The word "Hollywood" has different meanings for people. For many, Hollywood means movies, TV, stars, celebrities, a lavish sometimes dissolute lifestyle, creativity, genius, and eccentricity.
For Matt Belloni, host of the Ringer podcast The Town, Hollywood means big business with profit targets, talent management, HR issues and much more on the development and strategic side.
You may have heard Belloni's voice before on the KCRW podcast The Business with Kim Masters, which is built on the template for "the business of Hollywood" podcasts. On The Business, Belloni "batters" with podcast host Kim Masters in the first part of the podcast about the latest news in Hollywood -- Disney Plus streaming subscriber growth, movie box office numbers, executive firings and hiring, and TV ratings.
Ringer, the parent of The Town, is a podcast network started in 2016 by sportswriter Bill Simmons, who sold out, sorry, sold it, to Spotify in 2020.
The marketing copy for The Town reads as such: "Puck founding partner Matthew Belloni takes you inside Hollywood, using exclusive reporting and insight to explain the backstories on everything from Marvel movies to 'The Bachelor.' Multiple times each week, Matt will touch on what is getting made and why, who is winning and losing, and what people in show business are actually talking about."
Belloni spent 14 years as a writer and editor at The Hollywood Reporter (THR). He joined in 2006 and in 2017, Belloni was promoted to the top position of Editorial Director, which he held until his May 2020 exit.
A frequent entertainment pundit on TV and radio, Belloni has served as an instructor on entertainment journalism at USC’s Annenberg School of Communication.
So what kind of content will you find on The Town?
Since its first episode in March, The Town podcast has covered "Hollywood" topics that range from Netflix's password crackdown, the death of original action movies, the waning popularity of late night talk shows, the Depp-Heard trial to NBA ratings, price hikes at Disney parks, and the new CNN.
Belloni's eclectic intellect enables loyal listeners to expand their parallax view of entertainment industry topics. Consequently, listeners are consequently delighted by his latest foray. Belloni has held a fake "draft" of streaming services, given out half-year awards, and pitted streaming TV shows -- like Stranger Things and Obi-Wan Kenobi -- against one another in value propositions.
As a host, Belloni is likeable with a strong, deeper voice that resonates with the wisdom gained from experience. He is opinionated with being objectionable. He's a solid interviewer, although I'll note, at the risk of being accused of pettiness, that Belloni can occasionally cut off and interrupt his guests.
On the production side of the podcast, give producer Craig Horlbeck credit for solid sound design and quality and kudos to composer Devon Renaldo for a theme song that grooves with a fusion-pop tune that is a terrific sonic appetizer for the main course -- Belloni and his primary topic.
The Town podcast isn't for everyone. If you are a "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" person and simply care about the finished product that Hollywood produces via movies, streaming, and TV, listen to NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour or Slate's Culture Gabfest.
But if you're an entertainment nerd and love the backstage drama involved in conceiving, developing, producing, financing, and marketing TV, streaming, and movie content, don't miss The Town.
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