Dear Lawrence will take over Variety’s top management role as publisher, replacing Michelle Sobrino Stearns, and will also serve as co-president (sharing this role with Variety co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setudeh). Lawrence is already in the trenches. Here, she outlines her plans to develop Variety as the magazine of Hollywood record for the next 120 years.
What publications got you into media as a child?
Mr. Magazine. That was a big influence on me. I grew up devouring every fashion magazine I could while lying in the sun with my girlfriend Kathy. I grew up very active. I was the morning announcer, the director of the drama club, and the editor of the school newspaper that no one read. It was a white page stapled together and I had to pay for it. Still, my instinct was that I should give it away for free and sell advertising. I found a printing press in Glastonbury, Connecticut. I knocked on the doors of dry cleaners and collected the advertising fees myself.
Then you went to Broadway.
I appeared in two off-Broadway shows, including Charles Bush’s “The Vampire Lesbians of Sodom.” I toured and did a lot of equity plays.
Legend has it that you read for the role of Samantha Jones in the pilot for “Sex and the City.”
So did I, and so did half the city. Spoiler alert: I didn’t understand the role. He shot a pilot for Fox with Shelley Long, but it wasn’t picked up. I worked in printing, contracted with an agency called Parts, and modeled legs, mouths, and hands. I played Loni Anderson’s legs in the L’eggs pantyhose commercial. But I’ve always been a hustler. It’s been a while since I got my makeup done at a department store. The ladies behind these counters are still the best deal sellers I have ever met. I learned how to suck people in. What if a customer says the face cream is too expensive? I asked them how much they paid for the shoes and reminded them that they only have one face in a lifetime.
What led you to variety shows?
I’ve had two missions here. I took an ad on Variety.com that no one was paying attention to and started selling it as an opportunity. Eventually I was named Vice President of Sales and Marketing. That’s when I heard Susan Lyne’s famous quote about how you can get ahead by doing the job no one else wants to do. When I started, Variety.com had zero revenue. When I left, the company was in eight figures in revenue. I went to work in Silicon Valley for a while and learned something valuable from that time. That means “finish the work quickly and move on quickly.” And hire hungry people.
What skills from your acting days do you use in your current job?
I compare everything to theater. If a play is poorly cast, it won’t work. Either you are the right person for the role or you are not. I also learned how to be fearless. I don’t care about rejection. Also, you must always rehearse.
What are your hopes for the future of the publishing business?
This town has always been a roller coaster. Especially in times like now, we have to stand firm. This is where leaders are born. People always want to be entertained. Content methods and mediums will evolve as they always have. Variety has absolute power. We focus on international because 25% of our readers are international. We are bringing our Power of Women and Entertainment & Technology franchises to London. AI is as important to us as digital creators. We explore the rise of microdrama. We just announced that we’re going to have a summit in South Korea about that. We have a very strong FYC business, but we also want a very strong consumer business. Variety is more relevant and diverse than ever before. And we celebrated our 120th anniversary.
