Weinsteins Want Miramax Name Back 
'Saw 3D' vs 'Paranormal Activity 2' Battle … 
TV TUG OF WAR: It's Ellen vs Simon, And … 
Robert De Niro Returns To CAA From WME; Jane … 
Fox Wins Studio War For Robert Rodriguez' … 
Weinstein Co Gets "New Lease On Life"? 
Nicole Kidman Hires Angelina's Manager 
So What Are The Hot Films At Sundance? 
Huge $70M Settlement In TV Writers Age … 
TOLDJA! Momoa Chosen 'Conan' Barbarian 
Oscar Campaign Badmouthing Has Begun! 
WEDNESDAY AM UPDATE: Los Angeles management told editors at a meeting this morning that, yes, more layoffs are planned. But management is claiming the 40 number is too high, and no film writers are involved. If anyone's job has been saved because of adverse publicity, then great. (I've added a question mark about the Calendar staff cuts. But two prominent film writers were targeted, trust me.) Now I'm told there will be a big push LA Times-wide in coming months to turn staff writers into freelance writers.
TUESDAY: More bad news for newspapers: I've learned that the Los Angeles Times expects to make as many as 40 layoffs before the end of this year, and it's likely that two senior film writers with well known bylines will be cut. (Yet the newspaper just hired a Hollywood Reporter film hack on the cheap. It's all about dollars and cents there these days, not quality.) Meanwhile, The Washington Post just announced it will close its Los Angeles Bureau by December 31st. Looks like Hollywood will be covered entirely out of the paper's headquarters now.
Loading ...
Everything is becoming local as Old Media contracts. Nikki, you are a case-in-point. As big media is disintermediated because of the Web, and is leaving local markets and audiences because of declining traditional ad revenues, those local audiences will be fed by forward-thinking journalists like yourself. Change has created many middle-aged basket cases, but it has also spawned opportunity. Congratulations on your success.
This will be of great concern to everyone who still takes seriously the LATimes industry coverage, which is to say, not a single person on the face of the earth.
The Hollywood Reporter Film Hack you are referring to is Steve Zeitchik who seems to be following in Elvis Mitchell’s footsteps, failing upwards much like the very filmmakers they critique…
i recently called to ask the times if i could just get the sports section since that seems to be the only section that is unbiased in the whole freaking paper
Bob Woodward once said that if the Washington Post covered government the way the Los Angeles Times covers Hollywood, they’d be out of business. He was prescient on both counts.
@ Nan..
Speak for yourself. Elvis Mitchell has always provided brilliant insight in newspapers (including the LA Weekly) and his show The Treatment is absolutely essential. Besides, how fucking cool is it to be busted flying into the country with a stash of illegal Cuban cigars and $12,000 in cash?
Too bad, it “could” have been such a “great paper”. One or two readers might actually miss the WAPO, or at least their birds.
What I don’t get from Big Hollywood I like to get from you Nikki when I care about this industry…which is hardly ever anymore.
Deadline Hollywood is without question the cream at the top.
LA Times and WaPo (& HuffPo)? They may think they are A-List.
Wait? There’s still a daily print newspaper in LA???
Presuming Kenneth Turan has an interest in the outcome of discussions of CALENDAR staff cuts.
Why not drop that stupid Envelope section, nobody reads it except for the actors who are in it.
Does anyone know “anybody”, who reads their crap ?
I lived in L.A. for most of my life. The only time I saw someone with the L.A.TIMES, they took out the big classified section, and tossed the remaining sections near the trash. Where it belonged, I might add.
Newspapers and magazines will be a case study in how to completely screw up transitioning your business to the future and ignoring technical progress. They are the buggy whip manufacturers of our time. Question is will Hollywood follow in their footsteps or learn from their mistakes?