Features May Cobb

By Mindy Carlson

May Cobb is back with a delicious new novel. THE HOLLYWOOD ASSISTANT transports readers into the world we mere mortals envision when we think of Hollywood.

Cassidy Foster leaves her broken heart behind in East Texas and reinvents her life under the glitz and glamour of the Hollywood lights. Connected to the job of a lifetime through her best friend Lexie, Cassidy becomes the personal assistant to Nate and Marisol Sterling, one of the It Couples of Hollywood.

Marisol is an actress approaching the peak of fame, and Nate is a powerhouse writer/director who’s become reclusive after the Covid-19 Pandemic. Cassidy easily slides into their lives, running errands and picking up the slack. Friendship blossoms with Marisol, and Nate trusts Cassidy enough to allow her to summarize manuscripts from the slush pile. Soon, Cassidy feels like there’s something more between her and Nate.

Then Nate asks Cassidy to spy on Marisol. He’s worried she’s having an affair, and he needs Cassidy to put his mind at ease. Cassidy finds herself plunged into the deep end of intrigue, lust, and murder.

May Cobb

The Big Thrill was delighted to sit down with Cobb to talk about using our past to inspire our writing, using Hollywood as a setting, and seeing your work up on the big screen.

You’ve said your time as a personal assistant inspired THE HOLLYWOOD ASSISTANT. Where were you a personal assistant, and what parts of that job did you incorporate into this novel?

About 20-odd years ago, my best friend was living in LA, and she kept telling me, “You have to move here!” I was a little more serious and broody—getting my masters in Victorian literature in respectable San Francisco. I had no designs to move down there, but when I graduated, I needed a job, and she convinced me.

She was working for the writer/director Ron Shelton, who’s done Bull Durham and White Men Can’t Jump. They were starting to film a new movie, and she was his assistant. His wife, the actor Lolita Davidovich, also needed an assistant. So, I got that gig, which was probably the dreamiest job I’ve ever had because they treated me so well. They really spoiled me silly. And Lolita, Ron, and I are still friends to this day.

Other than the basic premise of an aspiring writer landing a job with a writer/director and actress, there’s really nothing else that resembles my job with them.

Your other novels have been set in East Texas. Why did you decide to write a novel set in Hollywood?

I was craving a different setting. Part of LA feels very noir, and I also thought it would be fun to try to recreate those parts of it that feel Hitchcockian. Blend them. You know, the winding roads and the switchbacks. The whole “body double” of it all.

Cassidy is a fascinating hero. She’s messy and complicated, but she’s also earnestly trying her best to restart her life after a hard breakup. Where did Cassidy come from? How did she spring into being?

I would say Cassidy is probably—and this for better or worse—the most autobiographical character I’ve written. I was like Cassidy. I’d gone through some heartbreak, was single for most of my twenties, wondering if I was ever going to be in any kind of stable relationship, and was experiencing the struggling writer of it all.

But I definitely tried to make Cassidy her own character. There’s so much of her that’s not me. She feels she’s a single woman of a certain age, even though she’s in her early twenties. She’s been made to feel like a pariah. I wanted to lean into the third-wheel feeling—that feeling of not belonging but wanting to belong and wanting to be like everyone else.

Nate and Marisol seem like a typical Hollywood couple. Ambitious. Creative. Hot. Were there any stereotype traps you tried to stay away from?

I was interested in using LA and Hollywood as a backdrop, but I didn’t want to make THE HOLLYWOOD ASSISTANT a “celebrity” book. I wanted Nate to be a brainy and nerdy director and Marisol to be a super-ambitious actress…with lots of agency. I wanted to get away from the flighty actress stereotype because that’s never been my experience when I’ve met actresses. I also wanted her to be from another country because I wanted her to also feel like an outsider, just like Cassidy.

Did you know the ending when you started writing, or were all those delicious reveals about Cassidy, Nate, and Marisol discoveries along the way?

I didn’t know the ending. I knew a lot of [the story], but I didn’t know the villain until about two to three months in. I was low-key panicking until I staggered into the breakfast room one morning and talked through some ideas with my husband, Chuck. One of them—no spoilers!—made so much sense. I was like, “Thank God.” Then I went back and put in all the clues and enhanced the story, including the red herrings, without giving the ending away too soon.

The Hunting Wives is being made into a television series, and you’ve posted behind-the-scenes pics on your Instagram. What’s it like to see your characters come to life and be on a Hollywood set?

It’s an absolute dream come true. It’s like coming full circle. I’d been on a film set before as an assistant. Now, to walk onto the set and be an Executive Producer with my own chair? Like, are you kidding me?

It’s so crazy and so surreal to see my characters come to life. It’s crazy to look at the different sets and see the world I created. It’s wild.

What’s Next?

I just finished my sixth novel. I’ve gone back to East Texas. I can’t reveal the title yet, but I can say it’s another soapy suspense set in the 1980s.

The Big Thrill Interviews Author May Cobb