Bonnie Fuller and Tina Brown aren't the only ladies of the media industry rolling out new web projects. So, too, is NYT and WaPo scribe Sharon Waxman, currently blogging Hollywood at Waxword, a Deadline Hollywood-esque site punched up with Waxman's analysis.
Now flush with $500k in funding, Waxman in January will launch The Wrap News, a gossip-something-or-other website that will join the 947,000 other URLs doing the same thing.
In sharing the news of Waxman's new venture, sex obsessed media columnist Jon Friedman points to Waxman's recent story about The Hollywood Reporter being up for sale. Of course, Waxman, seen here getting strangled by Quentin Tarantino, was six months late to the story — Jossip was the first to connect the dots. In February. Here's hoping her Hollywood headlines will have a shorter timeline.
Quickly reinventing herself as a comedian and tabloid analyst — hey, didn't another former celeb weekly EIC try doing that? — ex-Star chief Bonnie Fuller has plastered copy all over Huffington Post as a concerned mother dishing out advice for celebrity moms. Now, she's a media strategist for what may be the future First Family: "I'm convinced that the marketing and PR experts surrounding the Obamas clued in to the enormous influence that 'celebrities' have had on the American public, particularly women, over the past seven years since the emergence of Us Weekly, Star and other celebrity newsweeklies and the subsequent explosion of celebrity news. And they want to take advantage of the deep affection that Americans have developed for celebrities." Get. Out.
You'll have to wait ANOTHER FULL QUARTER!!! to learn whether Bonnie Fuller, having left AMI as editorial director, earned the $2 million severance package she was gonna get if she left the company in March, since she stayed until May. In the meantime, know this: Fuller was on track to earn $2.4 million in 2008, up from $2.1 million in 2007 — both more than David Pecker's paycheck of $1.6 million in '08. [WWD]
In the July issue of Portfolio, now-former American Media editorial director Bonnie Fuller took over the back page to do two things: Wrap her arms around an issue of Star, and reveal almost nothing about where she's headed from here.
Then, in the Times's Sunday Business section, she did something similar: She posed in the same position (sans tabloid) and said, well, almost nothing about where she's headed from here.
Despite what one errant blogger may claim, Ms. Fuller is the Queen of All Media.
From YM and Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan to Us Weekly and Star, Fuller has earned – some might argue rightfully – a reputation as a ball-busting, no-nonsense editor who routinely brought her staff for a visit to the brink of sanity all in the name of a close. And now that she's heading off on her own, with a venture aptly titled Bonnie Fuller Media, and funding from former Viacom interactive chief Russ Pillar's 5850 Group, perhaps it's time to stop counting all of Fuller's flaws, sand your bedpost smooth, and begin notching her successes. CONTINUED »
Bonnie Fuller, whose employment at American Media might very well consist of finding a new job, recording video segments, and blogging for Huffington Post, weighs in, as she so often does with women in peril, on Anne Hathaway, who must trudge along with promoting Get Smart while the press gleefully rips ex-boyfriend Raffaello Follieri to shreds. But to Fuller, who invented the "Just Like Us!" feature while running Us Weekly, Hathaway's struggle isn't about a Hollywood star down on her luck, but is instead the story of so many women who get duped by "good guys."
Yes, Ms. Hathaway's multi-million dollar swindling scam of a relationship makes her just like us! CONTINUED »
Outgoing gossip matriach Bonnie Fuller to incoming political matriarch Michelle Obama: Toughen up. [HP]
Former AMI editorial director and current Star brand extension Bonnie Fuller makes another go her little comedy routine on The DL. Listen to her get excited about Sam Ronson and Lindsay Lohan making out! Also, listen to the crudest episode of this series so far! [Spinner]
American Media chief David Pecker on former deputy Bonnie Fuller: "I think you take away anything to do from her salary base just for what she has accomplished…when you take a look what Bonnie has done with the book over the years I can't think of anyone I know who's more capable and worth more dollars than her to create shareholder value for that magazine. [... The magazine is ] more successful today than when Bonnie has run it over the last four years…It runs on its own. You just need the right captain or admiral to steer it." [FBNY]
Was Bonnie Fuller's exit from American Media a departure planned well ahead of its announcement, or did it come about as suddenly as her deciding her time was up? Never mind that she shot down Keith Kelly's initial questions about her leaving weeks before the announcement came, but perhaps the dust jacket for real estate impresario Barbara Corcoran's book, Nextville, released in April, tells all.
Since the jacket had to be mocked up well before the book went to press, it's curious that Bonnie Fuller, who was running AMI and Star up until last week, is identified only by her own authordom: the scribe behind The Joys of Much Too Much, and not any of her highfalutin titles.
Then again, David Caplan is identified as merely an "entertainment journalist," even though at any point in the last 12 months, he could've been blurbed as either Star's New York bureau chief, VH1 blogger, and, now, a People titan. So maybe they just went the safer route.
Larger version below. CONTINUED »
Kent Brownridge on Bonnie Fuller, circa 2004: "Bonnie can't delegate. She's computer-illiterate. She doesn't know what a budget is."
Kent Brownridge on Bonnie Fuller, circa now: "I'm guilty of having said bad things about her. She's the Bill Parcells of publishing. Just like Parcells, everywhere she goes she pisses people off, but everywhere she goes she wins." [MM]
We love this side of Bonnie Fuller, the lady who just stepped down as editorial director of AMI to take a gig as Star's editor-at-large while she works on some secret "exciting new venture" (something with TV! and LOS ANGELES!, we're hearing).
We've seen her doing these faux celebrity newscast spots with Spinner.com before, and it's a good image for her to broadcast: light-hearted, breezy, able to laugh.
One question though: If Julia Allison is Star's much-hyped and overpaid "editor-at-large" (the glorified title for "paid to appear on TV"), is Bonnie's new stand-in gig going to give her the boot?
Clip below. CONTINUED »
Someone claims to have put snot in Bonnie Fuller's food, and her bread inside their pants. [Gawker] What, no confirmation about the pee in the coffee?
Bonnie Fuller, who yesterday announced she was leaving her editorial director post at AMI to work on new things, knew she was going to get picked up by the industry press, who have never taken kindly to her. Keith Kelly reminds us that "In the end, few are sorry to see her leave AMI." [NYP] And the Post also took the time to mock up this faux tabloid cover, with coverlines, "Terrible Tyrant Tossed!," "Pecker Wins Day!," and "Former Staffers Jubilant!" Eh, it's kind of weak, but they did manage to squeeze four exclamation points on the thing, and even Bonnie would respect that.
By voluntarily stepping down from American Media's editorial director spot, Bonnie Fuller isn't just saying goodbye to a position of power, but also:
• $1.5 million in annual salary
• $500,000 a year, minimum, in bonus / a "target bonus" of $1 million
• First-class airfare and Four Seasons-level travel accommodations
• $80,000 in car services
• $2,000 for business-related hair and make up
A bit of breaking news: Bonnie Fuller, blogger and comedian, is finally stepping down as editorial director of American Media Inc., a position she's held since July 2003, silencing the months/years-long rumors that she would do so. The decision is effective tomorrow. She'll stay on as editor-at-large for Star and will, says the release, serve as a consultant to CEO David Pecker.
This will give Bonnie more time to criticize Lynne Spears.
Update: Naturally, the speculation that Bonnie has been fired is bubbling up. We're assured by one multiple insiders that she's stepping down voluntarily. Though perhaps unfortunately for Fuller, both scenarios are plausible.
CONTINUED »
Editorial Director
