Leaving the house is generally thought of as ‘a good thing’ or if you’re having a bad day, a ‘necessary evil’ in Hollywood.

Why? Because no matter where you are, or who you talk to, any conversation you have with anyone is considered networking – and believe me, this town is powered by networking.

A mindless chat over fresh produce in Trader Joes could lead to a lunch with an executive or an exchanged quip in Starbucks could lead to a development deal. This happened to a friend of mine recently. He struck up a conversation with the man at the next table who was sipping on a frothy mocha, who turned out to be a talent agent, who turned out to have all the right contacts and soon enough a development deal was in the works. Back of the net.

Don’t get the wrong idea, I’m not the kind to powersuit myself to the eyeballs just to buy carrots but like a starry-eyed cub scout about to take Tinseltown’s mover and shaker badge test, I am prepared.

I never go anywhere without my Benefit lip gloss, digital camera, short film on DVD or business cards – and not only that I carry three different kinds of business cards just so I can be ’situation specific’.

On the surface, I seem to have lost my inherent British reserve when it comes to bragging about my achievements.

Ok, I’m not in the same league as microphone thief Kanye West but I’m better at waxing lyrical about my career than I was when I arrived on the west coast, determined to become a fully-fledged screenwriter.

I’m not saying it comes easy but at least I can talk the talk, even if my insides are doing Olympic-sized somersaults. Being your own number one fan is not considered a crime here, it’s as necessary as having air conditioning in your car or enjoying the company of small yappy dogs (still working on that last one truth be told).

Of course some events are more networky than others. Some are pure business while others are meant to be enjoyed, and so my first reciprocal shout out this week goes to Stefane Zamorano, who is one third of the Comedy and Everything Else team alongside Jimmy Dore and Todd Glass. I subscribe to their podcast, which mixes news event with anecdotes about anything else you can imagine. I popped in to see Jimmy’s very funny Pop and Politics show at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade theatre on Franklin last week and met Stefane for the first time.

As ‘the girl’ on the show, she’s often caught in the middle of Jimmy and Todd’s comedy tirades (she’s Jimmy’s girlfriend) but still manages to keep them in line. She’s lovely and gave me a shout out on their last podcast (Show 60 in case you want to listen) which kept me smiling dementedly for hours. Go subscribe!

I was also lucky enough to be invited to a friend’s baby shower in the Hollywood hills this week where I was so pannicked about what to wear (it was described as a garden baby shower) that I called my landlady, who is also a brilliant stylist and she whisked me up to the Americana to buy a pretty dress. I don’t often ‘do Hollywood’ but thanks to Christine (who brilliantly styled the TV section in this month’s Nylon) I was perfectly attired.

However, that old adage ‘you can take the girl out of Essex but you can’t take Essex out of the girl’ proved right as I spent most of my time hovering around the fish and chips at the buffet table. (Catering had labelled it mini tempura cod and fries but they weren’t fooling anyone!).

There was also time on Sunday, while the sun was mercifully hidden behind some much missed cloud cover, to visit Los Angeles zoo. There, I saw some frisky giraffes ‘networking’ although I’m not sure they quite know the rules yet.

I’m off to buy some fresh produce. Have a great week!