From `it' read to has-been
Its stars were ruthless agents and powerful moguls, temperamental actors and megalomaniacal directors. It told stories of troubled productions and exploding box office to a readership of industry insiders, cineastes and a general public that seemed riveted by it all.
In its glory years -- from the late '80s to the mid-'90s -- nobody got Hollywood better than Premiere magazine.
But with the proliferation of entertainment coverage in the media -- including Entertainment Weekly, Us Weekly and paparazzo-driven celebrity websites -- Premiere lost its cachet.
So when it was announced this week by Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. that Premiere would shut down its print operation (it will still have an online component), there was sadness and nostalgia, but not surprise.
Premiere reflected the industry it covered, an industry now in flux, uncertain of where it is headed, its flamboyance gradually being suffocated by corporate decisions over creative visions. The magazine chronicled the mushrooming influence of Michael Ovitz and Creative Artists Agency, the battles between Miramax's Harvey Weinstein and Disney's Michael Eisner, and larger-than-life Hollywood personalities such as producers Don Simpson, Brian Grazer and Joel Silver.
Today's entertainment media are obsessed with celebrity scandal. Who wants another profile on CAA when Britney Spears is shaving her head and Anna Nicole Smith is dead? Premiere's stable of writers went after different kinds of stories, unearthing nuggets about the men and women who make the movies, writing revealing accounts of visits to movie sets or runaway production budgets.
"Sometimes it does seem that that sort of excitement of the transforming power of movies has passed," said Howard Karren, who spent two lengthy stints at Premiere as an editor.
Launched in 1987, the monthly magazine, with offices in Los Angeles and New York, was originally published by Rupert Murdoch.
Its circulation had dropped some in recent years, from about 600,000 to 500,000.
Aggressive reporting
Peter Biskind, who spent a decade at Premiere as executive editor under founding editor Susan Lyne and went on to write bestselling books about Hollywood, such as "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls," said one of the reasons the magazine was so good in its early days was because "we weren't beholden to the studios. That gave us a lot of freedom to do hard-hitting, in-depth reporting."
