Waxman flacks her conference at Finke's expense

In her column at The Wrap, editor-in-chief Sharon Waxman invites arch-rival on the web Nikki Finke to come speak at the Wrap's first entertainment industry leadership conference. Knowing, unless the fix is already in, that there's no way — especially since Finke goes so few places in Hollywood that Gawker put out a cash reward for a fresh photo of her some months back. Waxman:

People will say that you would never dare come. They say you never leave your house. We both know that’s pure nonsense.

It’s true, we have had our differences.

But I say we set all that aside for the greater good of the entertainment community which we both serve. In an open forum, let’s take on the issues that are confronting the industry and talk about them candidly.

Few people know the industry better than you, and no one I know speaks their mind as directly as you do.

Finke's treatment of The Wrap at Deadline Hollywood has been generally disparaging, and she predicted the site would run out of money. So it would be an upset and a half for Finke to appear, but wouldn't be shocking at all if she fires back at Waxman. Nothing on her site so far — though she does have good detail on Swedish actress Noomi Rapace's visit to L.A. this week and even shows a soft spot for the newly emerging talent: "These are the kinds of Hollywood success stories I love," Finke posts.

Add Rapace: Finke writes, "As an insider told me, 'They're originally meeting her expecting this hard-ass on a Harley wearing leather. But she's nothing like Lisbeth. They're shocked to find this unbelievably beautiful and sexy fresh-faced actress with a wonderful sense of humor. So now that's opening doors for her. They go into the meeting to ask, 'Do I have a villain? And they leave saying, 'Do I have a great female lead?''"

Disclosure: My last contact with Finke, she tried to interest me in spreading some positive press about her. When she didn't like my post, she ranted: "You're so over." Less than an hour later! Sometimes you just have to laugh.