Memo Pad: Blender Mag Folds... More Cutbacks at the Times...

CROSSING OVER: Like politicos who leave office and move on to the lucrative lecture circuit, Ingrid Sischy and Sandy Brant have quit the daily grind of magazine publishing and launched themselves into the buzzy business of wrangling the talent — and making stories happen — at Condé Nast’s European titles. “What we’re doing now is the fun part — without the pains and problems of producing a magazine,” said Sischy during a telephone interview with Brant. “We’d done Interview, and it’s really boring to do the same thing over and over. Life’s too short.”

Earlier this week, the chairman of Condé Nast International, Jonathan Newhouse, handed the duo two more assignments on top of their current roles as international editors at the Spanish and Italian editions of Vanity Fair. They now will hold similar positions at Russian Vogue and German Vogue. They say their mission is to be the catalysts — and fixers — for stories and shoots at the titles.

Over the past six months, they snagged Hugh Jackman for a November Italian Vanity Fair cover, scored an interview with Danny Boyle as “Slumdog Millionaire “was about to hit movie screens, and got Bruce Weber on board for a 28-page shoot — a tribute to the New York theater — with actors including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Kristin Scott Thomas.

They made sure the Italian magazine got to Sean Penn before “Milk” was released, and even suggested that writer Elvis Mitchell be the one to interview the Oscar-winning actor. At the Spanish title, they arranged for Julian Schnabel to photograph and interview Takashi Murakami on the eve of his exhibition at the Guggenheim in Bilbao for the February issue.

Sischy, who continues to be a contributing editor at American Vanity Fair, a role she’s had since 1997, said she and Brant will have a similar approach to the Vogue titles, collaborating with the editors in chief, generating ideas and hooking the titles up with the right talent, especially in New York, Los Angeles and London. “Outside eyes can be really helpful,” said Sischy.

— Samantha Conti