Nikki Finke is not just one of the most influential media minds in Hollywood, she leads the most influential media outlet in Hollywood. Since she launched Deadline Hollywood in 2006, the website has earned a reputation for breaking exclusive news at lightning speed. Finke’s own reputation as an outspoken, truth-seeking, constantly innovating media pit bull has earned her extraordinary respect in and out of Hollywood.

And while she has very publicly changed the way showbiz is covered by the trades, she herself remains very private, shying away from most appearances, interviews or coverage. Jonathan Block-Verk caught up with the website founder, editor-in-chief and GM to discuss the journalism revolution she started.

When you launched Deadline, did you ever imagine that you would literally change the way Hollywood is covered? God no. I was writing a weekly print column, and I wanted to be able to break news in a way that did not take five hours to get it online. I wanted more editorial control. So I started Deadline Hollywood Daily, as it was called then, as a 24/7 version of my weekly print column. And for some reason – and I wish I could say I was brilliant, but I was not – it occurred to me to own the URL. That decision gave me something to sell, which I did in 2009 and instantly became rich. From the beginning, I started what I considered to be a news website, not a blog. And I wanted to cover news differently than the trades. More honestly. More immediately. So Deadline Hollywood evolved.

I did not set out to create a brand different from everything else, I did it because I am different from everybody else, and I have my own way of doing things. I always have, I always will. Success is not about imitating your competitors and it is not about beating your competitors. Success is doing it your way – and that is what I did. I have always done it my way and part of what we do at Deadline is that I teach my staff how to do it “the Deadline way.” But also to preserve their own uniqueness as well.

You clearly have a point of view that is part of the Deadline brand, but how important is objectivity? My readers tell us constantly that they want us to express our opinions and give our analysis and make our commentary on Deadline Hollywood. But the hardest thing for me when I started to add staff in Los Angeles and in New York and in Europe was to learn to let them have their own point of views. A day does not go by that I do not have an opinion on a story one of my staff has posted. Now, everybody on staff knows they can disagree with me and I can disagree with them. I do not try to tell my staff how to think. When I started hiring, I said to them, “I do not expect you to work the hours I work, and I do not expect you to have the point of view that I have.” But I also have the ability to weigh in with a separate post and say “You know what? This is bullshit.”

But this is your shop – it is Nikki Finke’s Deadline. No, it is not. I never wanted Deadline Hollywood to be Nikki Finke’s anything. If I’d wanted it to revolve around me then I would have called it Nikki Finke. I did not. I called it Deadline Hollywood from day one. I have never wanted the website to make a cult of my personality. Frankly, I do not know why anybody gives a shit what the hell I am saying on it. I am most comfortable when I’m not the center of attention in the mainstream but instead in the corner causing trouble. I often wish people would just ignore me and my personality and simply read the website.

There is a certain expectation and voice that you bring to it, an innovative style. You redefined journalism in this industry… I did that only because the old trades were so bad. They were doing such a poor job of covering Hollywood and reporting about it honestly. They still do. They are so wrong about so much. Even now they still report box office as if every opening movie is a hit. Ridiculous. And they try to steal Deadline Hollywood’s news scoops. It’s just revolting. But I do not waste time thinking about the other media. None of my staff do. We do our work, we define our brand, and we ignore the competition, except to have the satisfaction of knowing that we always beat them.

The way that people now report entertainment news in this industry is different because of the things that you have done. I remember how surprised I was when I first started the website and all these publicists and studios began holding urgent meetings to discuss, “What are we going to do about Nikki Finke and Deadline Hollywood?” I could not understand it. I didn’t think I was redefining entertainment journalism. No, to me it was just journalism. The same reporting principles should apply to Hollywood as when I was covering New York or Moscow or London or Washington.

How do you define the Deadline brand, and what are some of its key characteristics? I consider us the only true trade. Right now, The Hollywood Reporter is a celebrity sheet, Variety is a hasbeen. No one even reads The Crap (aka The Wrap). And the LA Times and The New York Times ceded Hollywood coverage to us a while ago. We are giving everybody minute-by-minute trade news, and trade intel, and trade everything with a laser-like focus. We are very proud to be a trade. When people started calling Deadline a trade, it surprised me. But then I embraced it.

What does the Deadline brand represent to the industry? Deadline Hollywood stands for accuracy, immediacy and innovation. “We innovate, others imitate,” is one of our slogans. The town really relies on us to get it first and to get it right. They trust Deadline Hollywood, and we give them only the news they need and use – not the celebrity scandals or the party pictures or the other extraneous stuff they truly don’t care about.

You are fairly anonymous; nobody knows who you are… Oh puh-leeze. Nobody needs to know who I am. I am not a household name, I am not somebody that anybody wants to care about. I’m just a very private person. I lead my life the way I want to lead my life. I gave up doing television interviews years ago because I don’t have the time. I mean – hair and makeup? Are you fucking kidding me? As I said before, I do not want people to focus on me. I don’t understand why anyone would. There is nothing interesting about me, I am the world’s most boring person.

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