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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Long in the Tooth
Our friend Zahi Hawass’s mug was on the front page of the Times again today. What is it this time? A landmark discovery of the mummy of Queen Hatshepsut, based on the surprising, unexpected find of a tooth in her long-familiar sarcophagus. The exciting news was ably chronicled by John Noble Wilford. But the key…
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She’s Pretty Hot
Editor-turned-writer Tina Brown gathered with a few friends — David Geffen, Michael Eisner, Martin Landau, Steve Martin – for a little lunch at the Bel-Air Hotel today, to celebrate her new book, "The Diana Chronicles." They served Diana’s favorite dish — fish and chips — which was a little crazy. Who on the West Side…
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Hollywood Perils
Just a word to note that "Evan Almighty," that hulking, $175 million comedy behemoth, sank like a stone this weekend, taking in just $31 million in this country. That is very disappointing news for Universal, which tried hard to make this laugh-challenged story appeal to the Christian audience (where were they when they’re needed?) when…
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Sword of Intolerance
The L.A. Film Festival is heating up. Author and journalist and fallen Roman Catholic priest James Carroll came to the world premiere on Sunday night in Westwood of the new documentary, "Constantine’ Sword," based on his book of the same title. The film, by Oren Jacoby, takes the viewer on a 2,000-year trip through the…
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Is Marvel Marvel-ous?
David Maisel is a new player on the Hollywood scene, though he’s been here for more than a decade. Now at the helm of Marvel Studios, I take a look at his business plan and the impression he has made on others in today’s Business section. Both have their critics. "Until recently a little-known deal…
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Rehab Rates
I’ve often wondered whether rehab really works. Is it worth all the money and effort expended? I took a look at that this weekend in Sunday Styles and learned the following: "Optimism, it turns out, is one of the main things offered at rehabilitation centers like Promises, the luxurious Malibu retreat for patients suffering from…
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Lord Almighty
A little late, yes, but we’re busy. We attended the premiere of "Evan Almighty" a week ago, a modest but sprawling affair at Universal Studios (one might have expected live elephants; there were none). Meantime, Universal has good cause to be nervous about the opening of this $175 million behemoth, directed by the single-minded Tom…
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A Fun Group, but Foul-Mouthed
This adorable group of guys, friends from community college in tiny Walnut, California who transfered to UCLA together, are now performing a play they co-wrote about race and the destructive power of language. In a story about them in today’s paper, I write: "Lest anyone think that a play with three ethnic slurs in its…
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Payback’s a Bitch
This story fell to me yesterday, as the resident celebrity writer Left Coaster. I’d been following the duelling sagas of Paris and Lindsay for the past couple of weeks. Which drama would hit the front page first? It was Paris, by a nose: "The national obsession with celebrity collided head-on with the more serious issue…
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The Most Fun Ever, in High School
Yes, that’s Jackson Browne at the mike, and a grandfatherly David Crosby looking on, at one of the most fun times I’ve had recently, a fund-raising concert for arts programs at Santa Monica high school on Saturday night. This was a fantastic gathering of music-loving friends of the musicians and local parents and fans (director…
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Book Leave!
As anyone who has been reading this space knows, I have been working on a book on antiquities, and will be taking a leave from my Hollywood job to work on it full-time. This has now been reported elsewhere with the breathless excitement attached to actual news, which it isn’t really. So, to those keeping…
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Pirates: The Shot Heard Round the World
Yes, Disney will make a lot of money on this film. If you want the details, here are a few: "’Pirates 3” — with a 2-hour-47-minute running time and a reported $300 million budget — took in $245 million outside of North America, far surpassing the $156 million that the film took in domestically since…
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Journalism’s Death Rattle
A sad and touching post by Nancy Cleeland, a labor reporter and colleague I’ve never met, who explains on HuffPost why she’s taking a buy-out and leaving the Los Angeles Times. She writes: "It’s awkward to criticize an old friend, which I still consider the Times to be, but I think the question of how…
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Memorial Day Memoires
Where the heck have I been? A valid question, I grant you. I have been where the Internet lines are shaky and the sunshine-dappled cafes entirely more enticing than fighting a losing battle with technology. I’ve been in Paris, conducting interviews for "Stealing with the Pharaohs," and making sure the City of Light still merits…
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Hollywood’s Brave New World
Folks, I’m massively behind in keeping you up to date with my world. First of all, those of you who missed it need to know about Tori and Dean’s trip-up by the facts by – yes – your intrepid reporter, keeping those celebrities honest. I’m not going to tell you about it, you’re going to…