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Attn: is all over Facebook — the startup averages a whopping 3.8 million views per video

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attn: foundersDuring the election, when social media seemed filled to the brim with fake news and partisan screeds meant to confuse, a startup called Attn: was quietly continuing its mission to make complex social issues easy to understand.

Attn:’s most effective tool: short viral videos, particularly animated ones spread on Facebook.

Even if you’ve never heard Attn:’s name, you’ve probably seen one of its videos, which average a whopping 3.8 million views in the first 30 days — more than any other Facebook publisher, according to Tubular Labs. Attn: says it has never paid for that reach, and that all its growth on social media is natural.

That is an impressive feat for a startup that is not yet a household name, and perhaps it's why Attn: has already attracted big partners and investors, especially in entertainment — from Bill Maher and HBO, to Apple Music and Jimmy Iovine, to Ryan Seacrest. Attn: has raised $24 million total, including a $20 million Series B round in 2016.

Digestible issues

Matthew Segal and Jarrett Moreno, who had previously run the voter empowerment organization Ourtime.org, founded Attn: in 2014, with the goal of breaking down issues in a way that’s easy to digest.

"2,000 words can be a little tedious, and can feel like a homework assignment,” Segal told Business Insider. Sometimes it can be intentionally confusing, he continued. Attn: started to brainstorm ways to make the type of issues, from the electoral college, to the war on drugs, to gerrymandering, clearer to you in a few minutes on your smartphone.

One of the first big breakthroughs was animation, which Attn: has worked with from day one. "Animation has been incredibly successful,” Segal said, especially in allowing a two-minute video not to feel totally dumbed down. It makes the complicated issues more accessible, he says.

Attn: works in other forms, like video interviews or text articles as well. It depends on the issue. For instance, Attn:'s live-action videos about different aspects of parenthood have gone viral over and over. The 75-person company produces about 4-5 videos per day.

The topics

In deciding which topics to cover, Attn:'s number one consideration is whether its editorial team feels there is something about the issues that needs to be changed, Segal said. That sentiment is key to understanding what makes Attn: click.

“We are not a news company,” both Segal and Moreno said at different points. “Of course we are opportunistic about news,” Segal said. But Attn: is more about getting people involved with the political process, or the community around them.

That doesn’t mean, however, that Attn: is pushing a partisan agenda, Segal said. The editorial team tries to pick issues where “the writing is one the wall,” and where they see a sense of “moral obligation.” That does skew toward the values of younger people, however.

Take the “War on Drugs,” which Segal said Attn: has made hundreds of videos about. “It’s abundantly clear that marijuana is safer than alcohol,” Segal said. He characterized things like marijuana legalization as bipartisan issues that transcend party affiliation. But a recent Attn: video talks about how Donald Trump's attorney general pick is against marijuana generally, and ends with this frame:

Screen Shot 2016 11 30 at 9.04.32 AM

While Attn: isn't hawking a Democrat agenda, there is a certain element of progressivism in its politics. But there are areas where Attn:'s editorial team feels that there's no clear answer to a problem, and in that case, Attn: doesn’t offer one. “Sometimes there is no call to action,” Segal said. He presented an explainer on the Iran nuclear deal as an example of this. Attn: just wanted to explain what was going on.

A partnership sweet spot

The basic aim of Attn: is to be empowering without being hyper-partisan. It’s comprehensible and palatable. That combo has made it very attractive to partners and investors.

“It’s such a clean product,” Main Street Advisors CEO Paul Wachter, who is an investor in Attn:, said. “It’s easy to understand, since it’s so obvious what they are doing … That’s always good for partnerships, not, ‘We kind of do this.’” Wachter should know. In his career he's helped negotiated high-profile partnerships and acquisitions, like LeBron James' lifetime Nike deal, and the sale of Beats to Apple.

Attn: already has partnerships with heavyweights Spotify, HBO, Apple Music, Tribune Media, and others, and has made videos for the likes of Netflix and Showtime. And there are lots more deals and partnerships to be had, according to Wachter.

“Partnerships with brands is the place where there is low-hanging fruit [from a revenue perspective],” cofounder Jarrett Moreno said. This is particularly useful since media companies are having a tough time effectively wringing money from Facebook video, where Attn: does a large piece of its traffic.

These partnerships come in all shapes and sizes. Attn: made an original series for Spotify about musical history, whereas with Netflix it was branded content. Attn: has also done partnerships with celebrities like Catfish’s Nev Schulman, who collaborated with Attn: on a video about maternity and paternity leave that has garnered over 92 million views. Moreno described these celebrity collaborations as akin to an op-ed.

Screen Shot 2016 11 30 at 9.33.15 AM

Some of these partnerships are also intertwined with investments. Bill Maher’s investment, for instance, helped Attn: land a partnership with HBO. The entertainment bigwigs that have backed Attn: aren’t simply names on a page, Moreno said. They are pretty much all “strategic investments.”

