Great Movies
NEWS
For Immediate Release
RogerEbert.com Announces Editor-in-Chief and Advisory Board
Pulitzer-nominated film critic Matt Zoller Seitz to curate content for site;
Advisory Board named
CHICAGO, June 4, 2013 – Ebert Digital LLC, owner of the redesigned popular film review and movie news site, RogerEbert.com, has selected Matt Zoller Seitz, a Pulitzer-nominated film and television critic, as the new editor-in-chief.
The site's three-member Advisory Board has also been named and will include serial entrepreneur Brad Keywell, co-founder of several technology companies, including Groupon, as well as award-winning Chicago editor, author and journalist Frank Sennett and internationally known Fortune 100 corporate consultant/coach Janelle Brittain.
RogerEbert.com brings together serious film criticism, commentary and a global community of film aficionados alongside the most comprehensive collection of Roger Ebert’s Pulitzer Prize—winning content online.
Seitz, who lives in Brooklyn with his two children, brings his vast experience as a writer, editor, filmmaker and director to the position. He is a TV critic for New York magazine and Vulture.com, and founder and original editor of The House Next Door, a movie blog that is now part of Slant magazine. His reviews have appeared in newspapers across the country, including the New York Times. He also is the publisher of Press Play, a film and TV blog that Roger Ebert once called “the best video essay source on the Web.” In 1994, Seitz was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in film criticism. Roger Ebert was the first film critic to win that prize in 1975.
Seitz’s five-part 2009 video essay Wes Anderson: The Substance of Style was spun off into The Wes Anderson Collection, set to be published October 1 by Abrams Books. Seitz directed the 2005 romantic comedy Home and a forthcoming science fiction epic shot entirely in his apartment.
“It was critically important to me that the editor-in-chief for RogerEbert.com have deep, high-touch experience in the world of filmmaking as well as film criticism. Matt is the total package,” said Chaz Ebert, owner of Ebert Digital, and Publisher of RogerEbert.com. “Roger and I envisioned the site as a bridge between critics and fans. Matt brings his own loyal followers and fans to help build on Roger’s enduring legacy.”
RogerEbert.com’s Advisory Board members are as dynamic as their backgrounds are diverse:
Brad Keywell is a co-founder of Lightbank, Groupon, Echo Global Logistics, Mediaocean and several other technology companies. He is on the Board of Trustees of Equity Residential, an S&P 500 company. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Chairman of the Illinois Innovation Council. Keywell founded and is Chairman of Chicago Ideas Week, a global ideas and innovation platform. He is the Chairman of the Future Founders Foundation, which runs programs to inspire students in entrepreneurship. He is a Trustee of the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan. He is on the board of the NorthShore University HealthSystem and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Keywell received his law degree cum laude from the University of Michigan School of Law and his Bachelor of Business Administration with honors from the University of Michigan.
Frank Sennett is an award-winning Chicago journalist and author behind the launch of several digital publications. He recently stepped down as president and editor-in-chief of Time Out Chicago after shepherding the company’s sale to its minority partner. A graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, Sennett also has served as an editor at MTV.com and has published eight books over the past decade. His most recent book is Groupon's Biggest Deal Ever (St. Martin's Press), named one of the Top Ten Business Books of 2012 by Booklist.
Janelle Brittain is the founder of the Dynamic Performance Institute and an internationally known consultant, executive coach, corporate and board trainer, speaker and facilitator. She has helped Fortune 100 companies as well as growing entrepreneurial companies and non-profit organizations in developing leadership and effective boards, navigating corporate turnarounds, team building, managing change and integrating cultures. She also facilitates matching women executives with corporate boards through Boardroom Bound.
“I am thrilled about the team that will lead RogerEbert.com,” said Chaz Ebert, who made the announcements following her return from the 66th annual Cannes Film Festival, “one of my husband’s favorite film venues.”
Ebert Digital was founded by Chaz and Roger Ebert, who was the film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times for 46 years, and Josh Golden, the digital business strategist who redesigned the site. The Eberts were working on the relaunch of the site before Roger Ebert died April 4. The mission of the site is to offer comprehensive, serious film critiques, along with easily navigable guidance to those just looking for a good movie.
Media contact: Robin Beaman | rbeaman@beamaninc.com | 312-208-1212 or Shawn Taylor | tshawntaylor@yahoo.com | 312-371-6260.
