Our source tells us:

Last month, San Francisco-based associate editor Jack Chang left to join the Sacramento Bee. As noted earlier, Mindy Farabee‘s last day was July 31. She’s doing a one-year creative writing program at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Lastly, LA-based staff writer Amanda Becker is leaving later this month. She’ll be working at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, based in Arlington, Va.

Good luck to you all!

Previously on FBLA:

Former LA Times reporter, current Daily Journal staffer Mindy Farabee is leaving her post at the end of the month.

Where is she going? What is she doing? We heard grad school in – wait for it – Scotland. She will be studying creative writing in Scotland.

Creative writing in Scotland?

Damn.

The LA Times, in an effort to hold on to those younger readers, younger being anyone born after the Kennedy assassination, revamps the Thursday Calender section. From John Montorio’s memo:

Thursday, we’ll raise the curtain on an exciting double feature, when we replace Weekend with two new sections—a Calendar broadsheet devoted to the movies and a freshly imagined tabloid, The Guide, designed to help readers make the most of their recreational, cultural and entertainment choices.

Whee. We’re dizzy at the prospect. Betsey Sharkey gets two lieutenants in her campaign, who are cutely called a “power couple”:

Tim Swanson, Film Editor. Tim, a former editor at Premiere and writer at Portfolio, will directly oversee our movie coverage.

Gina McIntyre, Assistant Entertainment Editor. Gina, who most recently was an editor and writer at The Hollywood Reporter, joins us later this month. She’ll be helping to shape our TV, film and pop music coverage.

And the real reason for the two sections comes from Lynne Segall, LAT veep of entertainment and fashion advertising:

The Thursday broadsheet will now give the studios a broader canvas on which to market their films on the most crucial day to promote weekend movie-going

The Guide will also launch online in a beta version as early as mid-November. Ultimately replacing Calendar Live, the site will feature user-generated content, as well as content from an expanded staff, who’ll work more cheaply than those folks already in the building.

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