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.
