Variety Executive Editor Elizabeth Guider has been named Editor of The Hollywood Reporter. Staff members at THR were informed of the appointment just after 11 a.m. Monday morning, sources confirmed.

Guider replaces Cynthia Littleton in the post, who departed THR in March along with deputy film editor/Risky Business blogger Anne Thompson who both went down Wilshire Boulevard to take editor positions at Variety (Littleton is deputy editor for news development and Thompson is deputy editor of Variety.com). Getting Guider is somewhat of a coup for THR considering that the trade paper has been losing staff left and right as of late, not to mention that many of Variety's hires over the past few years have been former THR staffers. A journalist who has worked for both trades told FBLA:

This certainly means war. The rivalry between the trades should be revitalized, after the Reporter seemed down for the count. And that's great news for the industry which always champions having two trades they can play against each other,

"This harks back to the Anita Busch appointment of a few years ago, which stirred the pot and kept both papers on their toes. The Reporter had been raided recently, and this gives them an editor who can lure some talent over to the other side of the street."

As executive editor of Variety, Guider's responsibilities have included Daily Variety Gotham, Daily Variety Los Angeles and Weekly Variety in addition to a column for the weekly called "Voiceover." She is known for her sometimes quirky, offbeat feature stories and columns. She is currently based in Los Angeles but has worked for Variety in New York and London. According to her bio on Variety.com, she has "covered the film and TV business fulltime for Variety in London from 1986 to 1990, writing reviews from the London Film Festival, covering the Cannes Film Fest as well as the Mip and Mipcom TV trade shows in France, reporting on the rise of satellite broadcasting in the U.K. and the media policies of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. She then worked for the paper in New York covering the TV networks and the syndication business"

She's been based in Los Angeles since 1994 except for a brief stint last year when she worked in Variety's New York offices.

No word yet on when she'll start over at THR. Stay tuned...

Chris Gardner, FBLA guest editor