The Hollywood Reporter - PRNewser

Taylor Swift Shows the World How Not to Take a Joke

Patrick Coffee — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 15:09:59 +0000

Note to Taylor Swift: if you’re looking to improve/maintain your reputation or get more sympathy from the public regarding your perpetual boy troubles, engaging in bitchy spats is probably not the best way to go about it.

Responding to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler‘s (completely appropriate) Golden Globes joke warning her to “stay away from Michael J. Fox’s son” lest he turn up in thinly-veiled caricature on her next album, Swift dropped this bomb on her Vanity Fair interviewer:

“You know, Katie Couric is one of my favorite people, because she said to me she had heard a quote that she loved, that said, ‘There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.’”

Yes, those two are such Regina Georges, aren’t they? Oh, and that quote was from former secretary of state Madeline Albright, who doles out wisdom in between her free jazz drumming sessions.

Poehler and Fey’s responses displayed their superior media relations savvy.

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Oscar Voters Don’t Care for PR Pros or Their Swag Bags

Patrick Coffee — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 11:10:25 +0000

The fact that Crash, The English Patient and Forrest Gump beat Brokeback Mountain, Fargo and Pulp Fiction for Best Picture should be evidence enough to convince anyone that the Oscars are all about industry politics and aggressive PR/marketing campaigns. But this week’s interview with a nameless senior Academy Awards voter (you know, one of the guys who actually picks the winners) in The Hollywood Reporter confirms everything you thought you knew. Here are his revealing, highly opinionated thoughts on various topics:

On PR pros and swag bags:

“I’ve gotten books, cookbooks and just about everything short of Lincoln condoms. It’s ridiculous”.

We assume it was a Beasts of the Southern Wild cookbook containing nothing but gumbo recipes.

On Best Original Song:

“This is no-brainer city: If ‘Skyfall’ does not win I will fillet my next-door neighbor’s dog.”

We like Adele; we also like dogs. We’re conflicted.

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‘Today’ Show Producer: Leave Matt Lauer Alone!

Patrick Coffee — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 17:24:59 +0000

NBC’s perennial ratings champion “Today” recently made some fairly big changes by pushing old hand Ann Curry out in favor of fresh-faced Savannah Guthrie. Amazingly, the world continued to turn.

But there’s a bit of tension over at 30 Rock these days, because “Good Morning America” has finally started to beat “Today” in the ratings after a nearly unbroken 16-year streak playing runner-up.

Right after the switch, media gossips began to wonder whether “Today’s” biggest star (apologies to mid-day drinking aficionados Kathy and Hoda) was behind the change. Even Al Roker came down on Ann’s side by accusing Matt of “throw[ing] one of us under the bus.” Leave it to the New York Post to come up with a fitting nickname for “Anchor Animal” Lauer and accuse him of being too demanding on set. Juicy!

Well, in an apparent attempt to control the rumors and counter the negative press, executive producer Jim Bell gave interviews to both The Hollywood Reporter and The New York Times “Media Decoder” blog this week.

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Can MySpace Rise Again?

Patrick Coffee — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 15:52:04 +0000

Today brings the return of a familiar face to our computer screens. No, we’re not talking about Justin Timberlake, though he is a wise choice to play the role of public representative for the brand new MySpace.

This new video dropped on Twitter yesterday, and we have to say that we are somewhat impressed that MySpace has so obviously improved upon its famously awful interface!

Hmm…that was more of a tease than anything, but the new MySpace seems to combine elements of Facebook, Spotify and especially Pinterest (the visual layout is all but a carbon copy). This change is a wise move:

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Revolving Door

Elizabeth S. Mitchell — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 10:21:16 +0000

GQ has named Kevin Sintumuang multimedia editor. Sintumuang comes to GQ from The Wall Street Journal, where he was features editor for its “Off Duty” section. Also at GQ, Ted Stafford has been promoted to fashion market director, and Will Welch has been promoted to senior editor, style. (Fishbowl NY)

CELEBUZZ has made several staffing changes. Executive editor of CELEBUZZ, Joseph Kapsch, has announced he is leaving his New York post. Meanwhile, Kristin Koch, formerly senior editor of style at XO Group, has been named senior editor. She also previously contributed to Vanity Fair and iVillage. Todd Gilchrist, who most recently worked for The Hollywood Reporter, is the new senior editor of film. And in New York, Lee Hernandez has joined CELEBUZZ from The Huffington Post, where he was a staff editor. His official new title is senior staff editor. (FishbowlLA)

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Old-School Hollywood PR Man Irving Fein Dead at 101

Patrick Coffee — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 13:05:32 +0000

In yet another reminder of the generational shift within the PR industry, old-school Hollywood rep Irving Fein has passed at 101. Never heard of him? Your age is showing: As reported in the Los Angeles Times, Fein did quite a bit of work in the century-plus he spent on this planet, most prominently representing blast-from-the-past personalities like George Burns and Jack Benny, who was a “radio comedian” when Fein first began doing PR work for him in 1947.

Feel young yet? The Brooklyn-born Fein worked as an aspiring novelist in the early part of the 20th century before shifting gears to do publicity work for nearly all of the major studios back in the pre-”Mad Men” days when Lana Turner was big business and people still took the phrase “pinup girl” literally. Later roles included vice president of advertising and promotion at CBS.

In a 1988 Associated Press interview, Fein said “I’ve been lucky. I’ve been able to work with the best of them.” In a sense, we all aspire to accomplish as much as Mr. Fein did during his career–though, to be fair, he had more than 100 years to do it.

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Departing Turner Broadcasting SVP Comm. Shirley Powell: ‘I’m Open To Any Possibility’

Joe Ciarallo — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:28:41 +0000

Longtime Turner Broadcasting PR executive Shirley Powell is leaving the company after the first of the year. Powell has not announced her next move, but said that she wants to “take a bit of a break.”

“I’ve already been inundated with calls from headhunters and friends. I hope the break actually happens,” Powell told PRNewser in a phone interview today. “I don’t know if I’ll be back in the media world. I’m open to any possibility,” she said.

A replacement has not been named, however a Turner spokesperson tells PRNewser the company is going to be conducting a search. For the time being Powell’s team will report to executive vp corporate communications and human resources Kelly Regal. “We’ll give careful consideration to the structure of the communications organization and announce any changes when and as appropriate,” Regal told The Hollywood Reporter.

Powell had been with Turner on and off for 15 years.

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