Eventually, Wachter sees Attn: fitting into a larger company, with a portfolio of media brands, that is looking to engage younger people. He said he could name 20 off the top of his head. “It could plug and play so easily ... But it’s too early for that,” he said.

Los Angeles style

Right now, Attn: is focused on continuing to deepen its reach on platforms from Snapchat to Facebook to old-fashioned TV.

Moreno says he sees longer-tail value licensing Attn:’s content to different places. Both Moreno and Segal use the word “evergreen” to describe a big chunk of Attn:’s videos. They describe ongoing issues, and will still have value six months from now.

And Moreno says the company is exploring longer opportunities like TV or digital shows, TV specials, and so on. In pursuing that, Moreno said the company’s base in Los Angeles is perfect.

“Not only is LA the epicenter of all things video, in politics it leads the nation in how it tells stories, and shapes people’s perception,” Moreno said.

Hollywood’s political reach seems an apt touchpoint in understanding Attn:’s appeal. Hollywood often gets accused of having a left-leaning political agenda, but the narratives it crafts are consumable by those on both ends of the spectrum. There is a certain universality that boosts its massive reach. Attn:’s videos are more overtly political than many Hollywood films, but watching them, one gets that same sense of broad appeal.

That's probably why, even as a young company, Attn: has developed a superstar roster of Hollywood backers and partners — and continues to produce videos that spread across Facebook.

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The director who was hired to reshoot the new 'Star Wars' will earn millions

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Rogue One Death Star Disney final

It looks like writer-director Tony Gilroy will make out pretty well for his work on the first "Star Wars" standalone movie, "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story."

To be exact, he'll get upward of $5 million. 

The director of "Michael Clayton" and "The Bourne Legacy" (he was also the screenwriter on several "Bourne" movies) came onto "Rogue One" during the film's much publicized reshoots over the summer and earned $200,000 a week to help polish dialogue and oversee the reshoots for the film directed by Gareth Edwards (2014's "Godzilla"), according to The Hollywood Reporter.

That figure is pretty standard for a writer of Gilroy's credentials on a major studio film. But sources tell the trade that as the workload increased, which included Gilroy taking a larger role in tweaking the film's ending, his fee went up to north of $5 million.

Tony Gilory Jamie McCarthy GettyGilroy began in June and by August took the lead in the rehoots, which went into the fall, according to THR. It has not been reported yet what the actual reshoot cost of the movie was.

Though Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy and Disney CEO Bob Iger have been downplaying for months not just the reshoots but the expectations of "Rogue One," at least relative to the historic box office of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," it seems that they still put in a lot of coin after principal photography on "Rogue One" to make sure they release a title that is on brand.

A representative for Gilroy had no comment. 

SEE ALSO: "Star Wars" spin-off "Rogue One" definitely isn't getting a sequel, and that could be a hint

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Matthew McConaughey surprised Texas college students by driving them home in a golf cart

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dazed and confused matthew mcconaughey

You never know where Matthew McConaughey will show up these days.

Over the summer, the Oscar winner was in Rio cheering on Team USA, and now he’s been spotted on the campus of the University of Texas making sure students get home safe at night.

On Tuesday night, the University of Texas Student Government Facebook page posted a photo of McConaughey taking part in the school’s SURE Walk program by driving students home.

The SURE program offers a volunteer companion to accompany students from campus back home (SURE stands for “Students United for Rape Elimination”).

McConaughey took time out from getting started on the promotion for his upcoming movie “Gold” (coming out in limited release Christmas Day and wide January 27) to hitch a few kids to his golf cart.

We bet the kids were saying, "Alright, alright, alright."

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Jennifer Aniston blasts 'B.S.' tabloids that 'mobbed' her: 'We have to stop buying them'

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jennifer aniston tabloids ellen degeneres show

Jennifer Aniston blasted gossip tabloids and called for women to boycott them on Wednesday's episode of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."

In July, Aniston wrote a damning opinion piece for the Huffington Post about tabloid coverage. She told DeGeneres that she was in a very fragile state when she wrote it.

"I did it at first just for myself," the "Friends" star told DeGeneres. "You know how we kind of write, but don't necessarily send it. I kinda hit a wall. I was pretty raw at the time."

She said that her mother had just died and she was returning from a peaceful getaway when she felt accosted by media at the airport and discovered she was the subject of another false tabloid story.

"We were mobbed, like a scary kind of mobbed," she said of the paparazzi. "I didn't know what was happening, I kept thinking, 'Is Kim Kardashian behind me or something?' Very strange. And then it turns out another wonderful photograph — which I have sort of had to live with for the last 10, 15 years — a picture of me with a bump and a circle around my stomach with an arrow pointing to it in this sort of disgustingly objectifying sort of way and I was just fed up with it."

