About

When Claude told me he needed a fill-in on this blog so he could do something called a “Seder” during which he couldn’t work, I was naturally suspicious. A religious thing where a bunch of people get together to eat stale bread and wine that tastes like the bug juice they serve at camp while waiting for a mysterious stranger who never arrives? Sounded like a Scientology thing to me.

Turns out, however, it’s real. And it’s why nobody in Hollywood was returning my calls last night (at least that’s I choose to tell myself). In fact, as Nicole LaPorte revealed in the New York Observer, it’s kind of a big deal with some people in Hollywood:

Certain Hollywood Seders are the stuff of legend. When Roman Polanski was shooting Chinatown and wanted to return to his native Poland in order to celebrate Passover, the film’s producer, Bob Evans, intervened and threw one of his own. The Kiddush was read by Kirk Douglas.

These days, the Passover invitation of note is issued by music mogul Guy Oseary, who lives in Beverly Hills. Guests have included Madonna (Mr. Oseary’s former partner at Maverick Records), comedian Chris Rock, Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and “It” director McG.

Now I don’t know much about Jewism Judaism (just looked it up… who knew?!), but I have to admit I’m extremely suspicious of any religion whose sacred texts holds up McG as the “It” director.

But I do have to admire Nicole’s cajones in writing this article. Now not only is she risking retribution from Spielberg, Katzenberg, and Geffen, but every non-goy in Hollywood as well. (or should that be “every other non-goy…”?)

This blog will call me “guest editor,” but I swear I am more than just my temporary position.

Filling in for Claude today, next Wednesday, and Thursday will be me.… Ben Fritz. I’m here because I sat next to Claude in the Variety newsroom for a year and he was able to see every website I surfed and thus gathered enough incriminating evidence not just to get me to be his guest blogger during made up holidays like “pass over,” but to write a positive review of “The Business” podcast on iTunes every day for the next three years.

When I’m not writing about box office and animation and the Internet and video games for Variety (and scoring free video games in the process — but I swear I do it for love of reporting!), I’m writing for the satirical entertainment news site Dateline Hollywood and writing/producing video for our resident fake film critic Woody Wittman, about whom Claude recently said “[Woody] does for morning show movie critics what Borat has done for foreign correspondents.”

Of course now I owe him another year’s worth of iTunes reviews for that.

We’re happy to introduce our new guest contributor to FishbowlLA, Claude Brodesser:

Claude started at mediabistro in September 2005, after an eight year stint as a film reporter at Daily Variety and Variety. He continues to serve as the host of KCRW’s “The Business,” the National Public Radio show about the business of entertainment that’s carried in Los Angeles, New York and Washington D.C., among other markets. Claude’s freelance work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Premiere, Entertainment Weekly and US Weekly. In his spare time, he is the lucky fiance of mediabistro.com West Coast Director of Education Taffy Akner.

Claude will be blogging about film and entertainment.

FishbowlLA is a blog about L.A. news and entertainment media. It is owned and operated by mediabistro.com.

The Editors…

Tina Dupuy (tee-na*doo-pwee) – Tina is an award-winning writer, syndicated political columnist, accomplished comedian and a freelance investigative journalist. She has lived all over the world and was once called “a filthy whore” by Pastor Fred Phelps but has not let that prejudice her against other mental patients…many of whom are her close friends. www.TinaDupuy.com.

Matthew Fleischer is a journalist who came up in the alt-weekly world, first as a staff writer with the LA Weekly and then as senior editor of the now defunct LA CityBeat. He got tired of newspapers laying him off or going out of business, so he started freelancing, both in print and online. You find his work in the Los Angeles Times Magazine, High Country News, and on his blog at True/Slant.

Pandora Young is a career secretary who has made coffee for some of the most brilliant journalists in Los Angeles. She enjoys typing, filing, and settling sexual harassment lawsuits.