Merle Ginsberg takes a look back at her experiences covering film awards season in a fun Hollywood Reporter print magazine piece entitled “Red-Carpet War Stories: Two Decades of Battling Through Awards Season Mayhem.”

The article takes a while to live up to that “war stories” tease, but when it finally does, it does so with panache. Ginsberg’s most fractions moment occurred a year ago and involved one of the executive producers of the film that should have won the 2010 Best Picture Oscar:

In 2011, a cameraman for Extra tried to horn in on my arrivals interview with a star. That kind of hijacking goes on all the time. But then he grabbed my hand out of what he thought was his shot, and I slapped him in the face. Kevin Spacey, a producer on The Social Network and my interviewee, dropped his jaw and said: “I’ve never seen a girl hit anyone that hard. Buddy, if I were you, I’d back off.”

This year, Ginsberg says that same Extra cameraman made sure to keep his distance from her. Can’t say we blame him. To read Ginbserg’s article, click here.

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