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The top PR executive at Hollywood's Blumhouse Productions is headed to D.C. to work for Jared Kushner, because what America really needs is the unique skill set of the guy who helped make Ouija: Origin of Evil such a success.
Josh Raffel. (Photo via Facebook)
Josh Raffel, 32, will run communications for the presidential son-in-law/senior advisor's newly formed Office of American Innovation, which is tasked with reforming the federal government through private-sector solutions. Raffel has been with Blumhouse since 2015, according to the Hollywood Reporter, who broke the story Wednesday morning. Variety reports that Raffel is "well respected among entertainment journalists for his sane, sensible style and his wit."Raffel appears to have scrubbed his Twitter and Instagram in anticipation of the big announcement, although the cached version of his Twitter shows that he had 430 followers and mainly retweeted stuff about Blumhouse. According to his personal Facebook page, he attended Westchester Hebrew High School and Brandeis University and appears to like pizza and The Wire.
Blumhouse, the fiefdom of Hollywood producer/ horror king Jason Blum, has a ten-year first look deal at Universal and is primarily known for its film division's "micro-budget genre movies."
Raffel, 32, previously worked with Kushner during his time at the New York strategic communications firm Hiltzik Strategies (the Kushner family businesses were a Hiltzik client, as was Glenn Beck, and Raffel worked on both accounts). According to the Reporter, Raffel also befriended Trump campaign press secretary and former Hiltzik staffer Hope Hicks during his tenure at the powerful PR shop. Hicks remains a part of the administration's communications team.
Mazel tov, Josh! We wish you as much success at the Office of American Innovation as Jared Kushner had at the New Yorker Observer.
