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Public relations vs. advertising for the big screen: the ever-growing role of strategic public relations in the effective marketing of theatrical motion picture releases

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Public relations vs. advertising for the big screen: the ever-growing role of strategic public relations in the effective marketing of theatrical motion picture releases

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Content 1

PUBLIC RELATIONS VS. ADVERTISING FOR THE BIG SCREEN:
THE EVER-GROWING ROLE OF STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS IN THE
EFFECTIVE MARKETING OF THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURE RELEASES

by

Stanislav “Staffo” Dobrev

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS)

May 2015

Copyright 2015 Stanislav “Staffo” Dobrev
2
Contents

List of Figures 3
List of Tables 3
Abstract 4
Preface 6

Introduction 8
Film Marketing Today – Overview 14
The Budget 41
Case Study #1: Low-Budget Studio Film 50
Case Study #2: Independent Film 63
Findings & Observations 75
Conclusion 80

Bibliography 82
Appendix A: Interview with Guido Gotz, Director of Film Publicity, MPRM
Communications 89
Appendix B: Interview with Monique Moss, Founder, Integrated PR 95

3
List of Figures

Figure 1: Poster of Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961, Paramount Pictures) 16
Figure 2: Poster of Pulp Fiction (1994, Miramax) 17
Figure 3: Poster of Showgirls (1995, United Artists) 17
Figure 4: Poster of American Beauty (1999, DreamWorks) 18
Figure 5: Theatrical poster of No Good Deed (2014) 50
Figure 6: Theatrical poster of Dear White People (2014) 63

List of Tables
Table 1: Main production credits of No Good Deed (2014) 50
Table 2: Main cast of No Good Deed (2014) 50
Table 3: Main production credits of Dear White People (2014) 63
Table 4: Main cast of Dear White People (2014) 63

4
Abstract

This paper examines the ever-growing role of public relations (PR) initiatives as
they relate to marketing the theatrical release of a motion picture without relying on a
hefty promotional budget. The study compares and contrast PR and traditional hard-
selling advertising in terms of their effectiveness and economic efficiency. The paper
provides an extensive look into the background and development of both promotional
disciplines, analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of both through the prism of the
rapidly evolving nature of film production and distribution.
The key issues discussed in this paper include the convergence of advertising and
PR under the mutual cloud of strategic communications, as well as their varying
utilization in terms of the unique characteristics of each individual motion picture release.
Ultimately, the main purpose of this paper is to discover whether, at this point in time, a
film can achieve satisfactory box-office success relying predominantly (or exclusively)
on public relations activities with little to no paid hard-selling advertising. To do that, the
author compiled case studies on two recently released motion pictures:
1. No Good Deed – released on September 7, 2014 and produced and
distributed by Screen Gems, a division company of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s
Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group;
2. Dear White People – initially released on January 18, 2014 as part of the
official line-up of the Sundance Film Festival, followed by a limited nationwide release
on October 17, 2014; produced independently by Duly Noted, Homegrown Pictures and
5
Code Red Films and distributed by Roadside Attractions, a division company of
Lionsgate.
Results reveal that paid hard-selling advertising still plays an important role in the
promotional process for the theatrical release of a feature film. However, they also point
to a shift in the heretofore nature of advertising and a decline of its overall use.

6
Preface

Research Methodology
To complete the study at hand, the author performed both primary and secondary
research activities. Qualitative primary research consisted of a series of interviews with
public relations professionals and film studio executives. Interviewees included the
following people:
1. Guido Gotz – Director of Film Publicity at MPRM Communications with
almost 10 years of experience in promoting small-budget studio and independent films;
2. Danielle Misher – SVP of Publicity at Screen Gems;
3. Monique Moss – Founder of Integrated PR with more than two decades
of experience working on campaigns for top Hollywood television and motion picture
productions;
4. Loren Schwartz – EVP of Marketing at Screen Gems, specializing in
creative advertising.
All of the aforementioned individuals provided information and insight into
current and upcoming trends regarding the marketing of motion pictures. More
importantly, they also expressed their views on where the industry is headed in terms of
balancing PR initiatives and hard-selling advertising techniques.
In terms of secondary research, the author gathered extensive information on film
marketing and publicity from a carefully selected roster of books such as “Marketing to
Moviegoers: A Handbook of Strategies and Tactics” by Robert Marich and “The
Business of Media Distribution: Monetizing Film, TV and Video Content in an Online
7
World” by Jeff Ulin. In addition, articles from US motion picture industry’s trade
publications such as The Hollywood Reporter, Variety and Deadline provided a strong
influx of information regarding past and current developments in Hollywood from both a
marketing and an economic perspective. Finally, the author derived additional
information and data from legitimate film industry blogs and social media platforms of
various companies and titles that fit within the scope of the study.
The films No Good Deed and Dear White People were selected because of the
commercial success that leading Hollywood analysts attributed to their innovative and
creative PR and social media campaigns. Also, both movies’ primary target audience is
the African-American movie-going population, thus eliminating possible audience bias as
one of the factors for each film’s success.

