“Chelsea Briggs delivers the latest entertainment news for Hollywire TV”
Exclusive Interview by Michael Aaron Gallagher of StayFamous.Net
Chelsea Briggs
The excitement in the air is palpable. The red carpet swirls with activity as publicists whisk celebrities from interview to interview and photographers light up the evening shadows with a flurry of flashbulbs.
In the midst of the organized chaos that surrounds her night after night, Chelsea Briggs has become the girl that every aspiring entertainment reporter dreams of being. Standing beside the boys from One Direction, laughing with Selena Gomez and getting a first look at the latest blockbuster film to hit theaters, she is the girl who cheerfully shares her experiences with an audience of millions for Hollywire TV.
Originally from Royal Oak, Michigan, Chelsea studied broadcasting at Central Michigan University. With a natural talent for journalism and on-camera work, she eventually became an intern at MTV in New York City. But it was at Hollywire.com, where her production background and knowledge of the fast-paced entertainment industry really began to pay off.
“When I started here it was a different website,” Chelsea said. “It didn’t really have a big following.”
Along with another intern, Chelsea pushed the website to embrace the video format, which she saw as the future of entertainment news.
“For me it’s a teen pop culture website.” she said. “You can come to Hollywire and it’s a one stop shop to know what’s going on – to know what’s cool and what’s trending.”
Chelsea Briggs and One Direction
From sit down interviews to red carpet coverage, Hollywire.com appeals to a new generation of fans, who are tired of the old-fashioned, big-studio-produced entertainment news shows.
“I like basically just getting up every day and being able to report on the fun and quirky things that happen,” Chelsea said. “And I think it’s an outlet for a lot of people. So it’s cool when you get feedback from people that they enjoy it and they get to leave school or come home from work and watch videos on entertainment… People love following the celebrities’ lives and I think that’s so interesting that people get so wrapped up in that.”
On camera, her enthusiasm and excitement is contagious. She is funny, quirky and down-to-earth. Off camera, Chelsea says, she’s the same.
“I think that that’s always my challenge, I try to be myself, whether I’m on camera or off camera,” she said. “If you ask any of my friends, that’s probably how they would describe me – random, silly, goofy, bubbly, talkative, excited. I use a lot of exclamation points in everything.”
It is these traits that leave her celebrity guests feeling comfortable opening up to her in interviews. As she chats on the phone with StayFamous.Net about her amazing career, it’s easy to see that talking to her is like talking to your best friend. It’s a gift that can’t be taught in journalism school, and one she has easily mastered.
“Getting to know people, I think that’s my strength. I like talking to people,” Chelsea said. “I am genuinely interested in what they’re doing and getting to know them.”
Of course, like any great interviewer, she’s had her share of disappointing conversations, when the celebrities (who will remain nameless) weren’t as charming as she expected them to be. But overall, she points to moments like her interviews with Paul Rudd and Conor Maynard as some of her fondest memories, when she found the stars to be even more likeable in person.
“It’s always fun when you interview celebrities that don’t take themselves so seriously, and that are just fun and have fun with you and aren’t stuck up or snooty,” she said.
Paul Rudd and Chelsea Briggs
Although working in the entertainment industry can be extremely competitive, Chelsea shares some of the lessons she’s learned over the past few years. Whether you are an aspiring actor, model or musician, her advice is simple:
“Always be true to yourself and don’t let other people get you down. Don’t let other people discourage you or make you shy away from being who you are. I think there’s a lot of pressure in the industry to fit a cookie-cutter mold and I think that’s the wrong way to do it. You want to be unique and you want to let your quirky weirdness (whatever it may be) shine, because I think that’s what people relate to and that’s important. Be who you are. Know that there’s room at the top for everyone. It’s a competitive industry but I think that it’s important to be supportive of each other. It’s all about hard work. You’re going to accomplish what you need to accomplish and you need to support each other along the way.”
Her hard work and determination to be the best at what she does, makes Chelsea such an inspiration.
“You can do absolutely anything you put your mind to. It’s something so cliché, but I seriously tell that to everyone,” she said. “I remember my biggest goal when I was younger was that I wanted to intern at MTV. Everyone was kind of like, ‘Oh, that’s great Chelsea, but maybe you should just start and work at a news station.’ And I was like, ‘No, I want to work at MTV.’ And so I applied for the internship, got an interview and I didn’t get it. And I applied the next year, I went through a bunch of interviews and ended up getting the internship. It just took persistence. I think, anything you want to do, you put your mind to it, you work hard, and you can totally make it happen. One hundred percent.”
“Chelsea Briggs delivers the latest entertainment news for Hollywire TV”
Copyright 2013 by Michael Aaron Gallagher
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