She then added, "We as women do a lot of incredible things in this world other than just procreate. We just get boxed in."

The actress also called for women to boycott gossip tabloids.

"Women, I have to say, many are the authors of these horrible articles that are written in these B.S. tabloids, so we have to stop listening to them and we have to stop buying them," she said, "because we have to support each other especially in this time, to love each other, to support and be proud of women, whatever your choice is in life. It's up to us what makes us happy and fulfilled."

Watch Aniston blast gossip tabloids below:

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Scientology created a website to bash Leah Remini and her new TV show of 'liars'

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leah remini ae series scientology

The Church of Scientology created a website to slam Leah Remini and her new A&E television show, "Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath."

The site is titled, "Leah Remini – Aftermath: After Money." It accuses the former "King of Queens" star of attacking the organization in the media, in a book, and on TV shows for profit. The church also claims that the ex-Scientologists featured on the A&E series (Remini among them) are lying about their experiences with Scientology.

It states:

"Leah Remini has repeatedly disparaged and exploited her former faith for profit and attention through a series of failed publicity stunts, culminating in her reality TV show featuring a cast of admitted liars who to make a buck have been telling differing versions of the same false tales of abuse for years."

In response to Remini's demand that Scientology pay her $1.5 million for allegedly trying to ruin her reputation and endangering her contract with A&E, the church called the request "extortion."

"She recently attempted to extort the Church by first demanding $500,000, followed by an additional $1 million, because the Church invoked its First Amendment right to respond to her false claims with the truth. This shows the extent Leah Remini is willing to go to in order to distort the truth about Scientology."

A&E didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

SEE ALSO: Ex-Scientologist Leah Remini reveals the most shocking alleged secrets of the church

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Showtime's provocative sex drama 'Masters of Sex' has been canceled

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masters of sex

"Masters of Sex" won't be back for a fifth season. Showtime has decided not to renew the show after four seasons.

Sources with knowledge of the decision told Variety that the producers had told the story they wanted to tell. That means its November 13 episode was the show's series finale.

"Masters of Sex" starred Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan as pioneers of the science of human sexuality, William Masters and Virginia Johnson, whose research is credited with setting off the sexual revolution.

The drama and its leads had been nominated for numerous Primetime Emmys, which led to one win for guest actress Allison Janney.

On the ratings end, the racy drama started 0ut strong for Showtime with an average 1.1 million live viewers. But over the following seasons, interest diminished. Its fourth season averaged just 453,000 viewers.

SEE ALSO: 14 TV shows you're watching that are probably going to be canceled

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Leah Remini's new Scientology expose TV show has giant ratings

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leah remini scientology ae show premiere ratings

This may not be good news for the Church of Scientology, but its outspoken former member Leah Remini has reason to celebrate. The premiere of her new A&E show bagged big ratings.

Tuesday's series debut of "Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath" was viewed by 2.1 million viewers, according to A&E. Of that, 1.1 million viewers were in the cable network's target audience, viewers between the ages of 25 and 54.

That makes the series A&E's best new series launch since the premiere of "Big Smo" more than two years ago on June 11, 2014.

With the series, Remini set out to document the stories of alleged abuse from former Scientologists, including her own experiences from 30 years of belonging to the organization.

Scientology allegedly tried to get the show pulled from airing, which led to Remini demanding the church pay her $1.5 million in damages. The church called her request "extortion" and maintains that the stories of its alleged abuses in the series are false.

The eight-episode series airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on A&E.

SEE ALSO: Scientology created a website to bash Leah Remini and her new TV show of 'liars'

DON'T MISS: Ex-Scientologist Leah Remini reveals the most shocking alleged secrets of the church

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NOW WATCH: 7 famous people reveal why they are Scientologists

Trevor Noah grills conservative host Tomi Lahren in fiery interview

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the daily show

Conservative firebrand Tomi Lahren appeared for an interview on Trevor Noah's "The Daily Show," and it immediately turned confrontational as Noah asked Lahren to explain her positions.

"Why are you so angry?" Noah asked Lahren to start after showing a clip of the conservative host for TheBlaze railing against protesters of President-elect Donald Trump in the days after Trump won the election.

After saying she wasn't actually angry, Lahren said, "Sometimes people just need to be called on their s---."

The nearly 30-minute interview covered a lot of political and cultural ground including Lahren's conflicted response to Trump's lewd "Access Hollywood" tape, Colin Kaepernick, Black Lives Matter, and the "shake-up" Lahren has said Trump will bring to Washington, DC.

It grew particularly awkward when Noah asked Lahren what she would like people to know about her that they didn't understand.

"I wish that we could disagree with each other without thinking we are bad people or ill-intentioned folks," she said. "Because I criticized a black person or the Black Lives Matter movement doesn't mean I’m antiblack. It doesn't mean I don't like black people or that I'm racist."

