Carrie Courogen

New York

writer for hire author: miss may does not exist: the life and work of elaine may, hollywood's hidden genius https://t.co/vM49mnjr07 prev: @condenast video

Articles

my sister’s wedding nearly turned me into the worst version of myself

1 month ago | carriecourogen.substack.com | Carrie Courogen

The night of my youngest sister’s surprise engagement party, I contemplated throwing myself into the heavy traffic that seems to always choke Penn Station no matter the hour. For once, I promise you, I am not being the slightest bit hyperbolic. Some context: It was midnight—my train back from Philadelphia had been delayed by more than two hours—and I was bone tired and ravenously hungry.
On Wednesdays We Wear Pink: Notes on Mean Girls

1 month ago | brightwalldarkroom.com | Carrie Courogen

I. Let’s start with a guided meditation: It’s 2004 and you’re going to the mall. It’s the end of the school day. Feel the locker combination spinning in your hand. Hear the jingling ringtone emanate from the pink Motorola Razr in your pocket, and the sound of your mom’s voice when you pick up. Her minivan is right out front, waiting to pick you and your BFF up. You’ve been waiting for this day, saving up your allowance for a new top to wear to the school dance on Friday.
May Days

Feb 12, 2025 | bookforum.com | Carrie Courogen

ELAINE MAY DIDN’T SET OUT to become a director. What she really wanted to do was write. Her first film, A New Leaf, came about partly because it was 1968 and Paramount knew it would look good to hire a woman director. And partly because May wouldn’t sell her script without being guaranteed director approval—the only way to ensure her work didn’t get turned into something else entirely.
the vibe shift

Jan 16, 2025 | carriecourogen.substack.com | Carrie Courogen

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It's Always Winter in 'Reds' (1981)

Dec 20, 2024 | brightwalldarkroom.com | Carrie Courogen

It’s always winter in Reds, even when it isn’t. It’s always winter, and someone is always arguing, someone is always plotting, someone is always unhappy—or dissatisfied, which isn’t the same as unhappiness, but isn’t too far off—always longing, always toiling away in an attempt to make it all better. And there’s so much that needs to be made better in Reds: marriages and writing, working conditions and politics, arguments and affairs.
Year in Reading: Carrie Courogen

Dec 5, 2024 | themillions.com | Carrie Courogen

Year in Reading: Carrie Courogen Some years my reading list is more structured and thematically tied than others, some years (particularly when I’m actively researching and writing), my list of recreational reads is embarrassingly thin. This gap year between finishing my first book and starting all-in on my second, I drifted toward whatever whim suited me, though in looking back, I see the patterns of my obsessions making their mark. The prospect of Ryan Murphy’s Feud: Capote vs.
Year in Reading: Carrie Courogen

Dec 4, 2024 | everand.com | Carrie Courogen

Some years my reading list is more structured and thematically tied than others, some years (particularly when I’m actively researching and writing), my list of recreational reads is embarrassingly thin. This gap year between finishing my first book and starting all-in on my second, I drifted toward whatever whim suited me, though in looking back, I see the patterns of my obsessions making their mark.
It’s Delightful, It’s Delicious, It’s De-Lovely

Oct 28, 2024 | brightwalldarkroom.com | Carrie Courogen

There’s a story Peter Bogdanovich liked to tell about his personal life during the mid-1970s. The ambitious director seemed to have burned through the goodwill he’d acquired in Hollywood almost as quickly as he’d earned it. He’d left his wife (and frequent collaborator) Polly Platt for a much younger starlet, Cybill Shepherd. After four acclaimed films—Targets, The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon, and What’s Up, Doc?—the focus of his career had shifted; Cybill was now his muse.
New library books

Oct 5, 2024 | journalgazette.net | Chris Nashawaty |Barry Sonnenfeld |Daniel de Visé |Carrie Courogen

These works on Hollywood and filmmaking are newly available through the Allen County Public Library. “The Future Was Now: Madmen, Mavericks, and the Epic Sci-Fi Summer of 1982”by Chris Nashawaty Examining the eight science fiction films released in 1982, including “E.T.,” “Blade Runner,” “The Thing” and “Mad Max,” a legendary entertainment journalist shows how these cult classics changed the careers of some of Hollywood’s now-biggest names as well as the art of moviemaking to this day.
bob costas can get it

Aug 6, 2024 | carriecourogen.substack.com | Carrie Courogen

Is this the kind of shit you’re get from me now that I’m officially unemployed? I don’t know. Maybe! I had sort of had the notes app thought dump early makings of a sort of depressing shut-up-carrie piece about, uh, the downside of building your life around one singular goal (surprise surprise it is not writing a book but actually working in corporate media lol) but instead of subjecting you to that brand of brain rot, I will be subjecting you to this brand of brain rot instead.