By Susie Tullett ( Head of DDA’s Film PR team in Cannes for over 10 years)
Introduction
One of the keys to film marketing is the press release. This should provide a very basic guide as to the crucial elements of writing your release and how to push and promote it. For the benefit of feature filmmakers on a budget I will use a case study of the Illusionist (Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, Paul Giamatti, Rufus Sewell) to illustrate how to write a unit press release (rather than a launch release) for a relatively low budget film. We will deal with a film festival launch in my next article.
I should also stress that this blog is about interaction, if you have questions or thoughts or things that are specific that you would like to see, please feel free to include them below. I want it to be as useful as it can be, while covering the key elements you’ll need to succeed and providing some basic rules to follow.
A press release contains basic information about your film, and initially should announce the start date, the cast and the location. It goes without saying the headline should be snappy and smart and there are various ways you can do this.
Rule 1 – The Headline is King
First of all, consider the most important part of the story – for this is ultimately news. If it’s the subject of the film, include that in the headline. If you have managed to cast someone on the up and up, make his/her name prominent; if you are filming in an unusual location, make that the subject. For example:
Derelict Power Station becomes Dodge City in thrilling new Western
Council Give Rare Permission to Film in Haunted London Cemetery
Rookie Helmer Harry Hampton helps himself to weird movie location
Star Magician to act as movie adviser on new thriller from Prism Pictures
….in case you are wondering, these are all made up, but they do tell you something about the film without naming any of the actors. If your cast is unknown then let the location become the star.
If you have managed to secure rights to an unusual project, like an autobiography for example, your headline might read something like this:
Lengthy legal wrangle ends with family signature for Charlie Chaplin biopic
The Life and Times of Charlie Chaplin….to be filmed finally!
Charlie Chaplin’s life laid bare in daring new movie
….I think you get the picture!
If you are lucky enough to have a starring name heading your case, make sure he or she is included in the headline. You hardly need examples but I am on a roll now…..
Brad Pitt to play Jekyll and Hyde
George Clooney uglies up to play The Elephant Man in breathtaking new drama
Angelina Jolie and the Pitt-pack to star in a horror version of The Sound of Music
Rule 2- Keep it simple – stick to the facts!
In all honesty, a press release should be really simple. The facts, the start date, the storyline, the cast and producer/director credits. In my early days, you could pretty much rely on a press release being reproduced verbatim in a paper or magazine, but today with so much competition, and so many media outlets, many press releases end up in the bin! There are just too many to read. This is why yours has to stand out with a colourful headline, a clever alliteration or something that stops you dead in your tracks.
Case Study: The Illusionist
Here’s one I wrote at the start of principal photography of The Illusionist, starring Edward Norton, Jessica Biel and Paul Giamatti. Nothing particularly clever about it, as it had to encompass a lot of information. This was also aimed at mainly film trade press, e.g Screen International, Hollywood Reporter and Variety, as well as to flag it up to international press. However it does serve as a good example of a basic, straight-forward film press release.
PRESS RELEASE
PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY UNDERWAY IN PRAGUE ON
BULL’S EYE’S THE ILLUSIONIST
Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel, Rufus Sewell and Eddie Marsan head cast in Neil Burger’s stylish screen adaptation of
Steven Millhauser’s short story ‘Eisenheim the Illusionist’
Magic has power to experience and fathom things which are inaccessible to human reason. For magic is a great secret wisdom, just as reason is a great public folly.
-Paracelsus (1493- 1541)
Prague, 4th April 2005: Nine weeks of principal photography are underway on location in Prague on THE ILLUSIONIST, director Neil Burger’s (Interview with the Assassin) screen adaptation of Steven Millhauser’s short story ‘Eisenheim the Illusionist’. Eisenheim (Edward Norton) is a magician in early 1900’s Vienna, who falls in love with a woman well above his social standing. When she becomes engaged to a crown prince, the magician uses his powers to win her back and undermine the stability of the royal house of Vienna.
Neil Burger directs, with Cathy Schulman and Bob Yari of Bull’s Eye Entertainment / Yari Film Group and Michael London of Michael London Productions producing, alongside Brian Koppelman & David Levien and Film & Entertainment VIP Medienfonds Geschaeftsfuehrungs GmbH’s Andreas Schmid. Jane Garnett of Michael London Productions , Andreas Grosch of Entertainment VIP Medienfonds Geschaeftsfuehrungs GmbH and Tom Nunan of Bull’s Eye Entertainment executive produce. Matthew Stillman and David Minkowski of Stillking Films co-produce with Tom Karnowski.
Two-time Academy Award nominee Edward Norton heads the stellar cast in the lead role of Eisenheim. Norton rose to prominence starring opposite Richard Gere in Primal Fear, for which he gained his first Academy Award nomination and has gone on to star in numerous Hollywood blockbusters such as The People vs Larry Flynt, Fight Club, Red Dragon and The Italian Job.
