WSJ reporter to join Variety to cover movie industry

Alexandra Cheney, formerly with The Wall Street Journal, is joining Variety as a senior film reporter to cover all aspects of the movie business.

Cheney will report and write about industry trends and the endeavors of the Hollywood’s major studios, focusing on financing deals, strategic initiatives, executive changes and the economics of their movie slates. She is charged with breaking news online and writing longer stories for Variety’s weekly print magazine.

As part of her multimedia duties, she will also conduct video interviews for Variety.com and appear on television and radio news shows to talk about the film industry.

“Alexandra, who was a professional surfer and is a hard-driving journalist, has the perfect kind of competitive DNA needed to aggressively cover the fast-changing, dynamic movie business,” said Variety editor in chief of film Claudia Eller in a statement. “She will be a great addition to our already strong film team.”

Cheney spent the last three years writing for the Speakeasy Blog and Marketplace Section. Cheney’s work has included breaking media news coverage on DreamWorks Animation, Warner Bros., The Walt Disney Co., Sony Pictures Entertainment, Relativity Media, and Pixar Animation.

At the Journal, Cheney also created the “My First Job” column, which helped drive traffic and make Speakeasy the most read blog on WSJ.com. Earlier in her tenure at WSJ, she wrote stories for the Private Properties Real Estate column and launched event coverage for Speakeasy. She also was nominated with Speakeasy for a Webby Award.

Before joining WSJ in March 2010, Cheney was a crime beat reporter for DNA Info in Manhattan. Cheney has a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

Cheney will be based at Variety’s Los Angeles offices beginning Jan. 6.