Just Because Nikki Finke Hates Everyone In Hollywood Doesn't Mean She Doesn't "Care"

Moe — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 12:30:00 EST

The New York Observer names LA Weekly blogger Nikki Finke its "Media Mensch Of The Year." If you don't know Nikki from our previous adulation, she's a veteran Hollywood journalist with a bottomless reserve of outrage re media consolidation, hypocrisy, conflicts-of-interest, chauvinist arrogance disguised as entrepreneurial "vision"...um, basically everything I hate also? Anyway, Nikki's blog Deadline Hollywood Daily has "owned" coverage of the Writer's Strike because she is not "owned" by anyone and also because she has realized to her surprise that she actually cares about Hollywood. "The writers don't get that the studios don't care," she said. "They think that the shareholders would care or the bosses would care or Wall Street would care or the government or Congress or the viewers—they don't care." Then she adds: "I didn't know I cared." Turns out she cares. And it's not for the reason you might think. On a personal level, you see, she sort of hates everyone in town.

"I don't want to have dinner with these people," she said. "I don't want to be a part of their social life." She's the ultimate in uncompromised reporting; on her site, you never see the now journalistically ubiquitous, and always deflating, "full disclosure" clause, as in, "full disclosure: I play tennis with [so-and-so's] husband in the Hamptons every summer."

Well full disclosure, I used to live with Doree Shafrir, the writer of that New York Observer piece, who actually helped me get this here job at Jez when she was an editor at Gawker. I didn't link to this story because of that, but because I'm a big fan of people who hate hypocrisy, oligarchies and the mindless acceptance of unregulated market capitalism as a virtuous thing, as Doree and the Heathers and Anna and Slut Machine and anyone who is friends with me knows from drinking in my presence. Of course, I'm also trying to get page views. So is Nikki Finke. So is Doree, I assume. So, you know, it's complicated.

Where do you draw the line? Is it possible to be a decent person and a nice person? A loving misanthrope? Can you be a good friend and a puller of few punches? Ugh...I dunno. We may never answer these questions. But we have to think about them! Choose our battles, etc.!

That's all.

The Media Mensch Of The Year! [NY Observer]

"Cordial", "Charming" Studio Chief Explains Why Women Can't Sell Movies (Except Julia Roberts)

Moe — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 09:30:10 EDT

Last week the legendary L.A. Weekly movie business reporter Nikki Finke broke news that Warner production chief Jeff Robinov had issued a studio-wide freeze on movies with female leads. (The rationale: a Jodie Foster movie for which the movie posters had misspelled "Jodie Foster" bombed.) Okay, so then, naturally, he kind of thought about denying it, but that would be lying, which wouldn't normally be a big deal but it's like a pet peeve of Nikki's, so he had a few off-the-record phone conversations and email exchanges with Nikki during which he tried to ingratiate himself to her while lying a few more times because he just can't help himself and instructed all his people to phone up Nikki's competitors calling her "crazy." Meantime, Nikki got ill, we're hoping not as a result of foul play, and managed to dig up even more specifics on Robinov's chauvinism: he's even downgrading the role of Wonder Woman in an upcoming film!

Sources inside Warner's tell me that, 1) Robinov doesn't believe there's an actress who can carry a movie worldwide since Julia Roberts, 2) Robinov has now gone so far as admitting to his studio colleagues that the decree I reported was made when he was "in the room", 2) Robinov is acknowledging that the studio is reassessing the strategy of making action pictures starring women, 3) Robinov was inundated with calls on Monday and Tuesday from media and Hollywood types asking him about my posting, 4) Robinov has three pics currently in production and six in pre-production and not one stars a women as the main lead of the film, and 5) he's nixed Wonder Woman as a stand-alone film, downgrading her to just one of four superhero characters in the proposed Justice League. Again, I stand by my story.

And we stand by our adulation of reporter Nikki Finke, whose comprehensive badassedness is detailed more fully in this Elle interview, and who for god's sake we know she doesn't do photo shoots but will she please let us know what she looks like one of these days? We've read she is pretty. (Yeah yeah yeah, fuck you.)

The Reality Behind Jeff Robinov's "Denial" [Nikki Finke]

Jezebel: darling nikki

Just Because Nikki Finke Hates Everyone In Hollywood Doesn't Mean She Doesn't "Care"

"Cordial", "Charming" Studio Chief Explains Why Women Can't Sell Movies (Except Julia Roberts)