Last night, I received word that Editor in Chief Peter Bart was being moved aside at Variety after 20 years. Naturally, I fanned out calls to all the trade bigwigs. 
Today, I phoned Variety editor Tim Gray asking if it were true that he was going to replace Bart. He asked if he could call me in 5 minutes. Twenty minutes later, Gray posted on Variety.com what I already knew. Effective immediately, Gray retains his title as Variety editor and reports to Variety Group Publisher Neil Stiles from now on. Bart will report to Reed Business Information CEO Tad Smith who isn’t involved in the day-to-day of the Variety Group because of his big management job. Obviously, I don’t need to tell you there’s been bad blood between Bart and Stiles. Now Stiles doesn’t have to deal with Bart anymore. Nor does Gray have to kowtow to Bart anymore. “Peter will probably try to give advice and stuff, but ultimately it’s Tim’s decision from now on,” one insider tells me. As for Smith, he’s expert at dealing with problems, and this was his solution to The Bart Problem.
Bart’s new title is “vice president and editorial director of Variety“, but it’s meaningless. He and the company are playing this like it’s voluntary, but Peter has been pushed “essentially up and out” of the newsroom, as one of my sources puts it. But he’ll be allowed to continue as the “face” of Variety in public — which is something Bart cares a lot about. His column and blog will continue. (Although the AMC weekly interview show Shootout he co-hosted with Peter Guber has been cancelled and replaced with quarterly primetime specials.)
Hollywood can now safely ignore Bart. Gray is the guy to suck up to there.
Here’s what the Variety announcement said, “In his new position, Bart will report directly to Smith, assisting him in furthering Variety‘s editorial mission in print and online and expanding the brand’s position in new revenue streams. Bart also will continue to contribute his weekly column as well as his blog and serve as Variety‘s ambassador in public venues, on television, on the web and at industry events.” Smith was quoted as saying, “Bart has managed Variety‘s staff and news operations for twenty years and we have long had an agreement in place that, at the 20-year mark, he would move on to new responsibilities. With this in mind, Tim Gray was named editor several years ago.”
Meanwhile, sources say Bart was seen having lunch last week with Gerry Byrne, the former Variety publisher who’s now a huge deal at Nielsen Business Media as head of the Media and Entertainment Group there. Granted the two are old pals. But, if you need a scorecard, Bart was having lunch with The Enemy since Nielsen owns The Hollywood Reporter.
Bart was one of the staunchest proponents that Variety has to remain a print publication, while others at Reed want to move the trade more (and even completely) into the digital era because of eroding advertising. Both trades have been the talk of Hollywood for their increasingly meager pages and skimpy ads. As one movie bigwig emailed me the other day, “Are the trades a public service play for Hollywood? Neither has more than a 1/4 page paid ad today. How do they survive?”
Meanwhile, my insiders believe someone may eventually be brought in above Gray editorially at Variety.
Like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic……the ship is still sinking.
They both look eerily similar to one another. Is that what it takes to be a Variety editor – a receding hairline and horn-rimmed glasses? If so, then my Uncle Ralph can be Assistant Executive Editor.
Peter Bart actually had that “editorial director” title a good decade or so ago, which shows how meaningless these tags are. I wouldn’t count him out just yet. Tim Gray has been there for maybe 20-30 years (?), so congratulations to him.
This news explains why Peter Bart’s online Variety column has had no new postings since a March 24 column about the decline in eatery traffic at the places Bart eats out at. That generic column could have been canned, written a while ago to be used when Bart was unable to prepare a more timely column (this production decline contrasts sharply with his high production around Academy Award time). An explanation for this decline could be because Bart knew he was being pushed out the door, if not thrown under the bus. Bart has previously written about how he always knew his great job as production chief at Paramount would eventually come to an end. Bart’s top job and long stay at Variety are now coming to an end. Peter Bart thought he could hold out a while longer at Variety before the long knives came out. Guess not.
Who give’s a shit? Does anyone read the trades anymore?
As they say, “Ankled!”
Both Variety and Hollywood Reporter have long had their tongues up Hollywood’s ass, but Bart managed to lick the tonsils from the inside. Under his guidance, Variety went from being the newspaper of record (plus the requisite eyewash and stroking), to just the eyewash and stroking. For years scholars and historians have lamented how useless the rag had become for tracking projects, reporting grosses, and, especially, for the value of its beat and regional reporting (Variety’s stringers were legendary). Now it’s just a support system for display ads. As for Bart, though his experience and knowledge are long, so are his memory and obligations. Under his helmsmanship in 1992, he pulled critic Jim McBride off of reviewing Paramount films when the studio threatened to pull its ads over a negative review (Bart worked at Paramount in the 60s & 70s); he was suspended in 2001 by then-owner Cahners Publications over allegations of manipulating coverage and killing stories to help or protect industry friends; and there are persistent rumors (unconfirmed) about trying to sell scripts on the side.
Connections are important, but when they’re pulled from the wrong end it makes you a puppet.
Tim Gray, on the other hand, is a seasoned reporter with a knowledge of history other than his own, and he has a sense of humor. Let’s hope he can return Variety to being the Bible of show business and not just an Indulgence.
I figured they’d have to cart that old buffoon out by his heels. 20 years down the drain, now maybe Variety can start making a real difference again.
