Yes, that's part of it. The other part is that Puzo was one of those authors who couldn't resist trying to impress his readers with all the erudite knowledge he picked up on a particular subject--and he picked up a lot about Hollywood during his years there. Not that the stuff was of any interest.

The most wretched example of Puzo's desire to inflict his experiences on us was in the Jules-and-Lucy chapters in "The Godfather." Evidently a female relative or friend had had the gynecological operation that Puzo ascribed to Lucy, and so he created all that BS with her and Jules just so he could describe the operation.