"If I DID HIT it?"
Posted on 12/17/2006 10:01:44 AM PST by Bean Counter
For weeks, publisher Judith Regan had been in trouble with higher-ups over the debacle of the canceled O.J. Simpson book and TV deal. But her firing swiftly followed a Friday afternoon phone call from her Los Angeles office to a HarperCollins attorney that included comments that were characterized as offensive, two highly placed corporate sources said Saturday.
The comments, the precise nature of which was not disclosed, came just before News Corp., the parent company of HarperCollins, held its annual holiday party, an expensive hotel bash in Manhattan attended by more than 4,000 people. Regan's company, Los Angeles-based ReganMedia, is a unit of HarperCollins.
**SNIP**
Senior executives at News Corp. said Saturday that although Regan was let go not because of the controversy over either the O.J. Simpson project or another contentious book, a forthcoming fictional "reimagining" of Mickey Mantle's life that had drawn advance criticism for its salacious content, both incidents contributed to her downfall at the company.
"It was an accumulation of her behavior," said one of those executives, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the legal sensitivity of the issue.
The two News Corp. insiders said Regan was not held entirely responsible for the O.J. embarrassment because the project had been signed off on by senior management. But they added that the double whammy of the O.J. incident, closely followed by a wave of negative publicity about the Mantle book, scheduled for publication March 1, put her career at the company "on thin ice," as one executive put it.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
It's turning out that this dust-up was a lot more nasty than anyone realized at first. How long till we find out exactly what it was Her Highness actually said on the phone Friday...???
Via Drudge...
Another piglet in publishing bites the dust..
Give her time. She will resurface somewhere...
Aw it's nothing. Just a hormonal meltdown. She'll find someone else who will put up with her for a while.
As I pointed out in another thread, the OJ thing ended up costing the company $3.5 million on an advance and heaven only knows what in the publicity campaign that generated the backlash. That may not have gotten her fired but it certainly didn't make her popular.
A couple of weeks earlier, Limbaugh said that Judith had made a statement to the effect that she wrote his books for him. He said that was not true, and he didn't understand what he might have to done to her for her to allege something like that. I think there was a LOT going on, and it all finally came crashing down around her.
The question to continually ask oneself: "Would I behave this way at a job interview?"
The moment you lose professionalism, you are fair game for a quick firing. No other reasons needed.
Distasteful as Regan is, she was practically the only publisher of conservative books in the mainstream publishing industry. Indeed, her success with those books led other liberal publishers to think about establishing niche imprints for conservative books.
That may be one reason why HarperCollins CEO Friedman, who apparently hated her, got her fired. I expect Regan will soon be back, more powerful than ever. But maybe in films, not books.
True words of wisdom to live and work by!
Regan also screwed up with the book about gay ex-NJ Gov McSleazy that bombed bigtime----and is now at 10,000 or so on Amazon. McGay's tome turns out to be one huge lie piled on lie.
Jimbo calculated there was money to be made with his "struggles as a closet homosexual." and he outed himself as a self-anointed "victim" when he resigned, claiming he had "just discovered he was a gay American."
McG's homosexuality was accompanied by his monumental lack of judgement.... and for criminally undermining national security with an unqualified HomeLand goofball named Golan Cipel.
Typical that Judith Regan never got Jimbo to detail Cipel's absconding to Israel, one step ahead of the law. Regan should have inserted a chapter on how much Jimmy scammed from New Jersey taxpayers to get Cipel to shut up.
Just a note to say GREAT tagline. It is particularly appropriate for me to read this at this time for personal reasons. I'll remember it always, it is certainly very, very true.
I think Regan also presided over the book by the alleged ex-alcoholic that was so filled with lies that Oprah demanded an apology from both the author and the publisher. If not Regan, then some other publishing bigwigette.
Does anyone know whether OJ had to return his advance? And whether he received the entire amount? Usually, advances are partly paid upon acceptance of ms with the rest due upon publication. Was the book published and then recalled? Or not published at all?
How long before she does a Murdock tell all
Thanks---so glad you found it inspiring.
"Just a hormonal meltdown. "
Covered by the ADA, I'm sure.
I don't have a link,
but I think I read OJ
said he'd spent it all,
$800,000!
(I don't think writers ever
return advances . . .)
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