, from Andrew McCarthy talking about the production of Pretty in Pink to Henry Thomas revisiting E.T. forty-plus years later. With 78 episodes since 2018, a 4.3-star rating from 260 reviews, and new episodes still dropping weekly in 2026, the show has serious staying power. Abramovitch is a skilled interviewer who knows when to press and when to let a story unfold naturally. The result is conversations that feel more like oral history sessions than standard podcast chats. Episodes run about 40-50 minutes, and the focus tends toward the 1970s through 1990s, though earlier Hollywood subjects appear regularly too. The theme music, composed by Paul Masvidal and Sean Malone, sets a nostalgic tone right from the opening seconds. What really sets this apart is access — these are not recycled anecdotes from press junkets. Jane Alexander talking about making Testament, Larry Smith discussing the cinematography of Eyes Wide Shut, Mira Nair remembering Salaam Bombay — these are substantive, first-person accounts from people who shaped the films we still care about.