Tag: LA Observed

The main twist is that it’s a put on — or is it? — and pretty amusing if you stay with it through the additional twists toward the end. The film was made by Tara Subkoff, the fashion designer who appeared with Sevigny in “The Last Days of Disco.” It was posted by MOCA TV, hat tip to Curbed LA: “Would you like to watch Chloe Sevigny bitch parodically about Los Angeles and also pee while wearing a romper? MOCA’s got you…”

This being Los Angeles, there will be people moaning on Facebook, Twitter and blogs about the LA stereotypes contained in “Magic Hour,” even though it’s basically a send-up — and that’s one of the most true LA stereotypes of all.

via LA Observed http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2013/04/chloe_sevigny_hates_la_-.php

The first round of reductions at Variety under new owner Jay Penske was announced in a 1:40 p.m., unbylined post at sister site Deadline.com. “The total number of this first round of layoffs is 20-25 people — none in editorial, we’re hearing.” The “Dear Team” memo from Penske is up there:

For the past six months, we have diligently reviewed every aspect of the Variety business. And in more recent weeks, we have outlined to Variety senior management an exciting and also aggressive trajectory for the brand’s resurgence. These steps will include substantial further investment in editorial and digital, but will unfortunately require some immediate eliminations in the following business units: LA411/NY411, Circ, Systems, Conferences, and Admin.

Without a doubt, this is a challenging day, and I particularly wanted to notify and acknowledge those of you who will be saying goodbye to valued colleagues and friends. As we look ahead, Variety’s business holds almost limitless potential and I will remain available to answer any questions you might have regarding today’s changes and our future. As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me, or see Tammy Chase to arrange an appointment.

The follow at the LAT’s Company Town blog says Penske and his consultants are looking at reducing the number oif print issues that Vasriety publishes each week. The layoffs represent about 12% of Variety’s 165-person staff, says the LAT’s Ben Fritz.

via LA Observed http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2012/11/penske_begins_layoffs_at.php

BuzzFeed, the social news website led by Huffington Post co-founder Jonah Peretti, is opening a Los Angeles bureau to focus on viral-worthy Hollywood news. The bureau will be run by Richard Rushfield, the LA Times and Gawker veteran, and has already hired Kate Aurthur, formerly the TV editor at the LA Times and West Coast editor of the Daily Beast and Newsweek, as chief Los Angeles correspondent to write about film, TV and celebrities. Investigative reporter Michael Hastings, now covering the presidential campaign, will also be on the team. The bureau is expected to grow to a staff of 12, the Hollywood Reporter says.

The move adds another player to the crowded scrum of Hollywood news websites, and a well-trafficked one at that. BuzzFeed, which was launched in 2006 as a social news website that aggregates viral content and serves it to readers via search and social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter, generated 16 million unique visitors in September, according to Comscore. The company, led by Huffington Post co-founder Jonah Peretti, announced in January that it had raised $15.5 million in new funding led by New Enterprise Associates, with Lerer Ventures, Hearst Media, Softbank and RRE participating.

BuzzFeed’s editor in chief Ben Smith was recruited from Politico in December 2011 in a push for original content, starting first with a politics vertical.

“Richard and Kate are perfectly positioned to combine the best traditions of honest, lucid entertainment coverage with today’s changing web,” Smith says in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “Michael Hastings will be invaluable in helping us shake the foundations of entertainment journalism in 2013 as we did with politics in 2012. It’s the right year to do this and there’s an audience primed and ready for first rate entertainment content built for the social web,”

In an interview with THR, Rushfield says the plan is to combine viral-ready takes on big entertainment moments with serious reporting that will rival traditional outlets….”BuzzFeed has mastered creating real news for the social web, so the opportunity to expand that to Hollywood is exciting,” says Rushfield, who also has written for The New York Times and Gawker and recently penned a book about American Idol. “We want to create the kind of stories people will want to share and pass around.”

On his personal website, Rushfield posted tonight: “I had all but given up hope of being excited about things in this media world, but I am beyond thrilled about this opportunity. I have loved the mix they are pioneering of fun viral content combined with real gumshoe reporting and the chance to bring that to Hollywood is a dream. And what makes it kind of scarily good is that I’m joining a team of both really smart and really nice, decent people there. I didn’t know that could happen.”

