Being from a family of engineers, Jen assumed the most logical path for success was to attain a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Virginia. Soon realizing that business was the best thing for her to engineer, Jen set her sights on the business world. In the years to follow, Jen received her MBA from Harvard Business School, worked for Bertelsmann Ventures overseas in Germany and on Wall Street in investment banking for J.P. Morgan.
Jen heard there was money to be made in this thing called the Internet (who knew?) and moved on to a position at DoubleClick where she gained a wealth of experience in international media, streamlining the business, rebuilding the customer base and growing the profitable divisions. The Dot.com bubble filled and popped. Jen had thrived in tech investment banking during the height of the bubble at J.P. Morgan, and at developing valuable internet real-estate when it deflated. Most recently, Jen was the Director of Online Marketing & Development at Reed Business Information (parent of Variety.com). During this time she helped launch new Websites, managed marketing and traffic development of Reed's (60+) Websites and was responsible for selling online advertising to strategic accounts across the portfolio. Can women be Jedi? Fanboy survey says... YES.
Jen loves to travel and has lived and worked all over the world, including New York, Hamburg, London, Boston, and Washington, DC where she and her husband, Pete, married and lived happily until the nagging call of manifest destiny finally won and brought them to Santa Monica. When she isn't on her laptop...never mind. Jen is always on her laptop with buds in her ears, is an unpublished epicure and a frequent moviegoer. Note: HitFix does not condone the use of laptops or other electronic devices during theater viewing.
An MFA graduate of CalArts, Gregory has over a decade of experience in the entertainment industry. He began his career at 20th Century Fox where he worked on international campaigns for such films as “Titanic,” “Romeo & Juliet” and "The X-Files Movie.” At Paramount Pictures, he survived the birth, death and resurrection of the internet spearheading online campaigns for numerous pictures including "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" and "Mean Girls." In 2004, he escaped the studio side of the biz and transitioned to editorial where he created the popular Hollywood Hitlist column on MSN Movies. Subsequently, Gregory has consulted for Variety and was also responsible for re-launching the LA Times' The Envelope website for the 2007-2008 season. He's also written for The Los Angeles Times and has been a frequent contributor to Variety. Gregory also is a passionate basketball fan and player. He can consistently be found hitting clutch 3’s in meaningless pick up games across Los Angeles.
Dan Fienberg is a well-respected and influential writer for Zap2it for the past six years. He was one of the first American Idol bloggers on the web, he’s covered all seven seasons. Recently elected to the Television Critic’s Association (TCA) board and the only online member. Regular contributor on movies for Filter magazine. Like an odd safari guide, can spot and identify former reality show contestants roaming free in the steppes of Los Angeles.
Drew has been breaking scoops and annoying movie studios for over a decade while at Ain’t It Cool News. A lover of all types of films, from blockbusters to obscure exploitation, he’s been an outspoken advocate for independent and global cinema, offering some of the earliest reviews of films like Old Boy, Hedwig and The Angry Inch, The Ring and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, helping launch them into international awareness. Drew is banned from Skywalker Ranch for life for being the first person on the planet to review the Star Wars: Episode I script in 1998. He also wrote the first online review of the Lord of the Rings screenplays. Recent breaks include first official images and set visits for Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are and Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass. Screenwriter on Showtime’s Master of Horror. Drew has left AICN to be a full-time member of the HitFix team.
Alan Sepinwall has been writing obsessively about television for the last 14 years, as both a columnist at The Star-Ledger newspaper of NJ, and also in recent years with his widely-read blog What's Alan Watching? He's provided in-depth analysis on shows ranging from niche cable darlings like "The Wire" and "Mad Men" to big network hits like "Lost" and "American Idol," and his writing in turn has attracted one of the smartest and most well-behaved group of commenters you'll find anywhere on the Internet.
Melinda Newman is the former West Coast Bureau Chief for Billboard Magazine with more than 15 years of experience in the music industry. She covers music and entertainment for the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, Associated Press, MSN, AOL and other outlets. Recent interviews include Taylor Swift, Pink, Brad Paisley, Foo Fighters, Jonas Bros. and Snow Patrol. The Beat Goes On marks Melinda's debut in the blogosphere.
Kansas native Katie Hasty graduated from Northwestern University in 2004 and served as an online editor and columnist for Billboard Magazine for nearly five years. She has been a contributing editor and freelancer for several other entertainment and trade outlets -- from Stop Smiling and Punk Planet to Photo District News and Kirkus Reviews -- for more than 10 years. Music supervisor, A&R consultant, music contest judge radio correspondent, recording artist, concert promoter and web designer are amongst the many other duties she's served. She lives in Brooklyn, where she also plays with her band Numbers And Letters, and is a sucker for dark beer, Christmas songs, road bikes and Tom Waits.
Anu is an experienced entrepreneur and technologist with a diverse background in mobile and web development. He most recently co-founded and was the CEO at Gigzee, an online live music discovery tool. Anu has also developed enterprise strategy as well as consumer features for Internet Explorer at Microsoft. He is constantly a technological adviser to many startups in the SF Bay Area. Anu received his M.S. from Ohio State University.
When Anu is not hacking away at his computer, he can be typically found at the squash courts in San Francisco, or out sailing in the bay.
Elliott’s early childhood was spent playing with piles of FORTRAN punch-cards that his father kept stacked in cardboard boxes. He wasn't allowed to watch much television. One of the few programs he was allowed to watch was ’Saturday Night Live’ -- the original cast. He learned to manage time at an early age by planning his sleep schedule in order remain awake until 11:30 -- just to see Mr. Bill meet an untimely demise -- “Ohhhh...Nooooo”. As the years went on, computers came and went. Elliott rode the rise an fall of many start-ups. He considers it a badge of honor to have been both acquired by and laid off from IBM. These days, Elliott again is at the nexus of software and entertainment, staring at a screen, screaming "Ohhhh Nooo!", but for entirely different reasons.
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