February 12, 2003 -- Negotiations between Us Weekly editor-in-chief Bonnie "Long Neck" Fuller and Wenner Media chairman Jann Wenner are going down to the wire.
Fuller is pushing for a new three-year, multimillion-dollar deal.

She started on March 4, 2002, with a one-year deal - which means the current contract expires in just over two weeks.

Despite the last-minute nature of the negotiations, talks between Kent Brownridge, Wenner's numbers guy, and Fuller's Beverly Hills-based entertainment lawyer, Ken Hertz - who also handles Christina Aguilera, actor Will Smith and the bands Boyz II Men and Destiny's Child - have been relatively amicable, sources said.

"There have only been a few shouting matches," said one source.

To all appearances, Fuller appears to be in a strong position. Us Weekly's newsstand sales - the key barometer by which editors are judged - have been zooming.

In the second half of 2002, Us Weekly reported its newsstand circulation was up 55.2 percent to 505,000. Total paid circulation was up 18.8 percent to 1,104,119.

Insiders say the perennially money-losing magazine has actually made somewhere between $1 million and $2 million last year - split between Wenner Media and its joint venture partner, Walt Disney.

Now Bonnie apparently wants to add some of that cash to flow to her own bottom line.

Asked about her contract recently, Fuller said, "That's between me and my employer."

A Wenner spokesman says only, "We're still negotiating."

It is expected that the deal - which will have a base salary and newsstand incentive clause - will easily top the $1 million mark. That would make her the best-paid editor in Wenner's history, and put her on a par with some of the folks she left behind at Conde Nast, where she was editor at Glamour.

"On the surface, it should be a no-brainer," said one insider. "But if any two people can screw it up, it's Bonnie and Jann."