By Lee Pfeiffer
Regular readers of Cinema Retro know that we frequently link to the Deadline Hollywood Daily column for industry scuttlebutt and analysis of weekend box-office grosses. The brainchild behind the site is columnist Nikki Finke, who left mainstream journalism to start her entertainment blog. Her blog took off during the Writer's Guild strike several years ago when she gave second-by-second updates on developments, largely in sympathy with the Writer's Guild of America. Since then, she has become a modern Hedda Hopper - instilling fear in industry executives, even as they try to court her favor. Unlike Hopper, who gleefully played the Hollywood party scene circuit, Finke stays largely reclusive, a one-woman powerhouse who drives herself to the point of exhaustion by handling every aspect of her web site herself. There is only one known photograph of her and she explains her refusal to socialize with industry types by saying it would compromise her ability to report objectively. In fact, Deadline Hollywood is too "inside baseball" for average readers - but it attracts the people who matter in the entertainment industry and even her enemies give kudos to Finke for unveiling top-secret information before some of those directly affected even know about it.
Click here to read a New York Times profile of her.