Books/Authors
BOOKS/AUTHORS
Too Good to Fact Check: Flying the Skies with Stars, Scotch, and Scandal (Mostly Mine)
PRESS CONTACT:
POST HILL PRESS TO PUBLISH “TOO GOOD TO FACT CHECK: FLYING THE SKIES WITH STARS, SCOTCH AND SCANDAL (MOSTLY MINE)”
Dishy-Witty Confessional Chronicles Magazine Editor’s Travels with Celebrities Around the World, and the Outrageous Antics He Added
Author Jeremy Murphy Spent a Decade Overseeing Photo Shoots in New York, Paris, London, Milan, Berlin, Shanghai and even Bora Bora
Outrageous Memories Include Hotel Room Fire, Bar Fights, Arrest on a Plane, Restaurants Bans, and Drunkenly Singing Ted Koppel the “Nightline” Theme Song
Co-Writer Sophia Paulmier Brings Recollections to Life with Revealing Detail and Color
Too Good to Fact Check: Flying the Skies with Stars, Scotch and Scandal (Mostly Mine),” by Jeremy Murphy and co-author Sophia Paulmier, is set for release on Aug. 27, 2024, pubished by Post Hill Press. Filled with absurd memories from his 10 years as editor of a glossy magazine, author Jeremy Murphy and co-writer Sophia Paulmier recreate events from the decade with amusing detail, apologies, and endearing moments with celebrities like LL Cool J, Neil Patrick Harris, Julianna Margulies, Harrison Ford, Christine Baranski, and other top stars who he traveled with. Not quite a dishy memoir, “Too Good to Fact Check” is more of a hilarious confessional that takes readers into a rarefied world filled with glamour, access, and excess. Along the way, the book includes amusing recollections of Murphy’s many reckless actions, one more outrageous than the next.
“Too Good to Fact Check recreates with unbelievable detail and humor an editor’s decent into the crazy mad world of celebrity, glamour, and decadence,” said Anthony Ziccardi, Publisher, Post Hill Press. “Jeremy Murphy and Sophia Paulmier expertly bring to life the writer’s decade of over-indulgence as he traveled the world with celebrities around the world to its most iconic destinations. The revelations are shocking, hilarious, and symbolic of an era when no excess was too extreme.”
Hotel room set on fire? It’s in there. Bar fights at the King Cole? In the writer’s defense, he was defending prostitutes! Arrest on a commercial airplane in Paris? It wasn’t him, but he helped cover it up. Drunkenly serenading TV host Ted Koppel with the Nightline theme song? Yea, there’s no getting around that one. The writer’s most absurd actions unfold against glamorous photo shoots with Neil Patrick Harris aboard the Orient Express, Julianna Margulies at the venerated Hotel du Cap in the Cote d’Azur, Christine Baranski at a Tuscan vineyard owned by the Ferragamo family, LL Cool J striking a pose in the Place de Concorde, and a surly Harrison Ford arriving at the wrong hotel in Los Angeles, among other events. Murphy and Paulmier bring those moments to life with colorful detail and humor, told through the editor’s Macallan-soaked goggles.
Included in the recollections are Murphy’s own observations and opinions about Hollywood and celebrities, including Margulies (“a dream come true”), LL Cool J (“exhausting”), Harris (“witty, nice, and kind”), Baranski (“class act whole way through”), Ford (“grrrr”), Lucy Liu (“brrr!), Michael Weatherly (“hilarious, clever, and mischievous”), Simon Baker (“standoff-ish but warms up … eventually”), Johnny Galecki (“smart, introspective, and daring”), Alison Janey (“endearingly vulnerable”), and others.
“I didn’t think I had this book in me, but in recalling that insane decade I realized I had so many ridiculous stories I can laugh about now that the statute of limitations has passed,” says Murphy. “These are memories I’ve never shared, and I’m frankly surprised I can still recall given the over-the-top lifestyle I’d come to enjoy. Too Good to Fact Check is a diary, love letter, stand-up act, and mea culpa in one book. And great way to become un-employable.”
Authoring with Murphy is Sophia Paulmier, a New York based writer and award-winning filmmaker with several screenplays in development.
“Jeremy told me about this idea and I was fascinated, but not sold until he humored me on a couple of crazy stories; I could not believe was hearing,” said Paulmier. “Bringing this to life was a challenge that intrigued me. We spent months recreating this decade through his voice and memories, and the end result is a genuine, character-rich narrative that brings readers back to the highest era of pop culture.”
“Sophia is an artist who paints with words, using color to bring details and character to life,” said Murphy. “She uses her curiosity like a scalpel, cutting through layers to reveal the heart. I wanted to work with someone with a strong enough voice to help capture my own. Sophia’s eye for detail, ear for dialogue, instinct for motivation and character, and natural gift for storytelling make Too Good to Fact check revealing, funny, nostalgic ode to a life, time, and place that no longer exists.”
Murphy’s representative Sacha Di Bona of the Passport talent agency negotiated the deal.
“This was not a traditional sell, but Post Hill Press saw what Jeremy, Sophia and myself did: a great story filled with character, humility, absurdity, surprise, and most of all heart,” says Di Bona.
Murphy is the author of “F*ck Off, Chloe,” a critically acclaimed book about the culture clash between young and old in the workplace. He is also the screen writer of “House of Medici,” an in-development TV series produced by James Brolin and Scott Hart. Murphy worked for 14 years as a Vice President at CBS, and for a decade editor in chief of Watch! magazine. Currently, he runs 360bespoke, a NY-based PR agency he founded in 2016.
Sophia Paulmier is an actor, director and writer from Germantown, Philadelphia and currently residing on New York City’s Upper West Side. She has worked with many top creative talents, including the late director Joel Schumacher who hailed her as “brilliant” on a filming project.
Her scripts are known to be female driven as well as having an architectural framework and pink palettes. She is “always looking for stories that feel nostalgic in time and place.” Paulmier’s dark comedy “Sisters,” about two sociopathic siblings, won her best director as well as several best Web-series/Pilot awards. She is currently in the early script stages of a feature about the dark side of being an actress.