Earlier this weekend Rushfield posted a Facebook photo of himself and a young baby outside Espresso Profeta in Westwood. So he’s got his hands full now.

Facebook profile photo of Rushfield

via LA Observed http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2012/10/buzzfeed_expands_into_hol.php

Amid talk that the ownership of Deadline.com is on the verge of buying Variety, Nikki Finke announced on Deadline.com that her staff will be too busy next week on some unstated business to post breaking news nuggets. “The Deadline Team won’t provide 24/7 news coverage for at least the next week. One of the reasons is DH business affecting the entire staff in LA, NY, and Europe,” Finke posted. “As a result, we’ll probably miss some breaking stories and delay monitoring some comments, emails, and phonecalls. Please cut us some slack for the duration.”

Could this be the worst nightmare for the Variety staffers who have stuck it out at the fading trade this long? If there’s a bright side for the Variety types, Deadline has some solid journalists including film editor Michael Fleming, who spent two decades at Variety, and TV editor Nellie Andreeva, who worked at The Hollywood Reporter for ten years.

The buyer, based on reports, would be Jay Penske’s PMC in partnership with private equity fund Shamrock Capital Advisors.

Some links on the subject:

LA Times: “Deadline owner Penske likely to buy Variety”

Anne Thompson, IndieWire: “The question is what Penske plans to do with Variety, a hidebound institution that until now has kept its distance from the kind of traffic-chasing economics that Penske lives by…The economies of scale that Finke lives by are one reason she is so successful. Variety has no clue how to function the way she does.”

David Poland, Movie City News: “Who runs Variety if Nikki doesn’t try to do so? Who is willing to be put in that position? I don’t know that anyone can turn down a paycheck these days… but many people have either left Deadline or refused to take lucrative offers from Deadline for one reason only. Nikki Finke.”

LA Observed photo

via LA Observed http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2012/09/nikki_finkes_deadline_cal.php

Arnold Schwarzenegger, who recently paid $20 million for a think tank at USC, gets a segment on “60 Minutes” tonight to give just enough mea culpa on the whole cheated-on-Maria thing to make it sound like a blip on his historical screen. But at the Daily Beast, longtime Arnold chronicler Ann Louis Bardach says the chronology given to CBS’ Lesley Stahl and in Schwarzenegger’s forthcoming memoir, “Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story,” is anything but true.

Bardach:

Schwarzenegger’s book offers a remarkable—and according to several former staffers and friends, fictitious—timeline and spin of his affair with Mildred Baena, the housekeeper with whom he fathered a son. (That would be at the same time and in the same house where his wife Maria Shriver was pregnant with son Christopher.)

Schwarzenegger’s account, according to several carefully-calibrated leaks, has him conveniently not learning about his paternity of Baena’s child until after he is elected governor—and Shriver, also conveniently, learning about the child in a joint therapy session just one day after he stepped down as governor….

But friends and former employees of the couple say Schwarzenegger’s version of events is pure confection. One former staffer, who worked at both their home and offices, said, “It was my impression going back to 2000 that it was common knowledge among the household staff that Joseph Baena was Mildred’s son with Arnold.” Said one former housekeeper, in Spanish: “No, it was not a surprise to me. But I don’t want to say anything more.

The book people should be waiting for, says Bardach, is Shriver’s. “A mega-million book deal has been offered her, and according to one friend, she just might write her own account, and finally, set the record straight,” the story says.

The subject of the affair with the housekeeper is corralled into a corner of the “60 Minutes” piece. From CBS:

“I went all around the world with him,” says Lesley Stahl. “And it never came up. He never brought it up, I never brought it up.” Finally, at the end of Stahl’s final interview with former Gov. Schwarzenegger, it became clear that the hard questions had to be asked. “He knew the time had come and I knew the time had come– and we both did our jobs. Let’s put it that way.”

