Erich Schwartzel covers the film industry in The Wall Street Journal's Los Angeles bureau. He joined the Journal in 2013 and has written dozens of front-page stories on life and business in Hollywood, specializing in features where commerce meets culture.  

Schwartzel's first book, “Red Carpet: Hollywood, China, and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy,” was published in February 2022 by Penguin Press and detailed the growing influence of China on the American entertainment industry. “Red Carpet” was a New York Times Editors' Choice, called a "page-turner" by Foreign Affairs, and named one of the best books ever written about Hollywood by Esquire. Schwartzel's work on “Red Carpet” was featured on NPR's Fresh Air, CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” and excerpted in the Atlantic and the Washington Post. 

Before joining the Journal, Schwartzel covered energy and the environment for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where his work won the Scripps Howard Award for Environmental Reporting. He grew up in Latrobe, Penn., where he got his start in journalism writing a police blotter for the local paper.