When I first heard that Richard Lawson had been laid off after more than a decade of writing outstanding criticism for Vanity Fair, I was shocked. I love Richard’s writing, his humor, and his insights on all things culture. I was a longtime listener of the Little Gold Men podcast he co-hosted, and when I read of his departure, I thought, “I wonder where he’ll land."

My next thought was, “Hey, dumb-dumb, you’re starting a media company. Why shouldn’t he land at Collective?” I got his phone number from a mutual friend, and we were having drinks a week later. A week after that we made him an offer to be Collective Media’s first staff journalist.

What does that mean? Well, it’s the Goldilocks of the various deal structures we offer to journalists. We provide salary, benefits, and all the support for Richard to thrive on YouTube, social channels, podcasting networks, and as of this week, beehiiv. It’s all the infrastructure of the newsrooms he’s used to, but with the creative freedom you can never have when working in service of a brand.

Now Richard Lawson is his own brand.

“There’s no Daddy Condé or Jean-George Atlantic peering over my shoulder anymore,” Richard wrote in his inaugural newsletter, “so I can perhaps be a little looser with things, a little more free-form. At least, that’s the goal.”

On December 1, Richard and Collective Media launched his newsletter, Premiere Party, bringing his unparalleled voice and analysis to audiences without restrictions. Three times each week, he’ll deliver film and TV reviews and recommendations, awards season analysis, and—getting back to his roots—TV recaps (IYKYK). Before Vanity Fair, Richard wrote for Gawker, and he really views this new venture as a mashup of both of those sensibilities and styles.

And the party kicked off with a bang. In his first two weeks of publishing, we’ve seen incredible numbers across the board: subscriber numbers, open- and click-through-rates, paid conversions, all of them are at the super-elite level, according to our contacts at beehiiv. It proves the Collective Media thesis: audiences want to engage with journalists, like Richard, in the most direct way possible, and the only way to do that is let Richard be Richard. No more corporate politics an bureaucracy, just great work unfiltered.

We’re proud to have Richard as our first staff journalist. And there are going to be many (many!) more to come.