Finke taps Hammond for Oscar coverage

UPDATE (9:37am): Here is the officail release at Deadlin.

EARLIER: Notorious Hollywood blogger Nikki Finke has scooped up longtime Oscarologist Pete Hammond for awards reporting duties at Deadline.com for the upcoming Oscar season.

Hammond — who as of late has been writing a seasonal column for the LA Times — knows his stuff, has plenty of resources at his disposal and offers a unique insider’s point of view, fitting right into Finke’s industry-focused wheelhouse.  I imagine the work will be very similar to the man-about-town stuff we’ve been reading at The Envelope for the last few years.

Meanwhile, I’m told a deal has been struck whereby all of Hammond’s material that runs at Deadline will also run at Movieline.com, so make that two outlets getting into the Oscar game in a big way this year.  The reason, if one couldn’t guess, is simple: dollars and cents.

Awards season advertising is what keeps major trades like Variety and The Hollywood Reporter in business.  When The Wrap and The Daily Beast opened up shop, one of their first points of business was tapping awards commentators.  HitFix co-founder (and former Hammond colleague at The Envelope) Gregory Ellwood was also savvy enough to include an awards coverage element when that site launched in 2008.

indieWIRE has stepped up its game in this department with coverage from Peter Knegt and Anne Thompson leading the way, while David Poland, who’s been in the game as long anyone, revamped Movie City News this week at an opportune time to capitalize on the upcoming season.  Now, Finke and Movieline join the fray.

(Interesting to note: Finke featured a flattering profile of Hammond’s wife Madelyn two weeks ago.  Madelyn is a saint who deserved every good word written about her, mind you, but it’s worth mentioning, given the timing.)

Hammond juggles a lot of gigs throughout the year.  Most recently he joined the team at HollywoodNews.com.  He’s a perennial punching bag for liking lots of movies, but as I’ve gotten to know him the last five years, I’ve come to understand him as nothing if not a hard worker with an industry knowledge base most of his critics would be so lucky to have.  So good luck to him in the new venture.