They Told Her No. Hollywood Powerhouse Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas Made Them Say Yes.

Superwomen with Rebecca Minkoff

Rebecca Minkoff

Society & Culture

4.8 • 543 Ratings

🗓️ 28 August 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

She fought her way into 1980s Hollywood when the boys’ club ruled everything… and she refused to back down. Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas went from an ambitious Valley girl to one of the most powerful agents in entertainment, representing Julia Roberts, Madonna, and Jennifer Lopez, who later became her producing partner at Nuyorican Productions. In this episode of Superwomen, Elaine gets real about surviving the sexism of Hollywood’s golden era, why she walked away from the top of her game to reinvent herself as a writer and producer, and how her viral debut novel Climbing in Heels is pulling back the curtain on that world. It’s raw, it’s inspiring, and it proves that sometimes being relentless is the only way forward. Episode Guide: (00:00) Meet Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, Author & Producing Partner to Jennifer Lopez (02:25) The heartbreak that launched her Hollywood hustle(09:15) Cracking the code to get past gatekeepers(11:58) Surviving sexism while climbing the agency ladder(15:28) Leaving agenting at the top of her game(18:10) Lessons from working with Jennifer Lopez(19:52) Climbing in Heels and three women’s stories(23:03) Turning the book into a TV series(28:02) Facing fear, cancer, and learning to just do Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:29.7	I was not what they wanted in the sexy Terry, at least the guys that were hiring. I was too
0:34.6	loud. I was too smart. I was probably too ambitious.
0:39.3	The people that were interviewing wanted long legs and no last name.
0:42.0	Another guy wanted a curvy redhead.
0:44.4	And it was allowed.
0:45.9	Today's guest is Elaine Goldsmith Thomas.
0:49.0	Emerging from the male-dominated landscape
0:50.9	in the 1980s in the entertainment industry,
0:53.8	Elaine shattered barriers at the
0:55.7	William Morris Agency to become a powerhouse agent behind women like Jennifer Lopez, Julia Roberts,
1:01.7	Madonna, Susan Sarandon, Tim Roberts, Spike Lee, and Nicholas Cage, among others. She jumped
1:08.5	ship and decided in a bold career pivot to transition as a studio head writer and producer.
1:14.2	And I was like the one who did the girl movies. The 1330s, the Mona Lisa Smile made Manhattan.
1:20.3	Today she's the producing partner to Jennifer Lopez and president of Lopez's New Eurekin Productions.
1:25.5	And she continues to drive groundbreaking projects.
1:28.7	But what we get into today is the birth of her book, climbing in heels, a fictional tale about
1:34.0	five women at the hottest talent agency in the 1980s in Hollywood.
1:38.9	It's sexy. They made me do it. I mean, it was sex. There was...
1:42.7	Who doesn't want that?
1:43.7	That's blow and blow jobs.
	...

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