Part 1 of tonight’s “60 Minutes” segment:

Backstage extra:

via LA Observed http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2012/09/schwarzenegger_rehab_tour.php

Every so often the Esalen Institute spiritual retreat in Big Sur seems to go through an inner dialogue on its place in the world of New Agey practices and followers. The current conversation, as Esalen approaches its 50th anniversary, amounts to a debate on its future, the New York Times says. A key voice in the story, former TV writer and current Esalen investor Michael Barry, is interviewed in a yurt, and there’s a Mayan shaman and a massage practitioner, so the story pretty much has everything the NYT loves in a story from California. Plus of course nudity.

Hidden along an extraordinarily scenic stretch of California’s coast, with only a small sign alerting drivers to its existence along Highway 1, Esalen helped bring once-alien concepts and practices, including personal growth, yoga and organic food, to the American mainstream while celebrating the oneness of mind and body in its workshops and clothing-optional hot springs.

These days, as the retreat prepares to observe its 50th anniversary next month, people are still making pilgrimages here, drawn by Esalen’s focus on healing, melding of traditions and mantra of “spiritual but not religious.” Guests and workers still perform emotional “check-ins” in group “weather reports” during their stays, which can extend from a weekend to months, depending, an Esalen spokesman said, “on how far down the rabbit hole you go.” Esalen’s leaders say they are tweaking the institute’s balance between the personal and the social with an emphasis on the latter so they can present the next “edge” to America.

But others, including people formerly and currently associated with Esalen, say it is losing its relevance in a culture where New Age has become a cliché. The retreat’s half-century anniversary has coincided with continuing protests over the layoff of longtime employees as part of a management restructuring. Staff members and others have gathered in circles of silence here; on the Internet, including on a site called Esaleaks, other protesters have assailed Esalen’s management as corporate types bent on transforming the retreat into a boutique resort.

I’m glad to see Esalen’s long tradition of allowing outsiders in to soak in the baths from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. continues. Though it now costs $20 a person.

Esalen photo of the ocean-front hot springs baths

via LA Observed http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2012/08/esalen_ponders_its_future.php

TMZ reports, citing “sources close to the actress,” that Katie Holmes believes that the Church of Scientology began to consider her a threat as she became more estranged from high-profile church member Tom Cruise. The church’s lawyer responded that it’s not them.

From TMZ’s original story early Sunday:

We’re told Katie believes in recent weeks — as the discord between her and Tom Cruise grew — Scientology has been following her moves, especially in New York City.

This does not appear to be the mind of a paranoid person. People who have photographed Katie multiple times tell TMZ there have been several “mysterious” men and vehicles around Katie’s apartment and following her when she’s out.

Specifically … a white Cadillac Escalade and black Mercedes SUV (see above) have been seen near Katie’s NYC apartment for the past week.

FYI — there is a publication that has put a tail on Katie, but the people doing that are separate from the people Katie believes have been dispatched from Scientology.

Then on Sunday night, TMZ posted a brief story in which the church deinied it: “Gary Soter, lawyer for the Church, tells TMZ … the Church of Scientology is not following Katie or conducting surveillance on her in the wake of her divorce with Tom Cruise.”

TMZ had previously posted items saying that Holmes and Cruise had been living apart leading up to her divorce filing last week and alleging that “Holmes is divorcing Tom Cruise because she fears Tom will force her into the Church of Scientology, hook, line and sinker.”

* Now for the weird part: Rupert Murdoch’s Twitter account tweeted that “Scientology back in news. Very weird cult, but big, big money involved with Tom Cruise either number two or three in hierarchy,” then added a second tweet: “Watch Katie Holmes and Scientology story develop. Something creepy, maybe even evil, about these people.” The posts elicited a lot of comments, pro and con. Added the Murdoch tweeter: “Since Scientology tweet hundreds of attacks. Expect they will increase and get worse and maybe threatening. Still stick to my story.”

via LA Observed http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2012/07/katie_holmes_reportedly_b.php

Word started going around late today that Foreign Editor Bruce Wallace was the next senior staffer to exit the Los Angeles Times. Sure enough, a Facebook posting tonight by Craig Turner — the recently retired arts and entertainment editor, and a former foreign correspondent — says that Wallace is returning to his native Montreal to edit Policy Options magazine. Turner suggests there was tension between Wallace and the still-new editor of the Times, Davan Maharaj.

