Thompson on Hollywood

Dueling Journo Divas

Ex-NYT reporter Sharon Waxman's online news site The Wrap is off to the races, with tough features from Kim Masters and Devin Leonard about the networks and inflated showbiz salaries. The online media universe is getting more crowded, and the LAT's Claudia Eller isn't about to sit back and let Waxman (or even her own inter-office rival, Patrick Goldstein) beat her to stories. I was amazed that the powers that be at the LAT took Eller's Company Town column away some years back, leaving her to do breaking business pieces--which nobody does better. Now Eller and the film biz reporters are going to get access to that column with a later deadline as they already take advantage of the Company Town blog.

By Anne Thompson
|
February 4, 2009 2:24 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Warning: The Waxman Cometh

At the Santa Barbara Film Fest I saw Peter Jones' provocative doc Inventing L.A.: The Chandlers and Their Times, about L.A.'s grand newspaper family. In the context of the dire conditions facing that once-great paper today, the movie had resonance. At the Q & A afterward, former publisher Tom Johnson and the late Otis Chandler's son Harry sadly had to admit that the future of journalism is no longer in print but online.

By Anne Thompson
|
January 27, 2009 2:12 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Recession Red

On a recent trip to the wine country, I bought four bottles at $9.99 apiece of the Gainey Vineyard's latest label: Recession Red. Little did I know that I too would be hit by the diving economy. Today I got slashed from the ranks of Variety staffers along with some 30 people, most of whom had been there a lot longer than I have. I feel for all of them. I have enjoyed working with these smart movie-loving writers and editors: it has been a great ride. I will miss them and wish them well.

By Anne Thompson
|
January 27, 2009 2:08 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Sundance: Digital Moguls Hawk MySpace and IMDb

While the Sundance media reports on the beleaguered independent theatrical market, which may never return to its former robust self--even with diminished production over the next few years--various Internet moguls are in Sundance networking and hawking their movie-centric wares.

By Anne Thompson
|
January 21, 2009 2:32 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Oscar Watch: Return of the Carpetbagger

To know that David Carr is in touch with the online zeitgeist, just read this week's New York Times media column about Google. Carr gets it. And once a year, when he morphs into The Carpetbagger, he gets to shows his stuff to a media world that is struggling to make the transition from print to pixels.

By Anne Thompson
|
November 24, 2008 8:13 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Brad Pitt Shoots Angelina Jolie, Up Close, for W

Brad Pitt makes his photography debut at W Magazine this month, which assigned him to take up-close-and-personal shots of mama Jolie with her kids. It was a brilliant idea and will be hugely successful. The intimacy of the shots is something that would be difficult for any outsider to achieve.

By Anne Thompson
|
October 14, 2008 4:26 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Femme Journos Brown, Fuller, Waxman Hit Web

As newspapers struggle for readers and hand experienced entertainment journalists their walking papers, ex-NYT reporter Sharon Waxman thinks she has the answer for a new kind of online journalism. Backed by $500,000 in seed investment, Waxman plans to launch The Wrap News in January. "It's an entertainment and media site," she said, "covering movies and TV and eventually, music, and new media and the intersection with technology. It will cover the business and the culture of the entertainment industry."

By Anne Thompson
|
August 11, 2008 8:25 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Grabbing Scoops: Who Gets Credit?

With Comic-Con looming, movie sites are pushing to get scoops on new movies of interest to the fan community. A sequel to 300, which broke big at Comic-Con, is a big deal.

By Anne Thompson
|
July 23, 2008 1:59 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

IndieWIRE Finds Deep-Pocketed Backer

It makes sense that filmanthropist, doc lover and web enthusiast Ted Leonsis, the former vice chairman of AOL, would not only launch doc-friendly website SnagFilms but would also buy IndieWIRE, the trusted New York-based indie film newswire, social network and hub.

By Anne Thompson
|
July 7, 2008 7:42 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Cyrus Reps Make Big Misstep

What were they thinking? Vanity Fair can shoot 15-year-old Disney pop star Miley Cyrus in a silk bedsheet if they want to. Clearly, mighty star photographer Annie Leibovitz was persuasive; Cyrus thought she was participating in something "artistic," she told People.com, adding that from now on she would "trust my support team."