"To me true diversity is diversity of thought, not diversity of color — I don't see color," she added, the last line eliciting gasps from the audience. "I go after Hillary Clinton, and she's as white as they come."

After Lahren said, "I don't see color," Noah asked, "What do you do at a traffic light?"

Lahren also defended comparing the Black Lives Matter movement to the KKK.

"You're starting to loot, burn, and riot — what did the KKK do?" Lahren said.

"Did you say, 'What did the KKK do?'" Noah said before pushing back against Lahren's logic.

"There is a distinction between a movement and the people," he said. "That is something that we keep coming back to."

Watch the whole interview between Noah and Lahren below:

SEE ALSO: The 30 best movie endings of all time, ranked

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BuzzFeed comes under fire for bizarre story on HGTV couple's same-sex marriage beliefs

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Buzzfeed employees work at the company's headquarters in New York January 9, 2014.   REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

BuzzFeed was fiercely criticized online on Wednesday and into Thursday after the website published an article about the stars of the HGTV show "Fixer Upper."

The story centered on the views Chip and Joanna Gaines have on same-sex couples. Reporter Kate Aurthur, who was unable to obtain comment from the couple, wrote only that their church stood "firmly against same-sex marriage."

"Their pastor considers homosexuality to be a 'sin' caused by abuse — whether the Fixer Upper couple agrees is unclear," a headline with the article said.

The guilt-by-association way the article characterized the Gaineses and the fact the article took issue with a viewpoint widely held among religious communities prompted an intense backlash.

"Maybe don't do this, BuzzFeed," conservative New York Times columnist Ross Douthat wrote.

National Review contributor Jim Geraghty wrote that BuzzFeed had allowed a "social-media-mob-stirring, guilt-by-association, drive-out-the-heretics philosophy" to govern its editorial decision making.

Others went even further.

Erick Erickson, the editor of the conservative website The Resurgent, described the article as "blatant bigotry against Bible believing Christians."

Former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas joined in on the savaging against who he called the "bigots from BuzzFeed" in a Thursday-morning email to supporters:

“As several critics have noted, both on TV and in real life, Chip and Joanna Gaines appear to be model parents, loving spouses, funny, intelligent, likable, generous, highly skilled and extremely successful. And maybe that's the real problem that BuzzFeed's writers have. Their popularity shatters the false image that liberal media outlets like BuzzFeed peddle of red state residents being a bunch of dumb, hateful, bigoted 'deplorables.'"

The story also had critics raising other questions about BuzzFeed.

"BuzzFeed's editor-in-chief Ben Smith famously declared that the company's official editorial policy on same-sex marriage was that 'there are not two sides to the issue.' Does BuzzFeed apply that same standard when it comes to hiring and employment?" Sean Davis, the cofounder of The Federalist, said in an email to Business Insider.

A representative for BuzzFeed did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday morning, but Smith defended the story on Twitter.

"This is a story about a big company, HGTV, refusing to say whether they ban LGBT people from a TV show," Smith wrote. "They should just answer the question."

Join the conversation about this story »

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Felicity Jones debuts a thrilling 'Rogue One' fight scene and shows off her moves for Jimmy Fallon

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felicity jones jimmy fallon rogue one star wars

Felicity Jones showed off some fierce moves she learned while shooting "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" on Wednesday's episode of "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon."

Jones, who plays Jyn Erso in the upcoming standalone "Star Wars" film, gave Fallon a hands-on preview of her fight training for the movie.

"I did a lot of kung fu," Jones told the host. "It was many hours of devotion and practice and doing it over and over and over again. And now, I'm wanting to make Jyn a badass."

She then demonstrated some of her new skills with Fallon as her sparring partner. 

"Already I'm nervous," Fallon said ahead of the demonstration while he held a toy gun and Jyn brandished a nightstick.

He and his viewers then got another look at Jones fight choreography when the show surprised viewers with a new scene from "Rogue One" featuring Jones in action.

"Rogue One" is set for a December 16 release in US theaters.

Watch Jones' fight demo and the "Rogue One" scene below:

SEE ALSO: Watch the new trailer 'Trust' for 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'

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Kanye West has been released from the hospital after more than a week stay

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kanye west

Kanye West was discharged from the UCLA Medical Center Wednesday night, where he had been under observation since November 21 and treated for exhaustion, CNN reports

West, 39, was admitted to the hospital shortly after canceling the remaining shows on his Saint Pablo tour.

The cancellation followed a series of bizarre concert appearances.

At his November 17 show in San Jose, California, West announced his support for President-elect Donald Trump and called out Beyoncé and Jay Z in a 17-minute rant. Two days later, he abruptly walked off the stage at a show in Sacramento.

Sources close to the situation told People that West was not committed against his will and instead freely checked into the hospital under the advice of his physician.

West's wife, Kim Kardashian West, had been at the rapper's bedside each of his nine days in the hospital, according to CNN's sources.

