Boss Betty Weekly Brief: Catch up on what went down in advertising & media

ICYMI during the week, here’s a roundup of what went down in the worlds of advertising and media.  

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROGRESS PROBLEM: An attendee at the Creative LIAisons event — during which disgraced ex-Droga5 CCO Ted Royer gave a PowerPoint addressing sexual misconduct allegations against him — wrote an op-ed saying that the industry had made little progress on the issues raised by the #MeToo movement and that, “Once again, a woman’s right to be offended was completely overruled by a man’s right to be heard [AdAge]. Also, we made the whole Apollo 13 reference in honor of today’s all-female spacewalk, which you can watch here and which is very awesome.

BIG HELLOS, BUH-BYES &
…at the agency: The CEO of Havas’ Arnold Worldwide, Kiran Smith, suddenly left the agency, which she just joined in July 2018. “Kiran brought many good insights to Arnold and we thank her for her contributions. We wish her much success as she moves forward in the next chapter of her career,” Havas Creative North America chairman and CEO Paul Marobella wrote. No reason for her exit was given [AdWeek]. Meanwhile, Smith’s predecessor at Arnold Worldwide, Pam Hamlin, is joining startup marketing group York Creative Collective [MediaPost]. Omnicom PR agency Porter Novelli eliminated its global president role, leading to the departure of Jennifer Swint [Holmes Report].
          …in-house: AdWeek’s 2019 “Brand Stars” includes ReShon Anderson, VP of Omnichannel Marketing at Universal Studios Hollywood; Jenny Campbell, CMO, Tinder; and Andrea Cherng, CMO, Panda Restaurant Group, among other kick-ass female marketing pros [AdWeek].
          …in entertainment: Shonda Rimes is making waves again, this time of the auditory variety with a three-year podcast deal with iHeartMedia for Shondaland Audio [The Wrap]. JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot hired TriStar’s Hannah Minghella as head of its motion pictures division [Deadline]. Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke — who took over after Roy Price was forced out for alleged sexual harassment — has turned the tech behemoth’s streaming platform into a monster producer of quality content. “I was really fortunate to be in a time and place where, unfortunately, Amazon was faced with some challenges, so there was such an openness and really embracing support of a female leader,” Salke told Elle in an interview about how she built the studio into a creative powerhouse [Elle]. Read all about ultra-prolific writer, producer and actor Lena Waithe, who currently has 22 projects (!!!) in active development [AdWeek].
          …in news & culture: Group Nine Media’s Thrillist named food writer and editor Helen Hollyman, formerly of Vice’s Munchies vertical, its new editor in chief [Variety]. Shari Redstone is reportedly considering going head-to-head with Fox News with the launch of a new conservative TV outlet [THR].

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU’RE AN “ABRASIVE DICK”: Showrunner Kurt Sutter, who led the “Sons of Anarchy” spinoff “Mayans M.C.,” was fired from FX after “multiple complaints” over his behavior on the drama series [THR].

SPEAKING OF, THIS WEEK IN WEINSTEIN NEWS…NBC News president Noah Oppenheim sent a #longread memo to staff Monday morning asserting that all of the claims made about the network in Ronan Farrow’s book “Catch and Kill,” in which Farrow alleged that NBC killed his Harvey Weinstein investigation to protect Matt Lauer, were false. “We have no secrets and nothing to hide,” wrote Oppenheim, who is widely expected to be the successor to NBC News/MSNBC Chairman Andy Lack [THR]. Meanwhile, Bob Weinstein is already getting back in the game with a new production company, which feels so not right at all given his pretty apparent complicity in the allegations of sexual abuse and harassment leveled against his brother. “Bob Weinstein has no business running anything, let alone launching a new production company while dozens of survivors are still searching for some small measure of justice,” a statement from Time’s Up read [NYT].

BOMBSHELL: At the first screening of “Bombshell,” the movie about the Fox News reporters who brought down Roger Ailes, Charlize Theron talked about her portrayal of Megyn Kelly, a divisive figure in the scandal. “All of the women played very different roles, and did things very differently … Women don’t always do the right thing. And sometimes, we fuck each other over,” she said [THR]. And here’s the first full-length trailer for the movie.

RE MEGYN, WILL SHE BE THE COMEBACK KID? OR…Here’s an analysis of Megyn Kelly’s Wednesday appearance on Fox News — a “comeback bid” — in which the reporter writes that her “fundamental charisma seemed gone” [Variety].

This year’s Booker Prize went to TWO recipients for the first time this year, both women: Margaret Atwood, for “The Testaments” and Bernardine Evaristo, for “Girl, Woman, Other.” Evaristo is the first black woman to win the prize and during her acceptance speech said to that point, “I hope that honor doesn’t last too long” [CNN].

Broadly speaking: Did someone say “chilling effect” on media? A violent spoof video put together by President Trump supporters and shared widely shows Trump shooting and stabbing journalists [WaPo]. Omnicom and Publicis won big in the $2.2 billion Disney review [AdAge]. Meredith is shuttering perennial dental waiting room stalwart Family Circle after nearly 90 years in print. In other Meredith news, the media company is apparently on the hunt for local TV stations [CNBC & AdWeek]. And in still other Meredith news (what is going on over there?!), Meredith is launching a quarterly PRINT magazine (!) based on HGTV’s “Property Brothers” show [WSJ]. Following a change in ownership, layoffs hit NYC’s ubiquitous subway paper amNewYork, which Newsday Media Group sold to Schneps Media this month [NYT].