People! It's a Very Special Episode of The Ankler!
As of this morning, a real grown-up and another journalist you know have joined this circus and big things are coming
Dear Ankler Community (Friends and Foes Alike!):
Today marks the beginning an exciting new era for The Ankler.
Some time last year, the legendary Janice Min, longtime editor of and creator of the modern Hollywood Reporter as we know it, maven of all media, dropped me an email to chat. She was one of the cult followers of this newsletter and had a crazy idea. We started talking. One thing after another happened. And now, as the New York Times [LINK] pointed out, The Ankler — unruly adolescent — is growing up.
As of today, Janice becomes CEO and editor in chief of the new Ankler Media, while I, Richard Rushfield, will continue as Editorial Director and Chief Columnist of The Ankler.
Further we are joined by perhaps the greatest reporter on the Hollywood beat today, the inimitable Tatiana Siegel — you might know her best from her prominent spot inside Scott Rudin’s burn book — who comes aboard in January.
Newsletters are by nature a lonely pursuit; now, The Ankler is poised to become more than just this man’s one-writer show. New voices, events, podcasts, reporters and commentators are on the way, all of which will take The Ankler DNA of fearless irreverence and add to it – capturing the life of our world at the crossroads.
Coming in the months ahead, subscribers will receive not only more Ankler editions, more reporting, more commentary, more finger pointing, more saying of the unsayable, but bigger experiences beyond just this flagship newsletter. For our subscribers, we'll have podcasts, events, meet-ups, special editions, and we'll be intruding new spin-off newsletters focussing on special corners and interests of our community.
All this is made possible by incredible support from Substack. We are so pleased with their backing and support to grow this little project into something much bigger - a new kind of publication to capture our fast-evolving entertainment world. We’re also thankful to be part of Y Combinator, which, take notes Aaron Sorkin and Shonda Rhimes, is overdue to become a fictionalized HBO series stat about Gen Z-ers battling to become the next billionaires.
More details follow in the press release below. Join us as we make this business of entertainment entertaining, turning Hollywood inside out with smarts, wit and wisdom. The Ankler’s latest is what your colleagues will be whispering about at your 9 AM and buzzing about at lunch. Don't get left behind. Subscribe and join the party today!
The full press release follows:
JANICE MIN BECOMES CO-OWNER, CEO OF ANKLER MEDIA, PARTNERS WITH RICHARD RUSHFIELD IN CREATION OF NEW NEWSLETTER, PODCAST AND EVENTS BUSINESS ON SUBSTACK
The Ankler, one of Substack’s biggest newsletters, will become the flagship title in a network of business-focused subscription newsletters for the entertainment industry focused on its culture, people and power centers — all while charting the fast-paced upending of Hollywood by tech
Los Angeles, CA—Dec. 14, 2021— Janice Min will become co-owner and CEO of newly-formed Ankler Media effective immediately. She is partnering with Richard Rushfield of The Ankler, one of the most popular and influential newsletters on Substack. Min will work with Rushfield to expand The Ankler’s editorial vision with the launch of new entertainment-focused newsletters, podcasts and live events, focusing on different corners and aspects of the widening entertainment industry and the world around it. Rushfield will serve as editorial director of the new entity, while remaining The Ankler’s chief columnist. Min will also become editor in chief of all the Ankler newsletters. Tatiana Siegel, executive film editor at The Hollywood Reporter, will join Min and Rushfield as their first hire.
Ankler Media also will be taking part in Y Combinator’s winter 2022 class beginning in January.
“I was an Ankler addict first–and then became dazzled by its list of subscribers, a real who’s who of power in entertainment,” said Min. “The Ankler is authentic, smart, and unafraid to say what is actually on people’s minds. Richard has nailed that sweet spot between insight and levity. We intend to use that DNA to deliver information that meets the needs of a new entertainment economy whose reach extends far beyond traditional Hollywood.”