West is now "home, getting some rest," according to People. 

SEE ALSO: Kanye West hospitalized after canceling tour

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Tom Cruise is bringing 'The Mummy' back to life, and the movie has an intense new trailer

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The Mummy Universal final

"The Mummy" franchise, which was a cash cow for Universal in the late 1990s and early 2000s and made Brendan Fraser an unlikely action star, is getting a reboot with Tom Cruise at the helm.

Following the spin-off "Scorpion King" movies — which failed to launch Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, though he would find his footing later, and then went straight to DVD — Cruise is serving as executive producer and starring in this reboot.

The story is set in modern times as an ancient princess awakes from her tomb and only Cruise can stop her from destroying the world.

The frightening CGI effects and some sweeping photography will definitely entice fans of a certain kind of action-adventure/horror movie.

Here's the first teaser for the movie, which opens June 9, 2017:

SEE ALSO: 29 movies you have to see this holiday season

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Here are all the major clues in 'Westworld' that hint to the identity of the 'Man in Black'

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One of the biggest mysteries on HBO's "Westworld" is the Man in Black. The character, played by Ed Harris, has been going to the park for over 30 years and is on a hunt to find the center of the maze by any means necessary. While he is a violent man, it would appear that there is much more going on with him than you might think. Here are some of the major clues that the show has dropped throughout season 1 that point to his true identity. WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

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There's a new way to get HBO for just $5 per month

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Game of thrones

One of the big revelations of AT&T's new DirecTV Now streaming service, which came out Wednesday, was that you'd be able to get HBO as an add-on for just $5 per month.

That is huge considering that buying HBO a la carte, through HBO Now, costs you $14.99. And with the addition of an HBO add-on to Amazon Prime on Thursday, for $14.99 per month, it seems this price is still the going standard. (Some had thought there might be a slight discount on Prime, as there is with Showtime, but that didn't turn out to be the case).

So if you want HBO for $5 per month, your best bet it DirecTV Now. You'll still have to subscribe to the base DirecTV package, which costs $35 dollars per month for 100-plus channels (at a promotional price that you can lock in). But if you are looking to ditch your big cable package, this could be a good option.

DirecTV Now streams live television from networks you typically find on cable and satellite over the internet to your smartphone, tablet, computer, or set-top box like an Apple TV.

directv now

It has a lot of limitations right now — check them all out over here — but it can be the cornerstone of a great entertainment bundle. We constructed an expansive cord-cutter dream package for about $63 per month.

If you are an HBO fan, and want to trim your cable bill, it's probably worth at least checking out DirecTV Now's 7-day free trial.

SEE ALSO: AT&T's new $35 streaming TV package is the key to ditching your $100-plus cable bill and still watching whatever you want

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NOW WATCH: Wisconsin has started recounting over 2 million votes from the presidential election

People are buzzing about a new media company called 'Axios' — here's everything we know about it

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jim VandeheiPolitico cofounder Jim VandeHei has finally unveiled the details of his new media venture, Axios, which will launch fully in January and cover the "collision between tech and areas such as bureaucracy, health care, energy, and the transportation infrastructure."

But the big question about Axios isn't whether the topic area is relevant — it is! — but whether VandeHei will be able to carve out a business model at a time when layoffs are rocking both new and old media.

Axios' mission statement, according to Vanity Fair, certainly suggests it is going to be different: "Media is broken—and too often a scam." Particularly, VandeHei thinks he can thread the needle between the legacy behemoths getting slammed by declines in print advertising, and the nimble upstarts who are seeing some forms of internet advertising race to zero.

In doing this, it seems like VandeHei will employ some of the tricks that worked well at Politico, while adding a few new wrinkles.

Here are a few big points Axios is going to hit:

  • Axios is going to write short. What VandeHei doesn't want is for Axios staffers to write for other journalists, which he sees as producing pieces that are simply too long and boring for regular readers. He characterized this as the biggest problem in the media right now. “People don’t want the pieces we’re writing,” he told Recode. “They’re too damn long.”
  • Axios is going to live on a bunch of different platforms. VandeHei is on the "distributed" media train, meaning that he wants Axios, in some capacity, to live wherever you are — Snapchat, Facebook, and so on. VandeHei is especially bullish on Snapchat's Discover section.
  • VandeHei wants to sell $10,000-plus premium Axios subscriptions. At Recode's Code Media conference, VandeHei said he couldn't see being "super intrigued with a subscription less than $10,000.” He sees subscriptions coming two to three years into the venture, however.
  • Axios has to be freemium. While VandeHei thinks subscriptions will be a necessary part of the business, some work has to be free to build up, and continue to promote, the brand name. His goal is to have 50% of revenue come from subscriptions, and 50% from advertising.
  • People have to want to read Axios. Axios means "worthy" in Greek, and VandeHei has already snagged some well-respected journalists people listen to, like Fortune's Dan Primack and Politco's Mike Allen. But everyone has to be on board with the "smart brevity" mandate.