8
Introduction

Referring to the ever-astonishing art of conquest and dominance that has driven
the development of human civilization throughout people’s existence in this world,
renowned French philosopher Voltaire famously said, “It is not enough to conquer; one
must learn to seduce.” While Voltaire’s words make absolutely perfect sense from a
purely existential point of view, when it comes to business, they need to be slightly re-
organized. The reason for that is because, in a democratic capitalist society, one cannot
force people to purchase a product or sign up for a service. People must be enticed, urged
and flirted with to make up their mind to spend their hard-earned money on anything.
This is especially true in the field of movie marketing. One cannot simply drag people
into the movie theaters against their will and coerce them into buying a ticket to see a
particular film. The only way is by creatively and strategically convincing them that they
would thoroughly enjoy the movie, turning the whole experience in a worthwhile
investment in terms of entertainment and having a good time. In other words, potential
audiences must be seduced in order to conquer the box-office and sustain a profit. It does
not work the other way around. The big question, though, is how do you do that?
Just like any other type of product or service out there, there is no magic formula
for promoting a film, trying to attract as big of a crowd as possible. Different marketing
specialists mix and match various strategies and tactics depending on each individual
title. For the most part, the last call on those is based on experience, industry
observations, and, to a certain extent, gut feeling. However, regardless of the film being
9
promoted or the entity behind it, movie marketing tends to fall within two focal
categories: hard-selling advertising and public relations initiatives.
As discussed in further detail in the next section of this paper, there are a few
main platforms for paid hard-selling advertising that film marketers utilize when
promoting an upcoming release. Of those, TV ads are the most expensive, yet most
relied-upon, promotional vehicle. Even in today’s world of ever-increasing digital and
social media platforms that offer the opportunity to reach much more specific types of
audiences, large Hollywood studios have remained steady in their dependence on the
small screen to get their message across.
“TV isn’t necessarily the most effective, but it’s the most efficient and still casts
the widest net,” says Rob Moore, Vice Chairman of Paramount Pictures, explaining film
marketers’ continuous reliance on TV, regardless of the price and alternative outlets.
1

Indeed, hard-selling advertising, and TV ads in particular, does help spread the word of
an upcoming release quickly and relatively easily. However, as already mentioned, that is
also a very expensive indulgence. Of course, if you are a major Hollywood studio and
you have already invested more than $100 million in the production of a film that has the
obvious potential to become a leading international blockbuster, it makes sense to invest
heavily in an elaborate marketing campaign, utilizing a variety of promotional platforms
and doing your best to appeal to as many people as possible as there are hundreds of
millions of dollars at stake, thus, maintaining the high price tags of TV spots and other
advertising platforms. When a production is in the bigger tens of millions of dollars,
though, it also stands the chance of appealing to a variety of different types of
moviegoers with varying characters and personalities. Be it a super hero action movie, a

