Keith Kelly at the Post reports that Reed Elsevier has cut the asking price for Hollywood trade rag Variety to under $30 million, from over $40 million. The leading bidders include Jay Penske’s Penske Media Corporation, which owns Nikki Finke’s Deadline and Bonnie Fuller’s Hollywood Life, and would, Mr. Kelly speculates, benefit from ensuring no rival can revamp Read More
A real-talking editor gets a really visible new gig. One Hollywood mag honcho may want to watch his shoes. Which uncorruptable writer took money from the Koch Brothers? Which Daily Beast editor changed her last name … on Twitter?! Which Fareed Zakaria conspiracy theory holds water? Is everyone out to get him? Is everyone out to get you? Is everyone out to get everyone? Maybe they are. Maybe they aren’t. Maybe you’re just projecting on these Tuesday Afternoon Media Briefs: Read More
Hollywood trade magazine Variety launched a new data service called Flixtracker today, parent company The Variety Group announced.
Flixtracker is a paid subscription database for film and digital entertainment that is still in development, like a pre-natal IMDB. It’s the latest effort in Variety’s bid to establish a lucrative data and research division, now branded as Variety Insight. Read More
One weeknight late last month, TheWrap.com editor in chief Sharon Waxman sent an email to The Hollywood Reporter’s editorial director, Janice Min, shortly before 1 in the morning. Ms. Waxman asked Ms. Min if they could speak in person, privately, about how to improve the relationship between their publications. During the previous two days, Ms. Waxman had feuded with Ms. Min’s web editor, Joseph Kapsch, over a story on TheWrap that said Mr. Kapsch was considering leaving THR as part of an “editorial exodus” that saw three employees depart. Mr. Kapsch, who, as of this writing, remains employed at THR, blasted TheWrap, or, as he called it, “The Crap,” on Twitter and in a 600-word response he sent to the media blog FishbowlLA.
Prior to emailing Ms. Min, Ms. Waxman forwarded copies of Mr. Kapsch’s statements to two executives at THR’s parent company, Prometheus Global Media. She urged one to see how badly his employee was treating her. She told the other to watch his back.
“It’s kind of amusing, these blogger characters out here,” Ms. Min said, ever eager to remain above the fray. “They really enjoy ruminating and obsessing over what we do. It’s just part of the kooky Net landscape out here.”
Hollywood has always felt like a small town, but it may never have felt smaller than it does right now among the members of the city’s Hollywood press. For decades Daily Variety was the sector’s indisputed leader, the prime organ not only for scoops but for wild speculation, backroom smoke signals, trial balloons and brazen displays of wishful thinking as well. The Hollywood Reporter seemed content to take the number-two spot.
Then came Nikki. And Sharon. And Janice. And, never one to miss a party, Bonnie. Read More
After leaving his longstanding post as Variety film critic last March, Todd McCarthy has accepted a post at The Hollywood Reporter, where he’ll factor into editorial director Janice Min’s efforts to revamp the paper’s staff and content, Media Decoder at The New York Times reported. Since his exit from Variety amid layoffs and cost-cutting, McCarthy Read More
The Wrap reports that former Variety chief film critic Todd McCarthy, who was cut from the trade paper as a cost-saving measure less than two months ago, has found a new home online — he’ll be writing a blog for indieWIRE called Deep Focus.
In his first post, McCarthy said he’s looking Read More
On Monday, April 13, the actor Ashton Kutcher sent a message out to his fans using the microblogging tool Twitter.
“My dad always said ‘I’ll believe when I hear it from the horses mouth,’” was the message his subscribers received. “twitter is the horses mouth. no more ‘well the news said …’”
By Friday, April Read More
Starting on Monday, The Los Angeles Times will be throwing itself into the already crowded online Hollywood news and rumor business with a revamped version of its Company Town blog. Former Wall Street Journal reporter Joe Flint (who most recently was director of industry programs at the Paley Center’s Media Council) will be Read More
Peter Bart was on the phone from Los Angeles. Variety‘s longtime editor-in-chief wanted to clarify a few things about his change of position to vice president and editorial director of the Reed Elsevier-owned entertainment industry trade publication.
“It’s not a very sexy story, and that’s why I’m sort of amused by all this speculation Read More
Tentpole news in Hollywood tradeland! Longtime Variety editor named vice prexy as scribblers ask, Was he ankled as replacement tapped for topline gig?
Cough.
What we meant to say was that this weekend, it was announced that Peter Bart, editor-in-chief of Variety for the last 20 years, would become vice president and editorial Read More
