In Manufacturing Celebrity Vanessa Díaz traces the complex power dynamics of the reporting and paparazzi work that fuel contemporary Hollywood and American celebrity culture. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, her experience reporting for People magazine, and dozens of interviews with photographers, journalists, publicists, magazine editors, and celebrities, Díaz examines the racialized and gendered labor involved in manufacturing and selling relatable celebrity personas. Celebrity reporters, most of whom are white women, are expected to leverage their sexuality to generate coverage, which makes them vulnerable to sexual exploitation and assault. Meanwhile, the predominantly male Latino paparazzi can face life-threatening situations and endure vilification that echoes anti-immigrant rhetoric. In pointing out the precarity of those who hustle to make a living by generating the bulk of celebrity media, Díaz highlights the profound inequities of the systems that provide consumers with 24/7 coverage of their favorite stars.

"“Vanessa Díaz pulls back the curtain on Hollywood and the people who photograph and write about the movie stars of today and tomorrow. Manufacturing Celebrity is a must-read for anyone desiring keenly observed insights into the struggles of immigrants and women trying to catch some of the stardust in Hollywood's dream factory. Their stories reveal a Hollywood undergoing change that is often resisted as it grapples with the contemporary demographic reality of the United States.”" - The Latino Threat: Constructing Immigrants, Citizens, and the Nation

"This book is a useful resource for entertainment industry practitioners (publicists, reporters, photographers) and media professionals interested in enhancing their understanding of key dynamics that (re)create the modern entertainment industry. Manufacturing Celebrity is also a must read for scholars and students studying communication, media studies, critical cultural studies, public relations, anthropology, sociology, and labor relations." - Choice

"“Manufacturing Celebrity is a compelling and revelatory study of the structural hierarchies and labor practices that produce celebrity media.... This book underscores how the ever-evolving boundaries between entertainment and news should not be overlooked.”" - American Journalism

"“Díaz offers a vivid and engaging account of the complex and nuanced lived experiences and social struggles of both paparazzi and celebrity reporters.... Manufacturing Celebrity is a valuable resource for scholars interested in Latinx labor, feminist and gender studies, race studies, and cultural studies of production.”" - Media Industries

"“Manufacturing Celebrity . . . is, most fundamentally, a valuable examination of the role of the worker within the celebrity media production industry. . . . Díaz draws on her unique former career background as a celebrity reporter, which allows her to offer unprecedented insight into the inner workings of the industry.”" - Celebrity Studies

"“Díaz’s book provides rich ethnographic details into the working lives and conditions of those who manufacture celebrity status through their labor. . . . [Manufacturing Celebrity] will be of significant interest to scholars of race, gender, and labor, as Díaz demonstrates that celebrity media can teach us how hierarchies of labor are reproduced in a neoliberal economy.”" - Exertions

"“A stunning critical ethnography of the celebrity-industrial complex. . . . Manufacturing Celebrity is for everyone.”" - American Anthropologist

"Díaz’s writing style throughout Manufacturing Celebrity is clear, powerful and compelling. Both thorough and accessible, Díaz is successful in grabbing the attention of both students and scholars of media as well as of the casual reader. Díaz writes a comprehensive and detailed account of the lives of those who are sidelined in the process of manufacturing celebrity and integrates theory without sacrificing the human perspective." - LSE Review of Books