This ship will sink like the Hollywood Reporter. If they do what they did to Bob Dowling and his team….same thing will happen.
i do, but DHD and trackingb often beat them by days with the news…
he’s been soo irrelevant for such a long time. who cares? variety and THR are fun to read, fun to catch up on what’s going on, who’s signing who, what Peter Bart thinks is not now nor has it ever been part of why we read the trades.
Gray is the one to suck up to now?
I thought Variety was the one sucking up to every studio in town.
Peter Bart represents the part of the entertainment industry that is so reluctant to move forward (i.e. moving trades into the digital arena). Good ridance to him. Maybe his demotion will be a wake up call to the remainder of the industry who still think we are living in the last century.
You probably won’t print this, but Peter Bart is (and has always been) a skeezy, amoral guy who never even attempted to report objectively. What is he? What’s he always been? An unapologetic studio shill and, in many cases, an agency shill too; more akin to a PR guy on the take then a thoughtful objective journalist. Shame on Reed that Bart lasted there for as long as he did. He was truly a disgraceful leader through and through. Hopefully the new Variety will have just a little more integrity. Well done reporting this, Nikki.
Unless Gray can cover labor disputes without sticking 100% to the AMPTP playbook, who cares? As long as you, Nikki, don’t get bought or otherwise turned into a PR sheet for the AMPTP who would ever go to Variety or THR for news? Whstever they had to say about any union was alreadyn spun, posted and released by the AMPTP hours or days before their print versions of same. Except for some execs who like to send copies of their head shots home to the folks, what unique product or service has either of the dailies offered their readerships? If you really want hard copy versions of AMPTP releases, I’m sure you could get it from AMPTP HQ for a SASE.
Tim is a nice guy but not much of a leader.
He won’t last.
We sort of read VARIETY cuz we have to, right? I mean, it’s never been a ‘reporting’ paper, at least not lately. And thought there’s some decent writers there, Bart holds court – or did. Sometimes the press buys into their own press, I spose.
One headline for tomorrow:
Head Ed to “Advise” Instead
The essential conundrum for the “trades.” How do you report on an industry that pays all your bills? Answer: It’s almost impossible. But it can be done.
But not by Bart. He sold out any hope that DV could maintain some journalistic integrity 15 to 20 years ago. It’s a “strategy” that has worked until recently because 1) print still worked as a business model and 2) economic times were good.
But his regime’s studio ass kissing masked a central problem. Making DV a tool of the studios (see for example DV’s absurdly biased coverage of the last WGA strike) he alienated every other segment of the audience in the industry that *aren’t* studio execs. Now that the studios have essentially abandoned the print version of Variety, there’s no constituency left to support DV.
The leadership of DV management was so blinded by profits they didn’t see this coming. Now the end-of-days for them is here, they only have themselves to blame.
Prediction: Now the execs that let this disastrous, self-immolation go on for so long will now 1) shuffle people around; 2) “re-design” the look of DV and; 3) hire some new non-reporters from the blogoshpere. In other words DV will be sold and whither away within the next five years.
It’s not all Bart’s fault, but he’s as guilty of bad leadership as the rest of the crew running DV into the ground. He has a nice nest egg. I doubt anyone is feeling sorry for him. Well, maybe one.
Not only was Bart a corrupt, sleazy and Studio suck-up, he was also a vicious, nasty and mean-spirited human being. Anyone who had to sit through one of his staff meetings knows what a horrible human being he was–how he made fun of people’s appearances (like he should talk!), ethnic origins and sexual orientation..and how he played favorites, promoted and demoted people just for play and not based on merit. Good riddance, Peter Bart. May you have a lonely and miserable retirement in Palm Springs–look back at your life and see what a disgusting creature you were.
Figurehead suits get itchy very quickly.
Look for Bart to set up a producing shingle or get involved with a dotcom in the near future.
I usually don’t comment twice, but WOW Pamela! Sadly U are true on this count – he ran V- like a fiefdom and some kings must topple. As for other sources of news, there’s DHD of course, will try TrackingB and of course Hollywood Wiretap.com which provides a great amalgam of today’s media stories. Why should I pay 300+ a year for suckup or just plain late coverage (e.g. the Friedman story)?
Sad this took as long as it did, it’s like Bush getting out of the White House well after he managed to gut the country. One must wonder if the last straw was the embarrassing front page debacle about bloggers. It’s nice to see Bart go out in a cloud of humiliation, but it’s years too late and he’s done such harm to the publication. He’s not a journalist.
Finally! The bosses told the Emperor he was naked and kicked his sorry butt to the curb. I wonder if they gleefully skipped around laughing about “slitting throats” like Bart used to before he “fired the old guys” Ha! Now it’s his turn. Isn’t he about 80 years old?
Boy, the emotions run high on this inevitable management change in a tumultuous media industry. Everyone seems to have their ax to grind.
How about, Peter Bart’s leadership and accomplishments are extraordinary in this business. A man who cares deeply about the movie industry, quality movies, backing new talent, and a track record as studio executive and media spokesperson of historic success.
If he did not back the full implementation of electronic media, so what? But check out his broad archive of written articles, and you will see someone who had sage analysis of the entertainment business, and wise, well-balanced views.
I hope he finds a continuing role at helping to keep the industry more open and relevant, two principles he has always strived to uphold.