The Wrap celebrates five years

Sharon Waxman, the former New York Times entertainment business reporter who started The Wrap five years ago, writes about the site’s founding.

Waxman writes, “In the early days, I was a broken record: Speed. Accuracy. Voice. And most of all: Be Essential, written on a slip of paper above my desk, lest I forget.  We decreed: No Variety ‘ankling,’ ‘helming,’ ‘boffo,’ or ‘bonzo’ at TheWrap. After one too many refugees from the trade papers came through our newsroom afraid to write a negative headline I hung the First Amendment on the wall.

“At the time, it seemed clear that there was a need for a publication that would serve the information needs of entertainment professionals in the digital age. To provide breaking business news and informed analysis in real time, and serve it up on every platform where they sought to be informed – desktop computer, tablet, mobile and email.

“And that is what we’ve done as we’ve grown from five people working in my guest house/kids’ playroom, with early staffers stepping over boys’ gym shorts strewn on the bathroom floor, to a bustling newsroom and business operation of 30-plus people bursting out of our loft space in West L.A.

“(Note to aspiring digital media anythings: we’re still hiring.)”

Read more here.