Encore to represent Variety in Australasia
Focal Attractions P/L, the publisher of Encore magazine and media portal mUmBRELLA, has recently entered into an agreement to represent Variety magazine in Australia and New Zealand.
“Having a local Variety representative will make it easier for individuals and organisations trying to reach the international screen industry to assess their options,” said sales director Sean McKeown.
Established in 1905, Variety is the bible of the international showbiz industry, covering film, television, theatre, music, interactive media and publishing.
“There has been a certain mystique attached to the brand down here, due to the fact that people had to deal with staff overseas,” added McKeown.
Your puff piece contains a blatant lie. For more than 30 years, Variety maintained a Sydney bureau with full-time staff. I was the bureau chief until the bureau closed in 2005, a short-sighted and ultimately disastrous move on cost-curting grounds. But the paper still had an advertising rep in Oz, Simon Foster, until he left Reed (Encore’s former owner). Either you were ignorant of all this, or chose to ignore it.
Hi Don,
Thanks for your comment. Apologies if you felt we were being misleading. However, I think you may be slightly misinformed about the order of events.
Focal Attractions purchased Encore from Reed a few months ago. It was a proud moment for all of us.
We’re well aware that Variety once had a presence based at Reed’s offices in Chatswood. I used to work there myself as it happens (I joined Reed after you left so I’m afraid we’ve never met.), as did my colleague Sean.
By the point I came on board, the editorial presence of Variety was no longer there, although the logo still proudly appeared at reception!
Where you are slightly mistaken is that the representation arrangement between Reed and Variety actually came to an end some time before Simon’s departure from Encore.
Regardless, once we had Encore in our care, it was a priority for us to resurrect the relationship with Variety and to do our best to make it work for both titles.
As I’m sure you’ll agree, Variety and Encore have a lot in common and as Sean mentioned above, dealing with staff overseas isn’t generally ideal – we certainly hope to provide a good local service. We did not mean to imply (and I don’t think we did) that there had never been a previous local representative – just that there hasn’t been one for too long.
I’m delighted that we have been able to rekindle the relationship between Encore and Variety, and I hope that you’ll wish us luck in that.
All the best,
Tim Burrowes
Editorial director – Focal Attractions
Tim,
It is you who slightly mistaken on the matter of ad sales representation for Variety in the Australian/New Zealand territories.
I was selling across all of the Variety branded advertising options up until a matter of days prior to my departure from Reed. The catalyst for my departure was Variety’s decision to sell from it’s Hong Kong base, though I closed out client dealings on Variety ad campaigns up to the day I left.
I do wish my good friend Sean well in your endeavors with the once-great trade paper though felt it necessary to correct what I’m sure was an honest error.
Simon Foster
Good luck with the new venture and I look forward to meeting you Sean,
All the best
Pippa Johnson
Thanks for the clarification, Tim. I was fully aware of the sequence of events leading to the end of local representation. I just felt it was pertinent to point out the ‘back story’ of Variety’s long engagement with this territory.
With all due respect to Encore and mUmBRELLA, Variety and its main competitor The Hollywood Reporter (I’ve worked for both) will never claw back the prestige and clout they once had in Australia. Both are struggling desperately to remain relevant in the US let alone internationally.They’re being beaten badly by on-line newsletters and some traditional print media. Sadly, the allure of their famous mastheads is meaning less and less to a new generation of content creators.
Also, both invested heavily in the region. Now it might as well be Austria. Some journalists/editors at Variety would struggle to know the difference.
Where’s there’s money to made, there is some willingness to provide some coverage, but that’s not Australia any more. And by not having good coverage -which takes a full time and dedicated office- there’s even less reason to advertise or subscribe. Vicious circle.
Variety has done this before, with Film Francais. It didn’t work. Good luck this time around!
Hi,
Ouch! I for one love reading Encore and Variety as they at least write both sides to a story and investigate truths. Other (won’t name) editorials are run by mates of the boys club so it’s obvious who they are hedging their bets on.
I personally can’t wait for Variety to have another presence in Aus. Count me in!