Will Monday Night's Deadline/Soho House Bash Include a Big Announcement?*

A cryptic Deadline advisory posted Saturday morning by Nikki Finke has some Hollywood trade watchers speculating that the PMC-Variety deal is done. The 11:34 a.m. PDT September 29 message reads: The Deadline Team won’t provide 24/7 news coverage for at least the next week. One of the reasons is DH business affecting the entire staff in LA, NY and Europe. As a result, we’ll probably miss some breaking stories and delay monitoring some comments, emails and phone calls. Please cut us some slack for the duration. Which begs the question - will Jay Penske be making a "big" announcement at Soho House in West Hollywood tomorrow night? That's when the "PMC" in Penske Media Corp. will briefly overlap with "private members' club," as Deadline hosts a "Kick Off the Awards Season" party there from 6 to 9 p.m. A who's who of studio execs, film publicists and awards season PR consultants will hobnob with not just Penske but many other PMC/Deadline folks: film editor Mike Fleming, tv editor Nellie Andreeva, awards columnist Pete Hammond, marketing consultant Madelyn Hammond, executive editor David Lieberman, reporter Dominic Patten, PMC senior vp Nic Paul, PMC senior sales director Cathy Goepfert, Awards/Line managing editor Anthony D'Alessandro and Awards/Line editor Christy Grosz.* FishbowlLA thinks the odds of a Monday night could-I-have-your-attention-please interruption by Penske are definitely higher than those of Finke attending incognito. But in all likelihood, if the Variety deal is done, unofficial word will be shared with the VIP crowd ahead of the official big announcement day. Should either of these prospective scenarios occur, the locale will be rather ironic; at the beginning of the year, a majority stake in the Soho House chain was sold to early Variety bidder Ron Burkle. *Update - 09/30/12: In addition to the Deadline staff members listed on the official party invite, we've now learned that also in attendance tomorrow night will be Deadline's Paris-based international editor Nancy Tartaglione and the website's rotating corps of day and nighttime editors (Patrick Hipes, Kinsey Lowe, Denise Petski). That's not all. Although Finke may not be at the Soho House reception, we've been told she will be getting together with her staff several times this coming week. When that happens (with Penske there as well for at least one of the sessions), it will mark the first time the entire current DH crew has been assembled together under one roof. All part of what we're told is a week's worth of meetings and occasional sideline outings to mark the site's very successful third anniversary. So there you have it folks. When the proper occasion arises, Finke has no problem leaving the home office. [Image courtesy sohohousewh.com] Previously on FishbowlLA: HOLDJA HORSES! Penske Reportedly Back in Lead for Variety

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Will Monday Night's Deadline/Soho House Bash Include a Big Announcement?*

Richard Horgan

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Richard Horgan