“This is about making entertainment entertaining through the stories, professions, and personalities at the real center of the industry,” said Rushfield. “Janice is one of the only people on Earth with the leadership qualities, fearlessness, and media experience needed to make this succeed. And we are both fanatical about making the story of entertainment entertaining.”
"Ever since it debuted on Substack, The Ankler has been a must-read industry publication, drawing loyal subscribers and generating attention across Hollywood," said Hamish McKenzie, co-founder of Substack. "We're excited to see how Janice and Richard expand their media empire on Substack."
The flagship Ankler newsletter will primarily be a subscription business, with additional support from FYC campaigns and event sponsorships. Amazon Studios is the launch sponsor of the newsletter and podcasts.
The revamped Ankler, complete with a podcast and additional newsletters, will launch in January.
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About The Ankler
Launched in 2017, The Ankler newsletter has become the most buzzed-about voice in coverage of the entertainment industry. Created by veteran reporter Richard Rushfield as a sharp-edged alternative to traditional trade reporting, The Ankler quickly became a much-passed-around open secret in the industry, greeted with relief to see someone was asking the questions that were being swept under the rug – and doing it with wit and elan.
Since its launch, Hollywood has been roiled by a series of crises – the Harvey Weinstein revelations and the Me Too reckoning that followed, the upheaval and dislocations of the streaming war, dramatic struggles about representation of people of color in the executive ranks and the COVID shutdown to name just a few. At each of these, The Ankler has proven an indispensable voice – speaking plainly about injustice and foolishness on all sides of the debate. On issue after issue, The Ankler's perspective has set the terms of the debate that has followed.
The Ankler is a newsletter about and for the entertainment industry, edited and written by Richard Rushfield, an entertainment journalist with decades of experience, including at Vanity Fair, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Variety and LA Weekly. One of Fast Company’s “10 Newsletters to Make You Smarter,” The Ankler is Hollywood’s independent insider must-read that successfully holds the industry’s feet to the fire.
About Janice Min
Janice Min was co-president of the Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Entertainment Group, where she engineered a publishing rebirth of The Hollywood Reporter called a “stunning transformation” by the New York Times. Previously at Us Weekly she created a Zeitgeist phenomenon named publishing’s Top Performer of the Decade by Cappell Circulation Report. She also has served as a consultant to NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Currently, as a contributing editor at TIME, she has covered culture, Silicon Valley and entertainment. She most recently wrote about ethical issues and alleged racism at a Silicon Valley unicorn.
An Emmy winner also named Adweek’s Editor of the Year, Min has been profiled by the New York Times, NPR, and The Guardian, She was honored with her alma mater Columbia Journalism School’s Alumni Award, and has won two National Magazine Awards for General Excellence, earned five nominations, a Webby, AdAge’s Magazine of the Year honors, and more than 100 SoCal Journalism Awards. Min led her previous brands’ expansion into television, and tentpole live events including the star-studded Women in Entertainment, New York’s Most Powerful People in Media, and Women in Music.
Min sits on the boards of her alma mater, Columbia Journalism School, UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center, and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.
About Richard Rushfield
Richard Rushfield is the author of The Ankler newsletter. He has covered Hollywood and American culture as a reporter, editor and critic for over 20 years. A native of Los Angeles, he had a first career as a grassroots political field organizer, working for the 1992 campaign of Bill Clinton, among others. He began covering the LA scene as a reporter for Los Angeles magazine, launching into a pre-internet feature writing career for magazines and newspapers, including working as a Contributing Editor of Vanity Fair and author of its long-running Intelligence Report column. Since the dawn of the internet, he worked as an editor and columnist for a host of sites including the Los Angeles Times, The Daily Beast, Gawker, BuzzFeed, Yahoo and ultimately as Editor in Chief of the website Hitfix. Richard is also the author of three books.
Press Contact
Kaitlyn Kurosky | High10 Media | kaitlyn@high10media.com