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McClintock, $200 Million and Rising: Hollywood Struggles With Soaring Marketing Costs 2014
10
major young-adult sci-fi popcorn flick, or an epic based on historic events, these
productions tend to combine elements of many different genres like action, romance,
drama and even comedy, making them attractive to audiences across the board and
justifying casting the widest net at the greatest expense.
Nevertheless, no matter how big a net hard-selling advertising casts, it is a rather
impersonal tool when it comes to luring in the very audience to which a film is geared.
That is where public relations initiatives enter. Unlike advertising that has conformed to
the same old types of platforms and outlets for the past few decades, except for some
slight adjustments needed to adapt to the digital overhaul in the world over the past few
years, PR in the film industry encompasses pretty much all of the other ways that news of
an upcoming release is communicated to target audiences. From press outreach and
special events to publicity stunts and social media activities, the art of seduction is at the
very heart of public relations.
PR activities are tailored to specific audiences and come armed with customized
key messages for every separate platform and occasion. Hence, the end result, i.e. the PR
campaign, has the potential to be much more alluring and effective to the target movie
going audience. While ads are quite blunt in their call to action, posing the risk of
alienating potential viewers if deemed too aggressive, PR activities are not only
fashioned around different audience types’ lifestyle characteristics but they also tend to
get the actual recipients of the message themselves involved in the action. In fact, at a
time when personal interaction with audiences has never been easier, people do not want
to just be force fed information – they want to be a part of the campaign. They want to be
entertained.
11
“We have to be more inventive about how we reach consumers,” says Sue Kroll,
President of Worldwide Marketing at Warner Bros, acknowledging the fact that just
delivering the information is not enough anymore and further action needs to be taken to
appeal to audiences. “Moviegoers are very savvy. You have to figure out new ways of
appealing to them. We are seeing significant changes in the way we spend across all
platforms. It’s a patchwork quilt. It never gets boring.”
2
It is through various PR activities
that these inventive ideas and approaches come to fruition, emphasizing the ever-growing
importance of public relations in the promotional campaign for a film nowadays.
In addition to the aforementioned personal touch that public relations initiatives
add to a campaign, it is through the work of PR professionals that reviews and viewer
impressions are published or posted on the internet providing audiences with a third-party
opinion on whether they should see a film or not. While this is a little bit tricky, as one
can never be 100% confident what the overall opinion of the reviewer will turn out to be,
if everything clicks in the intended manner and the reviews are positive, it can be quite a
powerful tool in terms of driving traffic into the theater. After all, unlike advertising, this
is not some corporation or other business entity interrupting your favorite TV show or
radio program to tell you that you have to do something. Instead, it is a non-affiliated
individual with a legitimate background and expertise in motion pictures placing their
stamp of approval on the final product. Needless to say, the results of that can be quite
persuasive.
The question that inevitably arises is whether a film can be effectively marketed
to reach the desired commercial success without resorting to overly expensive advertising
endeavors. If PR truly is as powerful as it sounds, then why don’t studios and

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McClintock, $200 Million and Rising: Hollywood Struggles With Soaring Marketing Costs 2014
12
independent filmmakers rely only on that to promote their upcoming movies? It would
certainly help companies or individuals trying to have their films seen get into the
spotlight without breaking the bank. In an ideal world, marketing professionals would be
able to utilize the best of both disciplines to the fullest – the overhauling effects of
advertising and the priceless third-party stamps of approval courtesy of PR. However,
when money is involved, and it always is, this strategy is a luxury only the big-budget
studio releases can enjoy. What about the small-budget titles or independent films that
oftentimes do not even have a promotional budget to begin with?
That is why the aim of this paper is to examine whether a film with a small
promotional budget can achieve significant commercial success without relying on
expensive advertising campaigns but focus mainly on PR activities. To do that, the author
examines the various elements of film marketing and studies their strengths and
weaknesses. In addition, close attention will be paid to different types of budgets, how
they are determined and what a film’s production budget can necessitate in terms of
promotional activities. Ultimately, the author performs two case studies on films that
were released in theaters within the past year and were able to secure strong box-office
success without relying first and foremost on a massive hard-selling advertising
campaign.
The films were selected by the author based on the following criteria:
1. Runtime – only feature films longer than 70 minutes will be considered;
2. Release platform – the study at hand will focus on films that have been
given a wide or limited theatrical release. However, only limited release titles that have
been shown on at least 300 screens at once will be considered;
13
3. Type of production and production budget – the paper will focus on
one studio-made film with a production budget smaller than $20 million and one
independent film with a production budget smaller than $5 million.

14
Film Marketing Today – Overview

Just like in any other type of business, marketing in the film industry is the art of
driving audiences to see a movie by making them aware that it is available and
persuading them that it is worth their time, money, energy and undivided attention. As a
result, even though some filmmakers tend to disagree with this, marketing is one of the
most important components in the film business. A studio may have created an absolutely
fantastic movie but if people do not have a way of finding out about it and the different
opportunities to see it, then what is the point of spending all that time, money and
creative power producing it? More importantly, without a proper marketing campaign,
the film, most likely, will end up not making any money, practically defeating the very
purpose of any business endeavor.
At the same time, though, marketing is not the only important factor that can
make or break a movie. Other elements such as the overall cinematic quality of the final
product, the timing of its release and its distribution strategy all play a pivotal role in a
film’s commercial success. In fact, those are the very elements that impact the
development of the marketing strategy that would be applied to an upcoming release.
While, for the most part, it may not be possible to predict what the outcome of a
campaign will be, marketing is a necessary attempt to influence that outcome as much as
possible.

