Memo from Mike Fleming Jr:
I’m pleased to announce that Peter Bart will be moving over to Deadline. That will mean a shift over from Variety, where he has been a fixture since 1989. He will become Editor-At-Large, and along with the column he and I already write, Peter will write a separate weekly column and become a regular contributor of news and analysis.
This was an opportunity that came up as Peter re-evaluated what he wanted to do as a writer, at a time when PMC owner Jay Penske invited him to join PMC’s Board of Advisors. Peter and I have been generating a column for the past year, one that is spontaneous and freewheeling in nature, and as such gets published moments after we finish it. Turns out the immediacy that is part of Deadline’s style appealed to Peter. What appealed to Deadline co-editor in chief Nellie Andreeva and me is the opportunity to bolster our flow of breaking news by adding a strong writer with a seasoned narrative voice to contribute on the site and behind the scenes.
This is a big moment for me, personally. I was the first reporter Peter hired when he moved from the executive and producer ranks to become editor of Weekly Variety. We have collaborated at one point or other for going on 26 years. He’s forgotten more than I will ever know, and I did not stop sponging that knowledge and viewpoint even after I left Variety. Claudia Eller was a big part of our rich Daily Variety history together — I took over her Dish column when she moved to the Los Angeles Times — and she and Andy Wallenstein now steer our sister publication, Variety. Thankfully, both were gracious about enabling Peter and me to re-form a more permanent bond.
“Peter has been an invaluable presence at Variety going back decades, and we thank him for all he has meant to our publication,” said Eller and Wallenstein, co-editors-in-chief of Variety. “Fortunately, Peter is not going far from home in his move to our sister company, Deadline, where we wish him nothing but the best.”
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