Chaos at Brant Publications
Earlier this week, Glenn O'Brien, the editorial director in charge of Brant Publications' magazines—Interview, Art in America, and others—left the company. Now O'Brien says the entire company is "going insane."
O'Brien was replaced by Fabien Baron—who left the same position in January after a year on the job, amid rumors that he would launch his own magazine. Now O'Brien's telling everyone that Brant Publications is falling apart, plagued by cash flow issues and totally "rudderless on the publishing side." He even spoke to Page Six:
"They're not paying anybody — even people under contract," O'Brien told Page Six yesterday. "They owe everybody — retouchers, printers, photographers, writers . . . It's been horrible for months. You don't want to assign stories if the writers won't get paid."
Brant Publications is owned by mogul Peter Brant and run by his son Ryan. Now that O'Brien's out (for good, with the bridges he's burning), time will tell if the family can set things straight. But nobody sounds very hopeful.
[Cityfile, Fashion Week Daily, P6]