15
1. Essential Film Marketing Assets
Regardless of the specific marketing approach that is slated for an upcoming film,
there are certain elements and tools that are an essential part of any campaign and
promotional activity, be it paid media (ads, TV spots, etc.) or earned media (PR
placements, article mentions, etc.) Those include:
a. Trailers – The size of a film, be it big-budget blockbuster or small
independent production, does not matter much when it comes down to whether to
produce a trailer for it ahead of its release or not. The answer is a resounding yes. Trailers
are essentially the very first glimpse into the upcoming film, providing potential viewers
with a strong idea of what the final product is going to be like. The runtime of a trailer is
normally around 2.5 minutes and are usually screened before films with similar target
audiences, plots, and the same distributor, but not necessarily. In addition, trailers
continue to be among the most efficient tools both online and offline. In fact, they are one
of the few film marketing tools that have not only managed to stand the test of time, but
have actually grown in terms of importance in the Internet age.
3
Trailers provide the basis
for any TV spots spawned during the course of the promotional campaign and also serve
as a powerful tool in the hands of publicists looking to secure fresh media coverage for
the upcoming release. Moreover, with the development and widespread use of social
media platforms, they can be easily shared by people, further spreading the word about
the film.
b. Posters – Similar to trailers, posters have been around pretty much since
the dawn of movies. Simply put, a poster is a static printed image with messaging used to
promote a movie and spark people’s interest in seeing it. Often referred to as “one-

3
Ulin 2014
16
sheets” among industry professionals, posters are usually the promotional piece with the
highest levels of visibility among all marketing assets.
4
Usually, they rely on either on the
image of the film’s stars or on a compelling visual related to the storyline to draw
people’s attention. Posters, like trailers, are one of the main tools used in both hard-
selling advertising and PR initiatives. Not only can a poster inspire media interest, but it
is also used as the film’s main artwork on various websites, in-theater displays and
throughout all of the PR materials disseminated to journalists and audiences. Finally,
posters can be seen as actual works of art capable of developing a following of their own,
immortalizing the film along with them. There are many examples but the more
prominent ones include the posters for Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Pulp Fiction (1994),
Showgirls (1995) and American Beauty (1999), among others. Therefore, it is extremely
important to pay close attention to the creative process behind them.

Figure 1: Poster of Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961, Paramount Pictures)

4
Ulin 2014
17

Figure 2: Poster of Pulp Fiction (1994, Miramax)

Figure 3: Poster of Showgirls (1995, United Artists)

18

Figure 4: Poster of American Beauty (1999, DreamWorks)

c. Still photographs – Securing high-quality captivating photos from the set
of the film is one of the main marketing objectives during principal photography, because
later on these same shots will be used as the main visual assets in any review, article or
social media post related to the film. In fact, their quality and overall attractiveness can
play a pivotal role in the amount of coverage a title can get. Editors would easily
downgrade exposure of even a big Hollywood production if the images they have to work
with are of poor quality or not eye-catching enough.
5
More importantly, though, the
significance of still photography goes on demonstrate how imperative it is for a
filmmaker to consider the marketing side of their project as early as the beginning stages
of production. “You can’t underestimate what good stills can do,” says Nancy Gerstman,

5
Marich 2013
19
co-president and co-founder of New York-based distribution company Zeitgeist Films.
“They are very powerful marketing tools.”
6

2. Marketing Channels
From a broad perspective, marketing activities in the movie business can be
divided into two main categories: hard-selling (or creative) advertising and PR initiatives,
including digital and social media activities. While some marketing professionals prefer
to place digital and social media efforts in a separate category, the truth is that, at this
point in time, they are developed and executed primarily by the PR team behind a project.
Therefore, for the sake of this study, digital and social media activities will be considered
a part of the PR channel.
a. Hard-Selling Advertising - A short trailer that you watch on TV, a poster
that you see walking by a bus stop, a billboard, or two, that you notice during your
morning commute to work complemented by non-stop spots on the radio… these are only
a few of the ways film marketing professionals utilize advertising platforms to bombard
consumers with messages trying to influence their selection of a movie on a daily basis.
Hard-selling advertising refers to the practice of using a direct, rather forceful,
message to communicate with audiences. For the most part, advertising is paid and the
producer of the ad has full creative control over the message and the manner in which it
is distributed. Hence, hard-selling advertising is oftentimes referred to as creative
advertising as well. As a result, advertising budgets can be quite large depending on the
desired range of recipients.

