Brenda Rodriguez, Marc Bernardin, Sarah Rodman named editors in L.A. Times Calendar section
Three editors are joining The Times, and some veterans are taking on new roles in a revamped Calendar department.
Brenda Rodriguez has been named arts and entertainment editor, Marc Bernardin is the new film editor, and Sarah Rodman is coming aboard as TV editor.
Several veterans will take on new or expanded roles as well. Richard Verrier is being promoted to Company Town editor, and Rich Nordwind is the new Sunday Calendar editor. Greg Braxton will become deputy TV editor, and arts and entertainment editor Laurie Ochoa will take on an expanded portfolio that includes overseeing Books coverage.
Brenda Rodriguez – Arts & Entertainment Editor
Brenda Rodriguez, who starts this week, will lead breaking news coverage across entertainment and help build our online readership with fresh new content. She has spent the past decade covering entertainment, initially as a showbiz reporter and deputy film editor at People, then as the executive editor of entertainment websites Wonderwall.com and Moviefone.com.
Before moving to L.A. to cover entertainment, Rodriguez spent six years at the Dallas Morning News, working her way up from night police reporter to Texas-Mexico border bureau chief.
During her six years at People, Rodriguez helped direct breaking news coverage in a 24/7 news cycle and served as an online editor.
As editor of Wonderwall.com and later of Moviefone.com, she managed editorial teams that greatly expanded readership with a combination of speed and creative presentation in reporting entertainment news. She also launched and produced several online video series focusing on entertainment and fashion for Wonderwall.com.
Marc Bernardin – Film Editor
Marc Bernardin comes to The Times with deep experience in entertainment and digital journalism. He has held senior editing positions with the Hollywood Reporter and Entertainment Weekly, and more recently he oversaw the online entertainment vertical for Playboy.com.
At EW, Bernardin coordinated the film critics, edited the seasonal Movie Preview issues, and worked on cover stories, profiles and business pieces.
A seasoned writer as well as an editor, Bernardin has freelanced for outlets including GQ, Wired, Details, Vulture and Empire. He also knows the industry from the inside, doing a tour of duty as a staff writer for the Syfy Channel’s “Alphas” series in 2011.
When he’s not working, he enjoys living the 14-year-old boy dream: writing comic books, playing video games, and getting paid to lose himself at the movies. He also sat in Captain Kirk’s chair once, and is inordinately proud of that.
Sarah Rodman – TV Editor
Sarah Rodman is joining The Times after 10 years at the Boston Globe, where she has been a TV and pop music critic.
Rodman, a longtime board member of the TV Critics Assn., is an astute observer of television – and an avid fan. Her tastes are as varied as Your Show of Shows,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Game of Thrones.”
Rodman is eager to join the TV team at The Times and hopes to take advantage of our access for more behind-the-scenes looks at how shows get made, raise our profile in the growing TV conversation, and find fun and substantive ways to expand our coverage of unscripted TV and sports (she’s a Patriots fan).
Greg Braxton – Deputy TV Editor
Greg Braxton came to The Times in 1982, working in the suburban and San Fernando Valley editions before joining Calendar in 1992, covering television for most of that time. He was a member of the reporting teams that won Pulitzers for coverage of the 1992 L.A. riots and the aftermath of the 1994 Northridge quake. Braxton will continue to report TV stories, but his knowledge and experience will allow him to provide critical backup and editing support to Rodman.
Richard Verrier – Company Town Editor
Richard Verrier has been leading the Company Town team on an interim basis since late last year, drawing on his own extensive reporting experience. Verrier is known for telling the big stories that become entertainment industry must-reads. He has written authoritatively about deaths and accidents on film and TV sets, on film location tax-credit shenanigans, and on how some of those much-touted deals between Hollywood and Chinese companies have turned to dust.
Verrier has also covered the “below-the-line” workers who may not make the red carpet, but keep the entertainment industry running, as well as runaway production.
Verrier, who joined the Times in 2001, previously worked at the Orlando Sentinel and the St. Petersburg Times. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.
Richard Nordwind – Sunday Calendar Editor
Richard Nordwind, a Calendar stalwart for 18 years, has been film editor since 2013. Most recently, he oversaw the expansion of our Friday Calendar movies section, adding new features, expanded reviews and other content to make the package more engaging.
With Bernardin coming on board as film editor, Nordwind will turn his sights on the Sunday Calendar and Arts & Books sections. Before his recent stint as film editor, Rich was Daily Calendar editor for six years, working with reporters, critics and editors in all our coverage areas to produce a lively daily report.
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