Peter Caranicas Honored with HPA Legacy Award

By Debra Kaufman

Last night, at the 14th annual HPA Awards, veteran journalist Peter Caranicas was honored with the first-ever HPA Legacy Award. Caranicas has covered film, TV, advertising, technology and media as publisher, editor and writer for more than 40 years, currently serving as Deputy Editor at Variety where he focuses on cinematography, production and costume design, sound, editing and visual effects.

Caranicas began his career in 1976 with Video Publisher, a weekly newsletter published by Knowledge Industry Publications, based in White Plains, New York. I loved the pioneering feeling of covering the birth of a revolution, including the advent of cable, satellite and home video, he recalls. I became hooked on all the excitement and its impact on entertainment. Next, he became part of the team that launched Videography, and served as its editor from 1975 to 1980. For four years, starting in 1982, Caranicas became editor of Millimeter, a Penton Publishing magazine which he says, at the time, was the monthly bible of professional film and television production and post-production.

From 1986 to 1989, he was editorial director at View, a group of four trade publications covering TV programming, production and distribution, both domestic and international, followed by two years as editor of the monthly BME, which covered broadcast management and engineering. He later edited Shoot, and became editor/publisher and, later, development director, of Film & Video magazine. Before he joined Variety in 2008, he was editor of Below the Line and editor-in-chief of TVB, a NewBay Media publication.

With a M.Sc. in international relations from the London School of Economics and a B.A. in history from Yale University, Caranicas also gives credit to his mentors in journalism: New York Times TV correspondent Les Brown, who forecast the role of the media in toppling the Iron Curtain; genius broadcast journalist David Hawthorne, tech guru Mark Schubin who wrote a prescient column for me in the 1970s, and my present boss at Variety Steve Gaydos who every day teaches the value of maintaining the highest of standards in a world that is constantly pressuring people to lower them, he says.

With such an ambitious, involved career, many in the industry were surprised when, in 1997, Caranicas and his wife dropped out of their professional lives and spent a year traveling around the world with their two children, then aged 9 and 11. We could see that yet another revolution was taking over - the Internet - which threatened to homogenize all cultures, he says. We wanted our family to experience the world's diversity at that moment in time.

Now, as a bona fide veteran of the much-evolved changes in the media and entertainment industry, Caranicas notes, I've seen fire and I've seen rain. But I still feel we're only at the beginning of an interconnected world that will be beyond anything we can imagine today, he says. This extends not only to entertainment, communications and social media, but also to areas like transportation, space travel, health, electoral politics and ethics. My first grandchild will be born in 2020. He or she will begin a journey we can only dream about today.

For young people beginning their careers in journalism, he notes that, writing and publishing are easier than ever. Good writing remains rare and precious, he says. Do not be tempted to cut and paste from Wikipedia and IMDB. Do not publish before editing. Check the facts. Get a good editor and follow the example and hard work of your most principled heroes.

Linda Rosner and Keith Gayhart-Artisans PR

Peter was one of the first editors I met in New York. He was planning a trip around the world with his family for a year! Leaving his career, schooling his children abroad and giving his family a life changing experience. I was in awe. Upon his return, he picked up his career where he left off; why not, he's good at what he does. When he moved to Los Angeles Peter was again looking at options on how to further his career. It didn't surprise me that he ended up at one of the most respected entertainment publications in the industry with Variety. When I asked him about moving from various publications when he was working in New York, he talked about gaining experience at each publication and knowing when it was time for him to move on and grow in his career. He was admirably confident, but not conceited. He dealt with my partner Keith Gayhart and I in a warm professional manner. If a story or a pitch worked, he'd run with it, if not, he'd let us know why, and always treated us with respect. We are honored to know and work with Peter Caranicas.

Karen Raz, Raz PR

I have known Peter since my earliest days in this business, and the name Peter Caranicas evokes the same reaction no matter who the conversation is with. I love Peter, he's the best. That was true 20+ years ago, and it's still true today. It's a remarkable achievement to maintain a consistent, long-standing career in Hollywood, and in journalism. It's an equally remarkable achievement to maintain that career while being universally regarded as a kind, respected and much loved human being.

Steven Gaydos, Senior Vice President, Content, Executive Editor, VARIETY

Since I've been at Variety longer than some of you reading this have been on earth, I feel qualified to speak about the multitude of funny, creative, hard-working, eccentric, smart folks who've passed through these doors during this time and where Peter Caranicas fits into that aforementioned generally motley multitude.

The short explanation: There's never been anyone like him.

In the old days, which only ended a few weeks before I arrived, Variety journalists called themselves Muggs. They clanked out their stories on manual t

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