6
Marich 2013
20
When it comes to promoting an upcoming movie, the most popular ad platforms
include:
• Television – TV advertising reaches the consumer in the form of
commercials featuring the film’s trailer or, more precisely, 30- or 15-second spots that
are essentially heavily abridged versions of said trailer;
• Outdoor Locations – Those include billboards, bus stops, benches and
city lights, among other types of equipment, used to display a film’s poster or, in case of
an outdoor video screen, its trailer;
• Print – This category includes ads in newspapers, magazines, trade
publications, etc. Securing an ad in a publication, however, does not guarantee that the
editorial side of the house will give the film a favorable review;
• Online Advertising – This category features banners, wallpapers and
video ads dispersed throughout various sites on the World Wide Web.

b. Film PR – Generally speaking, PR is the term used to refer to the practice
of maintaining a favorable public image for a company, an organization or an individual.
Therefore, PR professionals carry the responsibility of making sure that the activities and
behavior of their trusted entities align with the proper social norms. However, in terms of
promoting and raising awareness about a specific motion picture release, the term PR is
primarily used to refer to the publicity-generating initiatives that film studios, PR
agencies or independent vendors and filmmakers indulge into with the prospect of
acquiring media exposure and coverage for their movie. Said publicity helps develop a
favorable opinion of the movie among audiences and, as a result, urge them to go and see
21
the final product in the theater or through another distribution platform. Publicity
normally comes in the form of reviews, feature articles or mentions in media outlets such
as newspapers, magazines, websites, blogs and TV programs, among other things. As PR
placements like that usually do not involve a formal contract or a financial exchange, the
producer of the message does not have any control over its distribution and final form.
In this paper, the term “film PR” is used to refer to “film publicity” and vice
versa.
The activities that PR professionals indulge into can differ vastly from one
another in terms of the type of film they are working on and the target audience.
However, publicity campaigns, more often than not, feature some or all of the following
elements:
• Media Relations – One of the foremost responsibilities of PR
professionals is to maintain positive and mutually beneficial relationships with
journalists. That is especially true and essential in the field of film PR as one of the
primary ways of raising awareness about an upcoming release, without breaking the
bank, is by securing coverage in media outlets. The latter, however, does not happen
easily and is, instead, the result of hard work and careful execution of various media
outreach tools and tactics, such as:
- Electronic Press Kits (EPKs) – an EPK contains all of the relevant
production information about a film that a journalist writing about the title might need,
including complete cast and crew credits, official plot summary, talent biographies,
release schedule and high-quality production stills, among other things. EPKs are
important because they are the main source from which journalists extract the factual
22
information they would need to make sure that the elements in their stories are true and
verified. Therefore, if an EPK is incomplete or poorly made, that might lead to the release
of false information or even dissuade the journalist from writing about the movie
whatsoever.
- Announcements – PR professionals are the first ones to release
information to editors and reporters regarding new developments surrounding an
upcoming release. Be it through a formal press release or a mere news break, they are
responsible for making sure that the correct information gets to the right people.
- Exclusives and “leaks” – As much as mass mailings are standard
procedure in the field of film PR, so are one-on-one initiatives. The reasoning behind
resorting to providing only one person with an exclusive or “leaked” information usually,
but not necessarily, has something to do with the fact that a studio or an independent
organization does not want to (or is not formally allowed to) officially disclose specific
developments around a project but still wants to reap the benefits of buzz that word of
said developments would ignite. In return, journalists always strive to be ahead of their
peers – a feat that is proving to be especially hard in the current 24/7 online news cycle –
so, access to exclusive information can be quite appealing to them. This is where the
aforementioned relationships come into practice as the publicist and journalist need to
have a trusting bond to make sure that neither one’s credibility is compromised in the
process. In reality, that relationship is broken and mended constantly. Therefore, “leaks”
are something that PR professionals need to be very cautious about.
- Talent features and interviews – It is never a coincidence when an
actor or an actress has a film coming out and he/she is suddenly all over magazine covers
23
and television talk shows. In fact, these are the results of carefully developed publicity
plans set in motion months in advance. PR professionals’ jobs often include coordinating
talent engaging in publicity initiatives to promote their film. Such initiatives not only
increase the levels of awareness about the impending release but also help raise the public
profile of a film, as a 2011 Nielsen research discovered that people who follow celebrities
online tend to be opinion leaders to peers about movies and other forms of entertainment.
- Reviews – PR professionals facilitate the publishing of reviews by
film critics either via hosting advanced screenings of a yet-to-be-released movie (a tactic
that is explored in more detail below) or by arranging the distribution of review DVDs. In
this way, the film will certainly receive media coverage despite running the risk of
someone not feeling too optimistic about it. As discussed later on in this paper, negative
critical response does not necessarily equal bad box-office performance.
• Special Events – A close second after Media Relations certainly is the
organization and execution of special events that promote an upcoming release. Those,
however, are not thrown merely for celebration. Rather, they are yet another way of
enticing media representatives and scoring additional coverage for the film. While in the
past a film company would host an over-the-top splashy party for a new release,
nowadays the budget is distributed among numerous slightly less extravagant events, thus
taking advantage of multiple opportunities for media attention. Such events include:
- Red carpet premieres – One of the most popular and, consequently,
most common types of promotional tactics is the official premiere event where a film’s
cast and crew walk the red carpet, posing for photographers and giving interviews to
journalists before getting into the theater to deliver some additional Q&A to the audience
24
prior to the actual screening of the movie. According to Sadari Cunningham, former
Publicity Consultant at London’s Premier PR, premieres continue to be hosted religiously
exactly because of the amount of media interest they attract. They are the ideal
opportunity for entertainment reporters to meet and interview individuals of interest to
their audiences and for a film to get some much needed coverage. However, many
journalists also see them as the worst form of interview as they cannot really ask anything
of substance during the few seconds that they are able to speak to the stars. While in the
past pretty much all theatrical releases were treated to a fancy premiere event, nowadays
there are many different levels of grandeur when it comes to them. Of course, big-budget
productions still receive massive red carpet premieres with additional ones taking places
in different parts of the world. Like TV advertising, though, that can be quite expensive
and totally unnecessary for smaller films. Therefore, as mentioned earlier, marketing and
PR experts increasingly recognize the effects of other types of media-centric events,
causing them to lower the “wow” factor of a premiere (thus, easing the budget) for the
sake of hosting additional press affairs (see press junkets and advanced screenings below)
to get as much publicity as possible.
- Press junkets – In essence, junkets are usually one-day events
during which a film’s main cast and director meet with journalists for short windows of
time to conduct interviews regarding the upcoming release. Depending on the movie,
they can vary in size and format. A larger production can demand both a national- and an
international-press junket while smaller films will do with local (based in New York or
Los Angeles) journalists attending and others calling in either via phone or Skype. Of
course, it would be ideal if all media representatives were present but, at the end of the
25
day, it depends on the budget because, usually, the organizers cover travel expenses.
Regardless, press junkets have proven to be an effective tool for securing media coverage
and, at times, preferred to premieres because they allow journalists to spend more time
with the cast and crew and have some actually meaningful conversations that would then
lead to better stories.
- Advance screenings – PR professionals recommend hosting
advance screenings of upcoming films for both journalists and target audiences. On the
media side, an early screening allows journalists to prepare articles as well as develop
questions they will have for the cast and crew at the junket or premiere. They are also a
great platform to make the best possible impression on critics who will be reviewing the
film. On the audience side, advance screenings plant the seed for a potentially favorable
word-of-mouth campaign, hence why the list of invitees must only include people from
the core demographic group that the film is targeting. After all, they are the ones who are
most prone to liking the final product. Sometimes a film will not be screened for critics
out of fear that the overall opinion would be negative. PR can only do so much to
influence reviews but it does hold the direct responsibility of making sure that those
screenings are as effective as possible.
• Publicity Stunts – As the name suggests, film PR stunts are elaborately
planned events designed to garner publicity by utilizing unique out-of-the-norm activities
that do not fit within the more traditional and established realms of film promotion.
Examples include Will Smith, Angelina Jolie and Jack Black riding a giant inflatable
shark during the 2004 Cannes Film Festival to promote Universal Studios’ Shark Tale
7
or
giving away hundreds of VHS tapes containing the infamous cursed video from the 2002