SEE ALSO: Here's how startup Attn: averages a whopping 3.8 million views per video on Facebook

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These are the top 20 party cities in the US and Canada

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Party people

If you live in California, congratulations: Your state is home to five of the nation's hardest-partying cities.

Evite, the event-planning and invitation website, compiled a list of the top party cities in the US and Canada based on the number of events, parties, and gatherings over the past 12 months in cities across North America.

The holiday season is the most popular time of year for parties, and if you feel as if your schedule is especially packed over the next month, you're not alone: Most holiday parties occur the week after Thanksgiving and the last two Saturdays before Christmas.

Here are the cities that party the most.

SEE ALSO: The 15 hottest New York City startups you need to watch

20. West Hollywood, California

Number of events this year: 23,032



19. Phoenix

Events this year: 24,488



18. Raleigh, North Carolina

Events this year: 26,647



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Stephen Colbert mocks Mitt Romney's dinner with Trump: 'It looks like he's eating crow'

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donald trump mitt romney dinner stephen colbert cbs

Stephen Colbert, like pretty much everyone else in America, recognizes that Mitt Romney's history of bashing Donald Trump during the election makes him a target of ridicule now that he's being considered for the secretary of state job.

The former Republican presidential candidate and ex-governor of Massachusetts has been meeting with Trump to discuss the potential appointment. Most recently, they had a highly publicized dinner at the upscale French restaurant Jean-Georges in New York City this week.

"Mitt Romney at dinner with Trump?" Colbert asked incredulously. "No. I know Mitt is up for secretary of state, but I also know what Mitt said during the campaign."

The show then played a clip of Romney telling a crowd that Trump is a "phony, a fraud," and that Trump's promises "are as worthless as a degree from Trump University," among other insults.

Colbert then referred to the photo from the dinner of a smiling Trump and a grimacing Romney, which quickly became the butt of jokes on social media.

 "I know he ordered frog, but it looks like he's eating crow," Colbert joked.

Watch Colbert's take on the dinner below:

SEE ALSO: Trevor Noah slams 'sore winner' Trump for 'bulls---' voter fraud claims

DON'T MISS: 'Star Wars' star Mark Hamill says Trump's cabinet is a 'who's who of really despicable people'

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NOW WATCH: Romney now says Trump may be the man to 'lead us to that better future' after previously calling him a 'phony, a fraud'

AT&T's new $35 streaming TV package is the best deal yet for cord-cutters

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Getting rid of cable is an enticing prospect. Who doesn't want to drop a monthly $100-plus bill? And all those commercials! Good grief.

What's the alternative? You could pay for internet, and then pay for services like Hulu, Netflix, HBO, and Amazon. Those services quickly add up in price, and monthly internet costs are high. 

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There's another option: streaming television over the internet — legally — through services like Sling TV and PlayStation Vue. These services offer channel lineups that are similar to those you already have through cable packages, but they cost much less and run on devices you already own. 

AT&T just announced its own service of this kind: It's called DirecTV Now, and it's the best deal by far. Here's how it stacks up against the competition.

SEE ALSO: AT&T's new $35 streaming TV package is the key to ditching your $100-plus cable bill and still watching whatever you want

1. DirecTV Now

It's an introductory price, but if you sign up for DirecTV Now in the near future, you'll lock in a $35/month price for over 100 channels. That price lasts until you cancel your subscription.

That is, by far, the best deal being offered in online TV streaming. It includes channels like Comedy Central and CNN, as well as biggies like Disney and ESPN, and more niche channels like MTV Classic and Oxygen.  

Even if you miss that introductory price, the normal $35/month package includes over 60 channels — a big jump over the competition.

BONUS: With DirecTV Now, you can add HBO for just $5/month. That's a $10 savings on the usual $15/month HBO Now pricing.



2. Sling TV

Sling offers the second-best option for cord-cutters who want to keep a semblance of a TV plan. It's less expensive, but offers fewer channels than the competition. Most notably, the $20 base level plan from Sling includes channels like ESPN, CNN, and Cartoon Network. That's great!

But it's also entirely missing all local channels — stuff like ABC, NBC and more, which are offered by the competition. 



3. PlayStation Vue

PlayStation Vue is the strongest competition for DirecTV Now's lineup, but it's no competitor in price. The least expensive PlayStation Vue package costs $40/month — it's on sale currently, and usually costs $50/month — and offers a similar lineup to the $35/month package from DirecTV Now. Except it costs $5 more and has fewer channels. 

Make no mistake: PlayStation Vue is a great service. It's got an unlimited cloud DVR function that enables easy save and replay of TV shows across devices (that's a function unique to PS Vue, though it's coming to the competition in the next few months). Vue is slick and fast. But it's easily bested on price by DirecTV Now.