Golden Globe nominee Paul Giamatti, stars alongside in the role of Inspector Uhl. Giamatti’s illustrious career includes starring roles in Man on the Moon and Duets, and award winning leading roles in American Splendor and Sideways, for which he received his Golden Globe nomination.
Jessica Biel, fast becoming one of Hollywood’s most sought after actresses following starring roles in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Blade: Trinity and most recently Stealth and Elisabethtown, stars opposite Norton as Sophie, the beautiful woman with whom Eisenheim falls in love.
Rufus Sewell (A Knights Tale, Dark City, and the upcoming Legend of Zorro); Eddie Marsan (Vera Drake, 21 Grams, Gangs of New York); Jake Wood (Vera Drake, Flesh & Blood); Tom Fisher (Van Helsing, The Mummy Returns, Enigma); and introducing fourteen year old actor Aaron Johnson (Shanghai Nights) as young Eisenheim.
Prior to shooting, director Neil Burger immersed himself enthusiastically into the fascinating world of magic and the art of illusion, working closely with renowned magician Ricky Jay in order to perfect the extraordinary tricks performed in the film. British Magic Circle member James Freedman is also acting as Magic Consultant on the movie and has been training Edward Norton, and young Aaron Johnson in perfecting the art of sleight of hand for their roles. The illusions will be performed in the film as they were performed in the early 1900′s with little CGI interference, and no state of the art cinematic trickery.
THE ILLUSIONIST is financed by The Yari Film Group as well as Film & Entertainment VIP Medienfonds Geschaeftsfuehrungs GmbH and produced by Bull’s Eye Entertainment and Michael London Productions, alongside Brian Koppelman & David Levien Productions. Stillking Films co-produces.
International sales on THE ILLUSIONIST are being handled by Syndicate Films International.
This was a particularly complex release, as there were multiple producers. It was too long for my liking, but I had to include all those names, and ‘boilerplate’ details. Keep the release short, sweet and newsworthy.
Rule 3 – Always, Always include contact information at the end of the release.
Journalists may often need more information than you have included, require still photographs or wish to contact the ‘star name’ for an interview. Accommodate them.
E.g. Susie@SusieTullettProductions.com – Unit Publicist, The Illusionist
And a telephone number!
……………………………………..
You’ve written the release, now get it out there!
So, what do you do with the press release now that it’s written? Well, the whole idea is to get your film noticed so it should be sent out to the press and/or anyone you hope will be interested.
Social Networks
Send it to friends and family, use services such as prnewswire, propeller, digg and make sure you share with your friends these links and ask them to ‘prop’ your release this gets it noticed as a rising article that might be of interest to others. Then post a link to it through status updates on Twitter and Facebook (and via your fan page that you will have already set up!) and send them to Propeller or Digg. (If you like the article you are reading now you can Prop it, or Digg it) – the more people who do this the more will be aware of your film, and to show you the power of that please simply ‘Prop’ to say you like the article.
Prop: http://pplr.us/s/Oiky/
Digg: http://digg.com/d314WRf
We’ll deal more about the detail of this in our online PR element section in a later blog post, but social networks are brilliant for PR, especially since you can include video media content and all the things you need in your EPK.
Press Lists
If you don’t have access to up to date press lists, my very simple advice is to spend a day at the library (or better still, delegate this task!) trawling through the daily/Sunday/weekly papers and making a note of the writers of film features or reviews and their addresses. You will soon compile a decent list of national and local press. If your film has a theme - horror, fantasy, sci-fi, politics, religion, murder, romance, fashion etc – then research specialist publications catering specifically to that market. There are of course media directories, publications in the UK like the ‘Editors’ series, PR Planner, and others but they charge a lot for them. PR News online is also a good source of information and PR Week. Don’t forget your local radio and TV stations – they are all Google-able, email them with your release. Be polite. You would like to announce your new feature film!
Rule 4 – Build Relationships
When you write, make sure the email isn’t generic. Research your specific journalist, read what they have written, what they like – and don’t. Include a covering email to the release and mention some of their articles. Be friendly – they are interested if you are interested in them and have a story to tell. You will soon be known as someone who gives good valuable information and doesn’t waste time.
PR is all about relationships. It seems simple, and it is. People need to trust you and integrity is everything. Make sure that through all that you do you keep this integrity, always be conscious of your behavior towards others, it is a two-way street, you do well, and they were able to break the story for you it reflects well on them.
Rule 5 – Have Fun – it reflects in your writing!
I have had great fun making up headlines for press releases, and you can do the same. Every day I read clever one-liners on Facebook and Twitter…I haven’t a clue what they mean, but they do make me wonder. That is what your release has to do, make people interested, interested enough to pick up the phone to you and say ‘tell me more’. Then you can invite them to your set, and the communication ball will be rolling.
Next time: How to Launch and PR your film at a festival!
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