#Nick fink age tv

The trades, which relied on advertising revenue from the studios and TV networks, appeared hesitant to pick fights with the people who paid the bills.įinke was different. Her in-your-face style of reporting attracted legions of fans at a time when trade publications’ coverage of Hollywood was sympathetic to the studios. Agents, executives and assistants were desperate for insider news - and Finke did not disappoint. The Post fired Finke over the Winnie the Pooh articles, and Finke eventually sued Disney for attempting to interfere with her contract.įinke went on to write her Deadline Hollywood column for LA Weekly and had just moved it online when the 2007 Hollywood writers strike erupted. Disney felt her articles contained inaccuracies, and the company complained to her bosses that Finke was biased against Disney. and its chief executive, Michael Eisner, with 2002 stories about Winnie the Pooh merchandising royalties. While at the Post, Finke irked the Walt Disney Co. Years later, she secured a freelancing contract with the New York Post to cover entertainment news. Times, where she was a staff writer in the late 1980s and early ’90s. She later wrote for major publications including Newsweek, New York Magazine and the L.A. She worked as a correspondent for the Associated Press, first in Moscow, then in London. Ultimately, however, “the scorched-earth tactics that she used led to her inability to be a long-term presence in this industry.”įinke grew up in the Long Island village of Sands Point, N.Y., and graduated from Wellesley College in Massachusetts. “She was an extremely talented journalist who blazed a trail early in the internet of what digital media could look like,” Waxman said. The Wrap founder Sharon Waxman - once a friend of Finke’s who wound up becoming her sworn enemy and fierce rival - deemed Finke “a tragic figure.”

The Times reached out Sunday to more than a dozen industry insiders and peers of Finke, the vast majority of whom declined to comment or did not respond. Back then, the trades were slow to embrace the idea that trees no longer had to die for a media outlet to be influential.” “I did recognize that showbiz coverage could change, because the digital platform leveled a playing field that had previously belonged to Variety and the Hollywood Reporter. Or a woman with brass balls, f- you attitude and ruthless hustle, who told hard truths about the moguls and who accurately reported scoops first. “Or an internet journalist who created something out of nothing that put the Hollywood trades back on their heels, and today, under Penske Media ownership, is a website worth $100+ million. “I didn’t set out to be a disruptor,” Finke wrote in a 2016 column reflecting on Deadline’s 10th anniversary.

She was, a 2011 Times piece said, the “most feared writer” in Hollywood. Her legacy is a form of entertainment news tailored for the internet versus the printed page, with an emphasis on being first, landing exclusives, relentlessly promoting the work and cutting through the noise of a crowded media landscape with a loud, opinionated and often mean voice - one that many equated to that of a bully.

Nick fink age