Access: Reflections on studying up in Hollywood

Abstract

This is an article about the difficulties of doing ethnography in relatively enclosed and secretive communities, based on my experience of trying to launch an ethnographic study of Hollywood. I consider (separately) the problems of doing participant observation in ‘inside’ locations, and the problems of gaining access to industry insiders for interviews. In response to the problem of doing participant observation, I propose the practice of what I call ‘interface ethnography’, attending events in which the closed institution presents itself to ‘the public’. In response to the problem of gaining access to insiders for interviews, I discuss the important role of the interviewee’s ‘interest’, whether practical or intellectual, in the project.