Publicity 101
Last night, the Writers Guild Foundation held a panel discussion about publicity. I was one of the panelists, but I ended up learning a fair amount myself.
For example, according to a Variety editor, it’s perfectly okay for a screenwriter to pick up the phone and call a writer at the trades when you’ve sold a project.1. It has to be legit, of course. Optioning a script to your roommate, who is an aspiring producer-slash-drummer, doesn’t count. It’s strange: in this blog, I’m constantly telling aspiring screenwriters to stop asking for permission and just do what they want to do. But I honestly wouldn’t be ballsy enough to call an unknown writer at the trades to do this.
Chris Day, who runs publicity for my agency (UTA) brought with him a memo I’d written in the Big Fish era. At his suggestion, I was meeting with publicists, and had listed my goals and messages.2 I promised attendees at the panel that I would find the original memo and post a .pdf of it. So here it is: Big Fish publicity goals.
One of the questions that came from the audience–but probably should have started out the evening–was, What is the point of publicity, exactly? Most of us aren’t looking to be famous per se, and unlike a novelist, our names alone aren’t going to be selling books.
The Writers Guild Foundation stresses that any time a screenwriter gets press, that helps all screenwriters. And to some degree, that’s true. There are no famous screenwriters, but it would be nice if the general public had some sense that movies are actually written, and that the actors aren’t making up their dialogue.
But I’d say the main reason to think about publicity is to help the movies and TV shows you’re involved with. The screenwriter tends to know more about the story than anyone else on the project, so you can be a crucial resource as journalists figure out how to write about the plot. I’ve attended a half-dozen junkets, and have rarely seen myself directly quoted. But I recognize a lot of what I’ve said in the stories that are written. If I can help create a consistent, positive message, then I’ve done my job.
The other reason to think about publicity is in terms of your overall career. I have no doubt that I’ve gotten meetings with certain directors and actors because of repeated exposure to my name. It’s nice if someone likes Big Fish. It’s even better if they remember I wrote it. Every time a news story includes the phrase, “…August, whose credits include Big Fish, Corpse Bride and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory…” that’s like refreshing the cache on someone’s internal IMDb.
- Announcements like this run all the time (c.f. [Shazam!](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i119db77792cbaa01e58b9c970709fb13 ↩
- I was an advertising major, so this kind of publicity-speak comes naturally. ↩
Filed under: Big Fish, Charlie, Film Industry, Follow Up, News
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March 15th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Are you sure that “the actors aren’t making up their dialogue”? Because it sure seemed like that in Good Will Hunting. ;-)
March 15th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
Hey John,
My wife & I were in attendance for the WGA publicity event. We wanted to thank you for sharing your time and your awesome document, “John August Publicity Goals and Messages.� Very helpful stuff.
As writers, we are one-person (or two-person in our case) companies. We need to keep getting jobs to stay in business. Doing great work is the best way but publicity sure can help.
On a side note – we met you at the Austin Film Festival in 2000. (We also met an exec there from Pixar, which lead to our first gig.) We went to several of your talks and you were nice enough to talk with us at the barbeque dinner. Thanks for sharing your time!
PS this website is unbelievable. How do you find the time? Is there a John August clone or two madly typing away at all times?
March 15th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
I don’t understand why a screenwriter who is attached to his movie as a producer hasn’t decided to promote heavily yet. Are writers really that anti-social in general? Why not just tell the studio to put you on Leno or Conan to promote the movie? I’m just curious as to whether there’s some hidden rule that writers don’t promote or if it’s just the writers not WANTING to put themselves out there in the public eye.
March 15th, 2007 at 11:45 pm
John,
this is off-topic, and I apologize for that – but I just need to tell you how truly awesome this site is. Keep up the great work —
Jason
March 16th, 2007 at 7:04 am
I can see it now… Leno holding up a bound copy of the script for its publicity close-up.
Normal people go see movies because: A) The premise/trailer interests them B) They like the actors/actresses involved and in very few cases… C) They’ve heard of the director.
Leno/Conan/Dave are selling tools. So you put your most attractive/famous face on their shows as an excuse to tell people the premise. 99% of the time, the writer is not the most attractive/famous face involved in a movie. Good Will Hunting is obviously a major exception to the rule.
March 16th, 2007 at 8:18 am
John, another great posting.
This seems all part of branding, image building.
So, When should a pre-pro considering building presence, start building this campaign? Before one’s sold? Or after work has been produced? When?
Again, great post.
Dave O.
March 16th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
Very interesting. You know, I think some of we aspiring screenwriters might have in the back of our mind the dream of being on Conan someday promoting our film, but honestly we’re most likely to reach that goal by getting into the audience to watch the actors promote it.
Still, it’s actually nice to know that doing junkets might influence the understanding the press has of your film, even if they copy your remarks subconsciously. It’s kind of like being the man behind the curtain. And the paparazzi leave you alone.
March 17th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
I was honored to also be a member of the Publicity 101 panel, and one noteworthy item re: talk shows, is that our pal Craig Ferguson, an author and screenwriter himself, often has writers on from various media, including “Crash” man Paul Haggis, plus Dave Barry, Mitch Albom and others. Yes, it’s a fact of life actors will be first-choice guests, and if you want ratings, who can blame them. But if/when a screenwriter breaks out into the mainstream for whatever reasons (whether it’s Joe Esterhaus, or Charlie Kaufman), show bookers may not be far behind.
And John, your “Big Fish” list of publicity goals was right on the money, and should be read by every writer.
Best to you, and your writerly audience!
March 18th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
I’m a TV writer & I too was at the Publicity 101 function the other night at the WGA. After several years of paying $1500 a year for 12 magazines I recently decided to start going to the seminars and this was the best one yet. All of the participants gave clear, valuable info, but none more directly from the writer’s pov than you, John (and Andrea Berloff too.) The very next morning on Thursday I had a phone meeting with the publicist of the publisher of a book I’ve got coming out in June and I paraphrased many of the insights you proffered at the seminar in your “Publicity Goals” mission statement! The man was positively in love with me!! Hee hee! Thanks for sharing them at the seminar and for reposting them here. This site is fun, funny, informative & I’ve forwarded it to all my writer friends. Kudos again & good luck with your Marveling. -J
April 7th, 2007 at 11:55 pm
I’d like to a resergence of writers as celebrities like Truman Capote from the 50s- Beats all this celebutante business.
April 25th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
There never will be another Joe Eszterhas. The studios can’t afford to pay $3 million for a script and hand it to a director, who changes nothing, and end up with a flop like SHOWGIRLS. Nor can they pay $3 million for a script and hand it to a director, who changes everything, and end up with a flop like ONE NIGHT STAND. They can’t afford the public humiliation. They can’t afford to alienate directors by promoting screenwriters.
There never will be another Paddy Chayefsky. People talk about how the studios would never make NETWORK today, it’s so controversial, biting the hand, etc. Nonsense. They’d never make NETWORK because there a few, if any, directors like Sidney Lumet back then. He’s effective and transparent and directors want to be the one but HATE being the other.
There have been a lot of great scripts by a lot of great screenwriters in the movies in, say, the last 15 years, but the last time a writer got famous off his screenplay was probably Aaron Sorkin, whom the press lionized after not one but TWO pictures directed by Rob Reiner, who in fact had made a career out of working with fantastic scripts up to that point (excepting NORTH) — and Rob hasn’t directed a good script since. Coincidence?
I’m looking forward to THE BUCKET LIST, tho, Rob, and hey — I’ve got a script that’s perfect for you.