All of which is to say: If you snag the introductory price of $35/month from DirecTV Now for the package that includes over 100 channels, the price is dramatically better than anything else being offered. 



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Amy Schumer donated $50,000 to AIDS charity (RED) to ride a jet ski with DJ Khaled

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Amy Schumer DJ Khaled Omaze Red jet ski main

Comedian and actress Amy Schumer donated $50,000 to AIDS charity (RED) for a once-in-a-lifetime experience with DJ Khaled.

A representative for (RED) on behalf of Omaze, the website dedicated to unique experiences for charitable causes, told Business Insider exclusively that Schumer was inspired to donate the generous sum after watching DJ Khaled offer up a jet ski ride on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" to support (RED) and AIDS awareness. (See the video below.)

Fans of the music producer and social media star probably remember that DJ Khaled famously posted a video on Snapchat when he got lost riding his jet ski at night.

dj khaled amy schuman jet ski ride red omazeSchumer and DJ Khaled are currently working with each other's calendars to schedule the ride. Hopefully this time it's light outside.

It should be noted that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is matching donations 10-to-1 on Thursday up to $6 million in honor of World AIDS Day. That means Schumer’s donation will grow to $500,000.

Other celebrity experiences available at Omaze.com/RED include an opportunity to attend a U2 rehearsal and the chance to be Channing Tatum's personal guest for the premiere of "Magic Mike Live" in Las Vegas.

All the funds raised will go directly to (RED)'s AIDS work on the ground, as they don't use any of it for overhead costs.

SEE ALSO: Amy Schumer defends her Beyoncé 'Formation' video that caused outrage: 'It was NEVER a parody'

DON'T MISS: Amy Schumer cements 'It Girl' status with first Emmy for 'Inside Amy Schumer'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Tony Robbins reviews DJ Khaled's keys to success

Jessica Chastain talks ambition and male costars who are paid 'seven times' her salary

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Jessica Chastain 02

In just six years, Jessica Chastain has gone from unknown theater actor with occasional TV gigs to a two-time Oscar nominee. She's also an inspiration to young actresses in Hollywood for taking genre-busting roles like the driven CIA analyst hunting Osama bin Laden in “Zero Dark Thirty” and the no-nonsense wife of a heating oil company owner in “A Most Violent Year.”

Now she's taking on the boys' club that is DC politics in “Miss Sloane” (currently playing in select theaters, opening in wide release on December 9). Playing lobbyist Elizabeth Sloane, Chastain delivers a riveting performance as a ruthless influencer in the political world. But when the gun lobby attempts to acquire her talents, she shocks everyone by moving to the other side of the issue, and she brings all her tricks with her.

Business Insider recently talked to Chastain about her transformation into a lobbyist (which could get her another Oscar nomination), how she deals with Hollywood's gender pay gap in her own career, and what her plans are now that Donald Trump has been elected president.

Jason Guerrasio: So you read former lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s book for research. How did you plug that into the Elizabeth Sloane character?

Jessica Chastain: Well, I wanted to learn the underside of lobbying so I read his book and I also thought how does someone get into lobbying? Because someone doesn’t think immediately, "I want to be a lobbyist.” So reading his book, I saw how he started working for the Reagan campaign, and it was very helpful in created a backstory as Elizabeth works on free enterprise and she's conservative, for sure. I wanted to understand issues that would be important to her. But I also wanted to learn about being a woman in DC — it's definitely a boys' club.

Guerrasio: Was it hard to find female lobbyists in DC?

Chastain: I just started Googling "successful female lobbyists" and did as much research as I could. I put a list of people together. I met around 11 women on a weekend and I shadowed someone during a fundraiser. I shadowed someone who lobbied on Capitol Hill. It was very, very helpful. 

Guerrasio: Did you get into what they did after-hours, too?

Chastain: I didn't get into it that much. We talked about their personal lives and what it's like in DC and what they have to contend with, but I never went to their houses or anything like that. 

Guerrasio: And something that's striking talking to you now is how different your voice is in the movie. How conscious were you in how Elisabeth would talk?

Chastain: She's a very different character to me. I'm very much a hippie from Northern California. I’m very slow in my rhythm and my energy and she's a woman who is the opposite of that. That was a big challenge for me to play and bring that kind of energy that she has. She's doing five things at once, so though I'm not thinking about my voice, I'm sure when you think about the energy and that she has to talk to her team in her office and thinking about emails she's sending out, she's got many layers she's going through. Because of that I think she doesn't have time that I have, so I think you're hearing that. 

Guerrasio: And being among a boys' club she has to have an assertive voice.

Chastain: Yeah. It's almost like she's not living life to its potential. The clothes she wears — I talked to [“Miss Sloane” director] John Madden about this — I wanted it to be like she's in a suit of armor. She's going to battle. There's no sensuality to her, she doesn't enjoy fashion, she pays someone to buy her clothes and style it. Her sex life, there's no foreplay, it's something that is just "get it done as quick as possible and let's move on to the next thing." I think that went into how I held my body, my voice, everything. 

