Including how PR pros can make life easier for independent journos.
Amanda Coffee is CEO of Coffee Communications and ex-Under Armour, PayPal and eBay.
What happens when a longtime legacy-media critic steps outside the institution — and builds something entirely his own? Richard Lawson spent more than a decade shaping cultural conversation as Vanity Fair’s chief critic. Now, as the voice behind the independent newsletter Premiere Party, he’s navigating a media landscape that’s increasingly personal, fragmented and relationship-driven.
In this Q&A, Lawson shares how he decides what’s worth covering, why he made the leap to independent journalism, what makes a PR pitch cut through the noise, and how communications professionals can meaningfully support journalists operating outside traditional outlets — without defaulting to old playbooks.
What makes a film or series worth your attention in the first place?
It’s some combination of general buzz and personal interest. Obviously if a given week has one or two big theatrical releases, or big TV series premiering, that’s what I’m going to cover because they are presumably what the largest amount of potential readers will be interested in. And yet, I have also had good luck highlighting something that perhaps isn’t on everyone’s radar but some facet of which — a great performance, a pertinent topic, a wild scene — proves grabby enough to get people to read. It’s all well and good — and important — to pay attention to, and to cover, the stuff that comes pre-packaged as an event movie, or an event series. You can’t plan for a “Heated Rivalry,” though. Sometimes something will come out of nowhere and quickly build into a phenomenon. And sometimes you can be part of that groundswell if you trust your own taste, your own instincts. So it’s a balance, and not one that I always get right!
Why did you make the switch to independent journalism, after so many years with legacy media companies?
I loved my time at Conde Nast and at The Atlantic, but I was ready for something different, for an opportunity that could give me a bit more autonomy. It also just feels like that’s where the wind is blowing these days, stronger and stronger with each round of layoffs or fire-sales rocking the traditional industry. There are certainly difficulties to going independent, inventing infrastructure and building a brand from the ground up. But I’m mostly really enjoying it so far, being my own editor and really allowing myself to shake off some of the old thinking, to reject a lot of the long-honored rules, so I can discover what new styles, formats, and coverage directions that freedom might allow for.
Tell us about a recent PR pitch that earned an instant yes. What worked, exactly?
Recently I’ve been preparing for a trip to the Sundance Film Festival, to do some coverage for a magazine, but also to find things to write about for my newsletter. I just got a pitch from a publicist I’ve known and worked with for a long time about two teeny, tiny movies that were not in my field of vision at all. But he described them with such passion, and tailored his pitch to what he knows of my specific taste, that I rearranged some things on my schedule so I’d have time to see them. That personal approach — both from the rep and to the journalist — goes a long way when you’re receiving so many boilerplate email-blast pitches on any given day.
Which types of stories perform best on Premiere Party? Any clear patterns you’ve noticed?
Perhaps not surprisingly, the most feedback I’ve gotten so far has been to the pieces that are a bit more personal. I wrote a New Year’s Eve letter looking back at my year, particularly my huge career shift, that seemed to resonate with a lot of readers. Ditto an essay I wrote on Christmas about “Heated Rivalry” and my complicated relationship with queer content and queer identity. Which tells me that I should not feel restricted in blending cultural analysis with personal reflection, something I was not really able to do much of when I worked for bigger companies, where I was mostly meant to be speaking for the brand. I obviously won’t be able to find that personal angle for everything I cover, but when I can, I’ll make that a part of whatever I write.
Looking ahead to 2026, what shifts will matter most in entertainment? Platform consolidation, streaming power plays, AI and IP, or something else?
It feels like there are so many existential threats to the industry right now that it’s hard to focus on any one of them. Then again, maybe they’re all just parts of a single big threat. I don’t know enough about the business side of things, somewhat deliberately, to really assess what will happen when Warner Bros. is sold, or when Disney starts rolling out its user-generated AI content. But I would imagine we’ll see some people (like me) clinging to our values while other people go to the other side. What I would like to be a very small part of is the broader effort within the media and the entertainment community to remind people, or show people for the first time, how much value there is in traditional storytelling techniques and technology. One of the reasons I do a weekly recommendations column is to urge people away from the easy temptations of a doom scroll or whatever else they’re doing online and to spend some of their time instead engaging with a worthy story, a worthy piece of human-made art. There’s nothing else like it, and there never will be.
Independent journalism keeps growing. What advice would you give journalists building their own platforms today?
I’ll get back to you about that once I’ve had a bit more experience! But so far the water’s fine, so dive in.
How can PR professionals show real support for independent journalists?
I’ve been fortunate enough to have many years to build relationships with PR professionals, and I’ve been very grateful that pretty much all of those people have not let me fall off email lists or invite lists despite the fact that I am no longer affiliated with a major brand. And they’ve been very happy with the coverage I’ve given their clients so far. So, I would maybe suggest that publicists follow that example, to think outside the legacy media box and look at the independent creators — even if the journalist is not someone they’re familiar with. There is an increasing legitimacy to this format, one that may not always reach the widest swath of readers, but does reach a really dedicated, passionate, engaged consumer who is probably far more likely to act on whatever they just read about — to watch the show, go see the movie, etc. — than a more passive reader who has not strictly chosen to opt in might be.
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