Matthew Specktor’s Hollywood: when art, commerce, and family danced together

Matthew Specktor, in his new memoir "The Golden Hour," offers a unique perspective on Hollywood's transformation — as both the son of legendary talent agent Fred Specktor and a thoughtful cultural observer. He explores how the movie industry shifted from a close-knit "family business," where art and commerce balanced, to today's corporate-dominated landscape. Specktor reflects on how this mirrors broader American cultural changes, the diminishing role of movies in our collective imagination, and what's lost when filmmaking becomes primarily about algorithms and franchises rather than human stories.