As Puck’s senior entertainment correspondent, Masters analyzes Hollywood power structures through three lenses:
Achievements: 2024’s National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award winner for lifetime achievement, 14 Pulitzer Prize nominations, and creator mentorship through USC Annenberg’s Media Center.
Kim Masters’ four-decade career exemplifies investigative rigor combined with institutional Hollywood knowledge. Beginning at The Washington Post in the 1980s, she developed a signature approach blending business analysis with human-centric storytelling. Her 1993 Vanity Fair exclusive interview with Lorena Bobbitt demonstrated early prowess in tackling complex cultural stories with nuance.
Key career phases include:
This 4,200-word investigation into Amazon’s controversial Melania Trump documentary deal exemplifies Masters’ ability to connect entertainment deals to broader cultural shifts. Through 18 sourced interviews, she reveals how director Brett Ratner rehabilitated his career post-#MeToo through strategic alliances with streaming platforms. The piece contextualizes Amazon’s editorial decisions within election-year politics, analyzing platform ethics in biographical storytelling.
Methodologically, Masters employs financial document analysis juxtaposed with anonymous executive testimony. Her finding that Amazon paid $14 million for distribution rights sparked industry debates about platform accountability. The article’s impact led to renewed scrutiny of Ratner’s production company financing structures.
This Pulitzer-finalist investigation demonstrated Masters’ tenacity in pursuing sensitive stories. After initial rejections from The New York Times and BuzzFeed, she published through The Information before THR picked up expanded reporting. The article details 37 internal Amazon communications showing delayed response to Isa Hackett’s allegations against Roy Price.
The piece’s significance lies in its corporate governance analysis, tracking how streaming platforms adapted (or failed to adapt) HR protocols from traditional studios. Within 72 hours of publication, Amazon suspended Price, marking a watershed moment for #MeToo accountability in tech-entertainment hybrids.
Masters’ critique of HBO’s Brooks biography special showcases her cultural criticism strengths. By interviewing 11 contemporary comedians, she argues for Brooks’ overlooked influence on streaming-era humor. The analysis ties Brooks’ 1970s NBC writing deals to modern creator contracts, highlighting stagnant residuals structures.
"Brooks’ battle for creative control at 26 foreshadowed today’s showrunner-empowered landscape—yet financial transparency remains as opaque as ever."
Masters prioritizes stories about C-suite turnover at legacy studios and streamers. A successful pitch might detail how Paramount’s new CFO is restructuring production accounting—a topic she’s covered through three executive regimes. Avoid superficial “new boss” announcements; focus on financial implications and internal staff reactions.
With 14% of her 2023-25 pieces addressing union negotiations, Masters seeks underreported angles like VFX artist retention programs. Pitch data-rich analyses of IATSE local chapter reforms, particularly those involving streaming revenue sharing models.
Her recent Puck columns track Warner Bros. Discovery’s asset sales. Develop pitches around niche divisions like Rooster Teeth’s post-divestment trajectory, emphasizing employee outcomes over corporate PR angles.
The Society of Professional Journalists’ Los Angeles chapter honored Masters for “sustained investigative excellence,” particularly her Price reporting. This award recognizes journalists who balance source protection with public interest revelation—a tension Masters navigates through encrypted communication channels and deep background relationships.
Her KCRW podcast The Business earned recognition for elevating trade journalism through long-form executive interviews. The show’s format—30-minute unedited conversations—has become an industry standard for authentic commentary.
At PressContact, we aim to help you discover the most relevant journalists for your PR efforts. If you're looking to pitch to more journalists who write on Entertainment, here are some other real estate journalist profiles you may find relevant:
