They put you down on the news f loor. They say, ‘OK, you think you’re a hot shot. Let’s see your smoke. ’ — Bob Tourtel lotte, journal ist 16 After graduating in 1984, he moved to New York City to be a writer. That didn’t work out at first. So he spun his wheels for a while, working for the publishing company Simon & Schuster and later in advertising. He also tried his hand working on Wall Street. His peers were Ivy League grads with more expensive but not more useful degrees. He eventually decided he needed what he called a fancy degree, too, if he was going to make it as a writer. So he went to New York University for a master’s degree in journalism. After finishing his degree, he still couldn’t find work for 2½ years. That is, until one day in 1992. He walked into Reuters’ human resources department looking for a job — any job. The English news service had a huge operation covering American financial markets. They offered him a summer internship and he gladly accepted. “I was a 30-year-old summer intern,” he says. “I always laugh at that now.” Once he had his foot in the door, Tourtellotte worked his way to the news floor, “a real prove-it kind of place,” he says. “They put you down on the news floor. They say, ‘OK, you think you’re a hot shot. Let’s see your smoke.’” His supervisors told him they’d find him a full-time position if he could break news. One of his first assignments was working on the commodities desk writing about things such as traders placing bets on whether the price of orange juice will rise or fall during a period of time. Six months later, he had done well enough to be hired and began writing about treasury bonds. After a year, he learned of an entry-level opening covering small companies in Los Angeles. Those were mostly technology firms specializing in the entertainment industry. Tourtellotte also wrote about early CD-ROM technology, the advent of the DVD and the first wave of Internet-based entertainment. “That introduced me to writing about the studio business — the business part of show business,” he says. Reuters then had an informal entertainment desk in Los Angeles, which allowed Tourtellotte to naturally drift into writing about stars, films and television. His business background gave him a deeper understanding of the subjects. His managers realized his skill. Tourtellotte eventually rose to editor-in-charge for entertainment, a position made just for him. “Now I’m the face of Reuters print in Hollywood,” he says. “I worked my way into it. It’s a job I basically created myself.” Although it’s stressful, he loves his job, in part because of the rapport he has with his reporters and colleagues. During his 19-year tenure, he has met and chatted with some of the greatest artists of the time. Steven Spielberg. Martin Scorsese. Tom Hanks (“Mr. Nice Guy,” Tourtellotte says). George Clooney. People always ask him what celebrities are like in person. The ones with the egos — the Mel Gibsons and Kevin Costners — are exactly how you’d imagine them to be, he says. But when he writes about them, he tries to show their humanity. “Over the years I’ve learned big Hollywood stars and actors are people just like anybody. They have their own issues and their own problems.” Tourtellotte returned to Stillwater last spring for the first time in years, taking leave from work to help his dad during rental season, to recover from a nagging shoulder injury and to visit his sister. In April, he spoke with students in the College of Arts and Sciences. It was the first time in years he missed the famed Cannes Film Festival in France. But he used the time to reconnect with old friends and reacquaint himself with the university he grew up around. “I think I received a really good education here,” he says. “I met a ton of fun people. I had a great time as an undergrad. I suppose at some point I could’ve gone out of state, but I never wanted to, and I’ve never regretted not doing that.”
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