In 1979, or a bit less than halfway through her highly inflential 25 year career as a New Yorker film critic and book author, Pauline Kael accepted an offer from Warren Beatty to work as a creative consultant at Paramount Pictures, but she left that job and was back in New York after only a few months. Let’s presume that Scott Foundas‘s decision to leave his gig as top Variety critic to serve as acquisitions and development executive at Amazon Studios under Ted Hope will last for a longer period. I admire Foundas’s sand — his willingness to try something new and expand his horizons and make the best of a challenge. If I were Scott I would have insisted on a “vp creative affairs” title rather than “development executive”, which I don’t feel is equal to his stature as a top film critic. I’m sure he’s getting a pay upgrade from Amazon but it’s probably a little too soon to call him Scott “paycheck” Foundas.

Soon-to-be-former Variety critic, future Amazon Studios hotshot Scott Foundas