Sharon Waxman, is the founder, CEO and Editor in Chief of TheWrap. She is an award-winning journalist and best-selling author, and was a Hollywood correspondent for The New York Times. Twitter: @sharonwaxman
Experience:
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Hollywood Reporter is For Sale: NYT gets the pitch
Update: I’ve seen commenters question the figures in my earlier post. Several former Hollywood Reporter executives have written to confirm that my numbers are right in the ballpark. A couple of years back, according to these execs, The Hollywood Reporter was making $50-$60 million in gross revenues, and had 30-40 percent profit margins. Since I…
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Here’s the John Edwards Photo: More Questions
The National Enquirer has finally published a photo – ONE! – of John Edwards, with baby, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. "The Photos Everyone’s Been Waiting For," says the headline in the online edition of the Enquirer. Hmmmm. I’m hardly satisfied. This single, fuzzy image, labelled "spy photo," begs the question of who shot it,…
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The Accidental Mogul: David Bergstein Gets a Taste
…but just a taste of what’s going to be coming. Alex Ben Block has a a very good piece of reporting in today’s Hollywood Reporter, in which he interviews the unpopular partner in ThinkFilm, David Bergstein, who is facing a series of lawsuits and whose financing troubles have left a host of movies in limbo…
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“Dark Knight” Still at a Gallop
In 18 days, "The Dark Knight" has crossed the $400 million landmark in its domestic release, according to Media By Numbers. It killed the competition last weekend, including and especially "The Mummy" sequel, despite being in its third week of release. Amazing to note that the drop-off in interest in "The Dark Knight" was smaller…
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Kirkus Reviews: Loot
Second review of "Loot," from Kirkus Reviews. An excerpt: "Former New York Times culture correspondent Waxman (Rebels on the Backlot: Six Maverick Directors and How They Conquered the Hollywood Studio System, 2005) adroitly and expertly explores a centuries-old struggle…. Who has the right to the world’s treasures? The case of the Elgin marbles illustrates how…
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Obama and Hollywood: A Compendium
A news site I’ve never heard of, newsmax.com, which purports to be an "independent" publication with "a conservative perspective" offers up its list of Hollywood Obamamaniacs today. The list offers few surprises – Scarlett J., George C., Matt and Ben, Halle, Oprah and Will – but the site seems thoroughly obsessed with the presumptive Democratic…
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Sources: The Hollywood Reporter Up for Sale
The Hollywood Reporter is up for sale, I’m told by two solid sources. Are you really surprised? At a time of deep decline in the newsprint business, and with rival Variety already on the auction bloc, the Nielsen Company has quietly put up for sale the bundle of 42 trade papers in its Business Media…
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Face-lifts 2.0: The New Celebrity Face
Scary? You bet. We’ve all read about the plastic surgery disasters that lead to the sad outcomes pictured here. But New York magazine has a fascinating and often hilarious look at the new celebrity face, and why it looks so damn good: Demi’s, Madonna’s, and Angelina’s. Today’s top doctors, it turns out, don’t tighten the…
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Eszterhas Reveals: A Love Child (Not with Sharon Stone)
When I visited Joe Eszterhas a month ago, he told me he had a new book coming out about his rediscovered faith in Christ. But he didn’t tell me that he had hidden yet another real-life drama in its pages: a child, a daughter, given up for adoption four decades ago. Her name is Suzie…
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Weekend Box Office
From Media By Numbers, domestic box office. (Short version: Dark Knight keeps raking it in; Kevin Costner – see no. 6 – will need a stiff drink.) 1. The Dark Knight $43,800,000. 2.The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor $42,450,4001 3. Step Brothers $16,300,000 4. Mamma Mia! $13,120,670 5. Journey to the Center of the…
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“Hopkins”: More, Please
In this summer of dismal television, is anyone out there watching the inspiring, beautiful, dramatic, fascinating, heart-wrenching documentary series on ABC, "Hopkins"? This six-part series is almost over, and in the course of these weeks, we’ve gotten to know real-life doctors and patients and their families, interns and nurses and surgeons in their most intimate…
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John Edwards Update: Mass Media Takes a Bite
The John Edwards-Rielle Hunter story is finally leaking into the mainstream media. McClatchy has weighed in on the story, reprinted in parts as far afield as Cleveland (thanks Mom!), Charlotte and Modesto. And reporters from other outlets are probing the former candidate on the question. Edwards ducked the subject when a dozen reporters and photographers…
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Micah’s Fan Digest
The deluge of spinoffs has begun. Sony has announced that it will be making "Venom," off the "Spider-Man" franchise. Really, though, didn’t we already get a taste of Venom–Topher Grace, in blue, with sharp teeth–as a hype-killing eyesore? The fan-sites are underwhelmed. "[Venon is] one of the more uninteresting villains in recent memory,"…
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Rick Nicita Leaving CAA
Los Angeles is shaking, but Creative Artists Agency is shaking more than most. Rick Nicita, a partner at CAA and a powerhouse agent for close to 30 years, is leaving to run a movie production company. Claudia Eller has the full story on Nicita’s decision to leave CAA to become the co-chairman and COO of…
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Who the Hell is Vivi Nevo?
This is starting to bug me. Like many others around Hollywood, I have been hearing about this mystery man, Vivi Nevo, for some time, and been able to find out next to nothing. Here’s what I know: he’s Israeli. He’s engaged to Zhang Ziyi. He’s a staple in the Asian celebrity press which calls him…