Guerrasio: The gun debate is very much the MacGuffin of this movie. The audience is really more interested in your character and what she'll do next. How she’ll get out on top. Is that reaction a surprise for you?

Chastain: What I loved about this when I first read it was it reminded me of an Aaron Sorkin project. I grew up watching “The West Wing” and I loved that show and I have been so interested in the gun debate. There was so much information about it in this film, and not just how a bill gets passed, but all the fundraising involved. At the end of the day, though, it's not a documentary, it's entertainment, so it has to have an entertaining character and the aspect of the film is a thriller, so that was all very interesting to me. But making this going into the election, I realized this is also about gender politics. I knew I needed to meet female lobbyists, because, yes, it is a boys' club. I needed to understand their gender politics. But I didn't understand how important it was when I met with these women. In this current system it really came to the forefront of this film. 

zero dark thirtyGuerrasio: How did the responsibility of creating Elizabeth Sloane differ from doing Maya in “Zero Dark Thirty”?

Chastain: I take great responsibility in any character that I play. Maya is based on a real woman and there's a lot of speculation on who she is so there was a responsibility in that, but also you have to stay topical and that was a character where the main focus in our film was revenge. She was seeking out someone. So that was a character study on what happens to a person when they live their life like that. And she's a character that doesn't play politics, she doesn't know how to be nice in a room or manipulate, she says what she feels. Elizabeth Sloane, there's a slyness like she's almost a shark. She knows how to manipulate, she knows how to work a room, she's great at politics. So no matter what the characters you play, you have to find the differences in them, especially when you are doing a political movie. Both are political movies that are ambitious with very powerful females at the center.

Guerrasio: I don't know if you heard the comments Amy Adams gave recently about the gender pay gap and how producers should be asked the question more than actresses. Do you feel the media should stop asking actresses about the gender pay gap in Hollywood?

Chastain: I don't know exactly what her quote was because I didn't read it but I'm sure she's being asked a lot because she was the subject of a lot of the pay gap conversation for “American Hustle.” I love the article that Jennifer Lawrence wrote about the pay gap — I thought it was so important. I love that people are talking about it. It makes sense that journalists are asking actresses and actors about it because, seriously, producers aren't the ones doing press.

Miss Sloane 1 EuropaCorpI saw a video where Amy Pascal was asked about the wage gap and she said basically women get paid less because they don't ask for more. And I heard that and at first I got so offended and then I went, wait a minute, that's probably true. I started reading a lot about it and you realize women don't ask for more but they don't ask for promotions, and knowing that I've completely changed. No matter what, I'm going to ask for more. I'm going to ask what is correct, what I deserve, especially in relation to male actors. And it's also making me ask why don't we ask for more? Maybe it's a situation like after the first presidential debates, Hilary Clinton's criticism was that she was over-prepared. I have never heard anyone say that about a man — he’s over-prepared for a debate or the job. And we have to look at society and go, why is society telling women to not show up over-prepared? Not to be treated equal. Not to ask for more. Not to be ambitious. What's wrong with trying hard and showing up and being good at your job? We really need to look at ourselves and say we need to reevaluate this. We need to reevaluate that women who ask for a pay raise or ask for a promotion — it’s actually an okay thing. It's okay to be ambitious, it's okay to be over-prepared. I guess going back to “Miss Sloane,” she's the example of a woman who does all of those things. 

Guerrasio: So in negotiations for roles, you are being more aggressive? Asking more questions?

Chastain: For me, I’m not in an industry where I'm starving. I'm so lucky to have this job, I'm compensated for my work in an incredible way. But what I do ask is when I join a production I want to make sure that the male actor isn't making four times my salary, which has been true, or seven times my salary. And if that's true you go, you know what, I don't need this job. It's not really asking for more — it's asking for something that is respectable and equal to the male actor and you have to go, why are women being valued less?

And I think you have to take the whole idea of wage equality out of the film industry. Yes it's here, and yes it's so visible because actors are talking about it, but take it to other industries. Look at Hispanic women — they are being paid 42 cents on the dollar — or African-American women. I think it's an issue we have to look at across the board.

Guerrasio: How has the election this year changed you?

Chastain: I feel very inspired right now because I know there are a lot of people out there who are really scared but I feel this great sense of togetherness and people coming together and saying, "I got your back." Look, if anyone is scared, I got your back. I'm going to the Women’s March on Washington, which I'm really excited about. And it's not anti-anything — it's pro. It's showing how strong we are together — women, minorities, and those who feel ignored. I’m really excited to be there to show my support. 

SEE ALSO: How a struggling actor became one of the hottest Oscar contenders of 2016

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 7 details you may have missed on episode 9 of 'Westworld'

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