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Discussed in this issue: Nikki Finke, Chris McCarthy, Brad Pitt, Steven Spielberg, Parker Finn, David Nevins, John Lesher, Harvey Weinstein, Adam Aron, James Corden, and a Paramount power-text chain.

But first…

Not exactly in line with the image Finke cultivated during her seven years at Deadline.com as a journalistic crusader, the only person with balls big enough to stand up to the Hollywood moguls and speak truth—or her version of it—to the powerful. She had actually sent me many messages like that when I was editor of The Hollywood Reporter, cynical tirades about how...