Hollywood Media Do More With Less

Hollywood reporters and editors are coping with recessionary pressures that force them to do much more with less support, according to a recent Entertainment Publicists Professional Society workshop moderated by Joe Schlosser, senior VP-communications, NBC-Universal Television Studio-Distribution.

Carl Diorio, Hollywood Reporter and Michael Stroud, iHollywood Forum. Photo by George Mc Quade.

 

 

 ”What used to be considered a skeleton staff  is now covering the entire entertainment  waterfront,” said Carl DiOrio, deputy film  editor, The Hollywood Reporter.  

Management doesn’t want to “hear what’s not  possible.”
John Dickey, deputy entertainment editor, Associated Press

That point was echoed by Josh Dickey, deputy entertainment editor, Associated Press, and Michael Stroud, CEO of iHollywood Forum and freelancer. 

“The downsizing of publications has certainly hit the trades. Variety, where I used to work, is making cuts,” said DiOrio. “Whenever someone cuts a beat at a trade publication, it lowers the bar” across the entire media spectrum.

Layoffs at Variety, Hollywood Reporter and the Los Angeles Times have created a demand for freelance journalists, said Stroud. “It is not something desirable, but it’s a reality. I have spent the last six or seven years as CEO of a conference company and we have been hit hard as well by the recession. The first thing to go in a recession is marketing and people regard trade shows as an important part of marketing.”

Stroud predicted some newspaper and trade publications will disappear over the next ten years due to due to the Internet. Stroud, who writes for Hollywood Reporter, is working on a “digital power issue.”

He also contributes to NewTV.com and the newly launched TheWrap.com, which covers Hollywood’s TV, movie and media. “So if you have a powerful digital pitch, I have done 15 profiles so far for the May issue, I could use 10 more stories,” he said.

Transition for AP

 ”It has been an enormous year of pain at the AP, which the recession simply accelerated,” said Dickey. “The AP has made it no secret that it is changing from a provider of print content to newspapers to a provider of digital content to everyone but newspapers.”

The AP stills serves 3,500 newspapers across the world. “The big assumption people make about the AP, it is mainly a vehicle to get a story into newspapers across the world,” explained Dickey. “That’s just a fifth of the total operation.”

Dickey said: “AP Television has become a massive part of our effort. We are not repurposing a lot of the reporting that’s being done for AP Radio or AP Television. We are driving news reports through the appropriate communication format.” 

Dickey noted that AP used to be divided into TV, radio, graphics, photos and print sections doing their own thing.  

“Those departments are starting to mingle,” noted Dickey. “Video journalists are learning to write the wire. Print journalists are learning to cut audio for the audio wire and radio packages. They will be picking up video cameras pretty soon. The smart college student is taking classes to learn all these disciplines, not pigeon-holing themselves.”

Josh Dickey, Associated Press deputy field editor fields questions from EPPS members. Photo by George Mc Quade.

 

All three panelists prefer email pitches:

Josh Dickey
deputy entertainment editor
Associated Press
JDickey@ap.org

Michael Stroud
freelancer & CEO
iHollywood Forum
Michael@ihollywood.com

Carl DiOrio
deputy film editor
Hollywood Reporter
cdiorio@hollywoodreporter.com

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