Bruce was a distinguished foreign correspondent who took over the foreign editor job in 2008. Despite a reduced staff, Bruce kept the LA Times in the game as one of a handful of U.S. newspapers that still have a significant foreign report. Bruce is a strikingly insightful, unflappable and good humored editor. He will be greatly missed. Davan Maharaj has been a grating micromanager since he became editor at the end of December and Bruce, I think, found that unbearable….

It could be tough finding a replacement for Wallace.

Turner also had some pointed analysis of the moves announced earlier today: the hiring of former LA Weekly editor Laurie Ochoa to Turner’s old job, and the promotion of Business Editor John Corrigan to assistant managing editor in charge of arts and entertainment coverage. Ochoa would be Corrigan’s chief deputy, but according to Turner the two have never met.

I sat next to John at the daily page one meeting most days and while I thought he oversold his stories sometimes (everything was “just terrific,” there were no gradations), I came to appreciate his enthusiasm and tough minded approach to business coverage. He has no illusions about the purity of capitalism.

I wish him the best.

Especially, since he didn’t get to pick his own deputy. Davan did that for him. Ochoa is married to Jonathan Gold, the Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic who joined The Times in February. Shortly after Gold was hired, a person I trust told me that Gold was bragging that as a condition of him coming to the Times, he extracted a promise from Davan that Laurie would get an editing job in Calendar. I dismissed it at the time, but hmmm. . .

That’s not to say Ochoa doesn’t have her accomplishments, but she has no daily news experience and no digital experience to speak of. Presumably, John will drive the news and investigative coverage and Ochoa will handle features and probably the critics. But the two don’t even know each other and standard management practice is to let a department head pick his or her deputy.

Turner later posted an addendum: “I don’t want to be unfair to anyone. I have no first hand information that Ochoa’s hiring was connected to that of her husband or even that Gold was claiming that. The person who told me he had said that had no reason to make it up and came to me because they thought I would know if Ochoa had been offered a job. But it’s still second hand information and I want to be clear about that. Whatever happened, for the sake of the paper I hope she succeeds.”

Actually, I think Ochoa’s time at LA Weekly probably gives her broader journalism experience than many Times editors have.

Finally, Turner notes that Corrigan succeeding Sallie Hofmeister “leaves exactly one female on the news side of the masthead. People at the paper long have grumbled that Davan has no women in his inner circle. The complaints will now build.” He also posted that the Times’ entertainment desk now has “10 fewer reporters, editors and web producers than it did in January, 2010 and yet the work demands continue to grow. One reason I retired when I did was that I concluded that while the paper’s executives said they wanted world-class entertainment coverage, in fact they no longer were willing to pay for it.”

via LA Observed http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2012/06/next_to_leave_la_times_to.php

Staffers at the Los Angeles Times all got a missive today from Tribune’s TV boss talking up the new late-night talk show coming next year from Arsenio Hall. The rationale for bringing Hall back off the television bench is because the people who watched his show from 1989-94 are now…older.

From: Tribune Communications
Sent: Monday, June 18, 2012 2:12 PM
Subject: Message from Sean Compton/The Arsenio Hall Show

Tribune and CBS Television Distribution are announcing today the return of The Arsenio Hall Show, set to premiere in Fall 2013. The nightly show will be taped each day in Los Angeles. The content of his new show will be an updated version of his successful 90’s late night show, targeting much of the same audience; Arsenio was the youngest skewing successful talk show in late night history. While the baby boomers were watching Johnny, their kids were watching Arsenio. Those boomer kids are now 35-49 years old, a perfect fit for our Mon-Fri late night time period, which has 3 times more 35-54 viewers than 18-34.

In addition to The Bill Cunningham Show that launched this past fall, the return of Arsenio’s show is another step into the original programming business for Tribune Broadcasting. The Arsenio Hall Show will be seen on Tribune stations, no cable or video on demand, and as an investor we will benefit from the show in addition to the success it delivers to our local stations.

You’ll find more details in the attached press release, which was issued just a few moments ago.

Sean Compton
President/Programming
Tribune Broadcasting

Meanwhile, Sam Rubin — a Tribune employee at the “KTLA Morning Show” — chatted up Hall in Rubin’s “Hollywood Uncensored” hat. That show airs on Reelz later this week.

via LA Observed http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2012/06/new_arsenio_hall_show.php