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Variety was expected to announce tomorrow the hiring of longtime Los Angeles Times reporter James Rainey, but an hour after I called Rainey tonight and said I was going to post they went ahead and expedited a story (after asking me to wait until morning.) He then tweeted the news. He'll be a senior film writer, recruited by Variety co-editor Claudia Eller, a former colleague of Rainey's at the Times. Rainey has covered media, politics, City Hall, the Westside and other beats in 29 years at the LAT, and has become one of the steady old hands on big news rewrites. Buzz about his upcoming departure swept through the newsroom's gossip channels the past few days. And he isn't even the top exit of the new year.
Jimmy Orr, the paper's managing editor, digital, has been the paper's online guide the past few years and oversaw the recent redesign of LATimes.com. He told the editors he is leaving this month for a sports-related startup in Denver, where his new wife lives. When I talked to Orr tonight, he said he would be a partner in the start-up venture but preferred to let his new company make the formal announcement. "It was too good to pass up for personal and professional reasons," Orr said. "It's really the right thing at the right time...I'd like to live with my wife."
[Monday Jan. 5 update: On reflection, Orr says he will be general manager of a multi-platform digital sports program start-up in partnership with Colorado sports personalities Woody Paige and Les Shapiro.]
He's leaving just as the Times gains a respected new head of digital strategy, Nicco Mele, a faculty member at the Harvard Kennedy School. Orr says he regrets the timing and had hoped to work with Mele. "I love the LA Times and I love working for Davan [Davan Maharaj, the paper's editor.]" The paper is in a strong position digitally, Orr said. "We have more readers than ever online. People are staying on the site longer and consuming more content."
Orr came to the Times in 2010 after serving as online editor at the Christian Science Monitor, chief Internet strategist for President George W. Bush and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and as a White House spokesman for Bush. (Mele also has a politics resume, working as webmaster for Democrat Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign.)
The Times has made some hires as well, most recently Nigel Duara from the Associated Press bureau in Portland for the national reporting staff — sounds like he's going to cover the border and the Southwest from Arizona — plus TV Guide's Stephen Battaglio and former Times stalwart Bob Sipchen, brought back from Sierra magazine. But as I've said before, the Times didn't use to lose solid reporters and editors in mid- and late-career moves unless they were going to the New York Times or a big national gig. Recent departures have included Metro reporter Kurt Streeter to ESPN, Op-ed editor Sue Horton to Reuters and political writer Maeve Reston to CNN.
Variety's rushed-together story on Rainey says he will "cover the major Hollywood studios and all aspects of the movie business, writing breaking stories, analytical features and profiles for Variety.com and the weekly magazine. He will also contribute to Variety’s conferences, panel discussions and video interviews as well as appear on major TV and radio news outlets to discuss industry issues." Rainey appears frequently now on KPCC and in other media outlets. He starts Jan. 19.
