An interesting thing is happening inside the walls of 4 Times Square, and we like to call it cannibalism. Times two.
The first act of cannibalism is taking place between Vanity Fair and Portfolio, the anemic Conde Nast business magazine that wouldn't mind putting an A-lister on its cover — say, Will Smith? — and dissecting his Hollywood profit margins. Except doing so would infringe upon VF's territory, eating up Graydon Carter's editorial base.
And the second act of cannibalism?
That would be when Graydon Carter wields his power inside Tinseltown to keep Joanne Lipman and her charges from ever locking down an A-list cover.
Here in Hollywood, I keep hearing that Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter has prevailed on his coterie of power broker friends – among them Brian Grazer, Jim Wiatt, Brad Grey – to keep Portfolio from any big Hollywood 'gets.' Carter denies it. But it is notable that Portfolio has yet to weigh in with any major Hollywood pieces that might move magazines off the stand. Where's the Will Smith, mogul-in-the-making story? Or the Judd-Apatow-Comedy-Business-Genius cover? (Barry Diller was a 'get,' but at this stage, he's more Internet than Hollywood.)
A spokeswoman for Portfolio, Perri Dorset, said "We've not found" any evidence of Carter blocking and tackling. "Hollywood is a big place. We'll continue to cover it aggressively," she said. Asked about it, Carter responded: "Not only have I never spoken to anyone in Hollywood about Portfolio, I wish the magazine well and think it gets better with every issue." That's nice, but it's not what I'm hearing sotto voce. Graydon is "definitely blocking them in Hollywood," said one former Portfolio editor who asked not to be identified. Lead Hollywood correspondent Amy Wallace is "being blacklisted a little bit." Wallace, who has done major takeouts on financier Ryan Kavanaugh and lawyer/Superman expert Marc Toberoff, declined to comment.
Heh. So Portfolio has "not found" any evidence that they've been cockblocked, and Carter says he doesn't even discuss Portfolio with any of his Hollywood friends. Sounds like a very nicey-nice relationship then.
Editorial Director
Really, why did we even need another business magazine? Money, Fortune and Business Week and some others aren't enough? We didn't need another business magazine, on any level. The move to start another business magazine during a time when fewer people are reading magazines in general and fewer people are reading business magazines and the business magazines in existence are cutting pages and laying off people is a pretty stupid business and journalism move. We just don't need another business magazine.