What's going at Interview?

The fall of the year 2008 — Interview awoke refreshed and restated as the crystal
ball of pop when one of GQ's most stylish men Glenn O'Brien and former creative
director of Vogue Paris Fabien Baron became editorial directors just as Karl Templer
had come in as new creative director for the Brant Publications magazine. Several
other changes like a new features editor and new talent director also came in and
the fruits were sweet. Their premier starred Kate Moss as covergirl, included a very
memorable Maison Martin Margiela editorial, featured Stefano Pilati and Woody Allen
interviews and came thick, perfect-bound and chock-full of ad confidence with its Prada,
Burberry, Y-3, Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Jacobs, Versace, Miu Miu and other
double-page-spreads preceding department pages. It was the sexier, more fit and interesting
cousin of the American publication Vogue, and at a bargain of a new subscription price,
it was almost silly if you hadn't caught wind on the magazine's updates and subscribed.

This month: everyone expected a new look, sure not to disappoint, as the Parisian design
duo Mathias Augustyniak and Michael Amzalag compromising M/M Paris took over as creative
directors upon Fabien Baron leaving Interview with Karl Templer in this January. (Some
think control, some think sales figures — I'm hoping new magazine collaboration, though I might
be feeling a W or American Vogue mind-boggle for the fun of it.) The new look includes a 70's-inspired
title type, Zac Efron on the cover and an inside look that struggling with itself: one part of M/M Paris'
progressive, one part still the Interview we know and like — and it's underwhelming. The past two
covers featured actresses Mary-Kate Olsen and Lindsay Lohan, so the young one trend
was no surprise, but really — the future? Don't push things on us now, Interview
— you hadn't like that before. (Recent previous title lines were "It's New, Pussy!,"
"La Lohan," and simple headlines like "James Franco by Gus Van Sant."


The look would undoubtedly settle and further intrigue one would assume, their creative
direction for Vogue Paris and Purple in the past has been brilliant. But while content
continues inspiring design — there might be something to worry about if your focus is a mix
of rebranding and to selling issues as advertising is down across most markets.

What if you don't have any content? Because freelancers are going without pay?

According to a recent WWD article, contributors to Andy Warhol's Interview are claiming
e-mails and phone calls have gone unanswered regarding payments since Glenn O'Brien
and Fabien Baron's takeover, leaving writers in the dark about their pay in bleak times.
Referring to a thread on the discussion boards of mediabistro.com titled "Interview
Magazine = “not paying right now,” WWD reports one user's comment: “As of today [Feb. 11],
I checked my invoice status with them and was told ‘funds are tight’ and that all the
writers will be paid, but ‘not right now," posted herecomestheend.

The following are a list of good points made in the thread but not published in the WWD article:

wordy-guy: "Interview is notoriously slow in paying their work for hire people.
However, having been through the remuneration routine many times with the
magazine myself, I would advise you not to fret too much. True, times are
tough and the bosses are well paid, but Interview's circulation is higher than ever,
and nothing I have seen indicatesthey are close to going out of business. Every
time I work for Interview, it takes longer than I think it should to get paid, and
the payroll department never seems to have any sense of urgency about the issue."

RockinRonD: "DO NOT succumb to Interview's heinous payment policies simply because it's Interview."

Contributor herecomestheend: "I don't want to fracture my relations with the
publication, but I certainly won't work for free. I'll keep checking in. As well as
talking to other freelancers for the magazine to encourage them to bitch about it,
as well."

mel79: "'I'd reply to their "not right now" email with a firm reminder of the
payment terms of your contract and a not-so- subtle hint that you intend
to be a squeaky wheel."

But things since then seem to be changing as writer Nina Green took advice
from the forum, then soon got her pay: "I took [the] advice and wrote a letter to the
Chief Financial Officer Deborah Belucci at Interview, and I picked-up my
check today."

Interview's negotiations and writer transactions have made a theatre in the pop
culture mag-Media circles, and one would hope no one begs for a Zac Efron-encore
but we've definitely subscribed in for the exciting and surprising year for Interview,
that's for sure.

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