Scott Baradell | The Idea Man from Texas

An avid film buff his entire life, Scott Baradell actually reviewed movies at the first newspaper job he ever had and now, at Movie Smackdown!, returns triumphantly (well, occasionally) to his life's passion.

In real life, Scott is an accomplished corporate brand strategist who has been the senior communications executive for two Fortune 1000 companies. He currently leads the Idea Grove, a Dallas-based strategic communications and public relations agency that helps clients manage their most important communications to customers, employees and investors. Scott also writes the popular Media Orchard blog  and maintains the Dirt 100, an authoritative ranking of the top gossip and entertainment blogs. He's also caretaker of the Spin Thicket community site .

From 2001 to 2004, Scott worked as vice president of corporate communications for Belo Corp., a diversified media company with revenues of more than $1.5 billion. Prior to Belo, Scott served as vice president of corporate communications for PageNet, a wireless communications company with 1999 revenues of $1 billion. Scott also co-founded Brightpod, a venture-funded technology consulting company acquired by InPhonic in 2001. During his career, Scott has gained broad-ranging industry experience encompassing financial services, travel and health care.

In addition to his executive management skills, Scott, a former senior reporter for the Dallas Times Herald, is a distinguished writer. His writing has earned awards from the International Association of Business Communicators, Texas Public Relations Association, and Associated Press Managing Editors of Texas, among other organizations. Scott has an MBA from Southern Methodist University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia. He maintains an APR designation from the Public Relations Society of America. 

Scott does all this, of course, when he's not watching movies which, because of their vast cultural influence, he defines as part of his job anyway.

His greatest secret which, until now, he has been saving for a climactic reveal on a reality show is his undying devotion to the acting career of Tiffani Thiessen. His wife, Cathy Baradell, whom he lives and works with in Dallas claims to understand.