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Germain 2004
26
film The Ring to unsuspecting cinemagoers in a bid to encourage interest in the movie.
8

When the budget allows it, stunts are both a fun and original way of raising awareness
about a film and getting additional media attention. However, with raising marketing
costs and the ongoing development of social media platforms, stunts have been largely
relegated to the online world where the reach can be bigger at a much lower cost.
• Digital Publicity / Social Media – Not long ago, a mere official film
website plus a few profiles on movie-centric database-type websites like IMDb.com or
AllMovie.com were deemed enough to satiate the need for online presence of an
upcoming film. Well, those times are now long gone. Over the past few years, the field of
film marketing has undergone an overwhelming overhaul as a result of the rapid
development of social media and the various platforms that come with it. Consequently,
it is safe to assume that the work of public relations teams behind a film has quadrupled
because there is much more content that needs to be developed, created and applied
strategically in a variety of different ways, shapes and forms with one main underlying
goal: get as many people engaged in the conversation as possible.
Speaking of official websites, they used to be nothing but an eye-catching
brochure containing a trailer, photos, plot synopsis, and star biographies – basically, a
fan-oriented version of the aforementioned press kit.
9
In an overly saturated online
environment, though, where information like this can be easily obtained from a variety of
sources, fans are demanding more dynamic and interactive content to attract their
attention, hence the on-going move toward audience engagement and delivering fun and
complementary content than just relying on passive one-sided information consumption.

