Sunday, August 10, 2008

James ... Star Publicist

Okay, I think I'm about to take on a new career: Star Publicist. And by that I don't mean to be a publicist to the stars. But rather, as a publicist, I am the star! That is if you consider getting two front-page newspaper articles on your client in a single day. (brushing lint off my shoulders)

Tom made front page news. (08/09/08)
Tom made front page news. (08/09/08)

The client in this case is Tom, whose original screenplay Lowlifes morphed into the made-for-tv musical romance called The American Mall. The film, set to air on MTV on Monday, August 11 at 9pm, was based on Tom's work in retail sales.

When we were with Tom and Christine last weekend, he asked me for some help in putting together a press release (one of the duties I'm responsible for at work). I had written one for him back in 1996, which proved to be successful in two newspapers. So he thought I could do it again in advance of The American Mall.

The article on the Burbank Leader website.
The article on the Burbank Leader website.

At first I was a little reluctant. "Just take the one from 1996 and freshen it up," I lazily suggested to him. But Tom coaxed me into it, and once I got the first hook down, the magic literally began flowing from my fingertips! I didn't complete the press release that day, but I gave it its main structure, upon which Tom finished up with some additional details.

Then it was time to put Tom to work on his own publicity machine (he was not only my client, but my assistant too). After some coaching on the do's and don'ts of story pitches to the media, Tom followed through on the plan. And once again, we captured lightning in a bottle!

The article on the Santa Cruz Sentinel website.
The article on the Santa Cruz Sentinel website.

Tom's two original and current home-town papers, the Santa Cruz Sentinel and Burbank Leader respectively, picked up the story pitch and ran front-page articles yesterday. I know, not exactly Vanity Fair, but still, pretty good for maybe a couple of hours of effort. The only target we didn't hit was the Los Angeles Times Scriptland column. Oh well. Two out of three ain't bad.

The final feather in my cap came today, when Tom wrote a thank-you e-mail to the Santa Cruz Sentinel reporter Tom Miller. Miller's response: "Of course, just doing my job. The press release was very well done so it was easy to work off of." The proof is in the pudding, my dear reader.

The American Mall.
The American Mall.

Read the Santa Cruz Sentinel article here.

Read the Burbank Leader article here

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Everything James says is totally true and accurate. His press releases kick ass and best of all, he's pretty cheap. I paid him with a CD!

Seriously though, dude, you rock! I owe you at least one more CD...maybe two. :)

James said...

Pull the strings!