8
IMDb n.d.
9
Marich 2013
27
As Robert Marich perfectly articulates it in his book “Marketing to Moviegoers:
A Handbook of Strategies and Tactics,” a movie’s page on a social network is the
springboard for promotions
10
because it gives the studio the chance to interact directly
with fans. Be it Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, or any other platform, film
marketers can offer content, news and updates without the need of an expensive third-
party medium (e.g. TV or print advertising.) As a result, social media has provided low-
budget films and independent filmmakers with the perfect opportunity to release content
and effectively engage viewers while still maintaining a modest spending.
The most important and advantageous feature of social media platforms, however,
is definitely the ability it gives people to share the posted content. Whether it’s a photo, a
video or a mere sentence, people can easily re-post it to their own profile and pass on the
message to other potential fans, thus becoming free ambassadors for the film.
However, as powerful as social media is in aiding film marketers spread the
message about an upcoming release, it is even more powerful in distributing negative
reviews and fostering bad word-of-mouth. Also, direct interaction with fans involves
receiving quick and timely feedback; that means adequate staffing with skilled social
media specialists. Therefore, this only goes to show that social media requires constant
supervision and, even though many specialists claim that it is still not a strong enough
tool to carry a whole campaign entirely on its own without the aid of other promotional
platforms, it is quite powerful in terms of steering the overall public perception of an
upcoming release.
- Viral Marketing – One of the great benefits of online/social media
platforms is their ability to spread information in a lightning-fast manner and, as a result,

10
Marich 2013
28
get the whole nation (or the whole world, actually) fixated on and excited about a
particular topic. When something blows up online and takes the Internet by storm, people
say that it has gone viral. Similarly, in the film marketing business, when a campaign has
managed to engage millions of people online, generating numerous new “shares” by the
second, studios or independent filmmakers know that they have a viral campaign on their
hands. However, achieving one is not an exact science. Not only is there no particular
formula to follow in the hopes of making a campaign go viral, but one can never be 100%
sure what element of a campaign (a tweet, a video, an image, etc.) would end up as the
headliner. As Thomas Mentel of the Wall St. Cheat Sheet says, “unlike conventional
marketing, which targets things like television ad space or billboards, viral marketing is
far less understood and much more unpredictable. However, the upsides of a successful
viral campaign are almost limitless.”
11

More recently, successful viral campaign attempts included the 2013 re-boot of
Brian De Palma’s horror classic Carrie (1976). The promo campaign for the movie
featured a hidden camera-style video in which unsuspecting customers at a seemingly
ordinary New York coffee shop witness a woman using telekinesis to move people and
objects around the place much like the film’s title character. Needless to say, the video
quickly spread all over social media, amassing more than 60 million views on YouTube
alone.
12
Another example of a production utilizing the Internet’s viral potential to
generate success was independent filmmaker Justin Simien’s Dear White People (2014).
Prior to shooting any of the film, Simien devised a concept trailer, showcasing the idea
and main plot points of his at-the-time unmade film with the hope of attracting investors.

11
Mentel 2014
12
Telekinetic Coffee Shop Surprise 2013
29
Lucky for him, the online world paid attention and buzz around the potential production
quickly escalated. This paper will further explore Dear White People later on.
Given the young age of the Internet, the concept of a viral campaign is quite new.
However, there are two films without which it may not have been what it is today: The
Blair Witch Project (1999) and Cloverfield (2008). Despite being released almost 10
years apart, both titles are largely considered to be viral marketing trendsetters.

The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Directors Danill Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez’s feature debut is not only the first
film to really bring attention to the viral capabilities of a campaign but it is also probably
the most successful viral marketing campaign of all time.
As the Internet was still in its nascent stages, the filmmakers recognized its
unexplored potential to engage audiences who, on their side, were still not used to the
notion that one should not believe everything found online. As a result, Myrick and
Sanchez took advantage of that but did not merely create a campaign to promote their
movie. Rather, the campaign they launched became an integral part of the movie-viewing
experience. The duo claimed that the movie was pieced together from actual footage done
by film students who mysteriously disappeared while shooting a documentary. The
filmmakers developed a website featuring allegedly real police reports and actual
evidence supporting their claims and cleverly and carefully saturated the yet-not-so-
expansive web with messages of the students’ disappearance, making audiences believe
that indeed something terrible happened to them and it was all caught on the recovered
30
tape. Apparently, the gimmick worked as the $60,000 production ended up making
almost $250 million at the box-office worldwide.
13

As the movie was not a memorable or outstanding piece of filmmaking in itself,
its success should most definitely be attributed to the exquisitely executed viral
campaign, demonstrating, at an early point in time, the boundlessly influential nature of
the Internet.

Cloverfield (2008)
Producer J.J. Abrams is famous for playing games with audiences and never
delivering all the goods at once. However, he took that approach a few steps further with
2008’s Cloverfield. The buzz around the film started as soon as its very first teaser trailer
appeared both in theaters and online. It did not feature the name of the film or reveal
much of the plot, which forced fans to flock to the Internet looking for information.
There, however, they were met with a series of websites for fictional consumer products
featured in various Abrams productions that contained clues regarding the nature of the
film.
Furthermore, once it was finally established that it was going to be a Godzilla-
style monster movie, Abrams’s team took a Blair Witch-like “what you don’t see makes
it even more intriguing” approach and did not reveal what the creature would look like,
even in the full-length official trailer. That prompted the start of on-going discussions and
speculations online, especially on budding Facebook and the established MySpace
platform. As a result, fans began sharing various screen grabs of all the available footage
trying to catch a glimpse of the monster, thus raising more and more awareness about the

13
Box Office Mojo n.d.
31
film. In addition, all of the film’s characters were treated to their own personal MySpace
pages that contained further clues about the plot of the movie, initiating of the very first
social media scavenger hunts.
At the time, Cloverfield successfully demonstrated the burgeoning power of the
Internet and social media platforms in particular as well as the importance of
continuously engaging one’s audience. The effort paid off, earning the $25 million
production more than $170 million worldwide.
- Audience Engagement – “You can put millions of dollars in
advertising,” says Amy Powell, president of Paramount Television, Insurge Pictures and
Digital Entertainment. “But unless you have innovative content to get consumer
response, you’re wasting your money.”
14
Indeed, the days of one-dimensional campaigns
are long gone. As mentioned above, pretty much every element of a film marketing
campaign nowadays aims at engaging potential viewers in a dialogue and additional
activities related to the title. Instead of simply delivering content that is consumed
passively, film marketers strive to provide fans with materials that they can manipulate to
create a custom experience or invite them to share their own stories through text, videos
or images on various topics depending on the movie. The opportunities are endless and
differ from title to title.
“In general, treating fans as part of the campaign as opposed to the audience for
the campaign is the future of how movies will market,” says George Dewey, SVP of
Digital Marketing at Twentieth Century Fox. “I don’t know that we’ll ever get to this
type of level [again.]”
15

14
Marich 2013
15
Chaney 2014
32
Over the past couple of years, film campaigns have been trying to do just that but
there are two titles that truly stand out in terms of engaging their audience during the
marketing process: The Fault in Our Stars (2014) and The Hunger Games franchise.

The Fault in Our Stars (2014)
The promotional machine for Josh Boone’s young-adult drama was ignited as
soon as production began, flooding social media with constant updates and shout-outs
from the set as well as questions to the fans of the book regarding their thoughts on the
creative process. The hands-on involvement of the public did not end there. Among other
things, Twentieth Century Fox, the studio behind the film, went as far as allowing fans to
dictate the schedule for the movie’s publicity tour. In addition, The Fault in Our Stars’
official website had very limited portions dedicated to generic info such as plot synopsis
and, instead, focused primarily on various social media initiatives taking place
simultaneously such as:
o #faultfanatics – a social media movement inviting fans to become official title
ambassadors giving them access to premium content and asking them to spread
the word;
o Scrapbook – an opportunity for fans to come up with ideas for additional stories,
involving the two main characters and have them illustrated and posted online;
o My Little Infinity – a unique platform inviting fans to make a promise to
themselves and share it with the world in a manner closely related to the plot of
the movie.
33
The Fault in Our Stars covered pretty much any social platform. Even its official
website was an elaborately developed Tumblr page. Most importantly, though, the team
behind the release was constantly maintaining the discussion through custom hashtags
and fresh content. “Other movies have done [social media outreach] in places,” Fox’s
George Dewey says. “We’re doing it across the board. I think the combination of the
passion that pre-existed the movie with the decision to involve fans every step of the way
is why you see so much conversation about The Fault in Our Stars now.”
16

The Hunger Games Franchise
Undoubtedly, a whole book could be written just on the extent of fan-engaging
activities that have saturated the marketing campaign for The Hunger Games movies
since the release of the very first one in 2012. In fact, each campaign in itself can be used
as a how-to guide in interacting with audiences. However, the main reason why the
franchise is mentioned here is because of the way Lionsgate, the company behind the
franchise, has embraced fan involvement and creativity in all forms in the process of
promoting the films.
While most of the online outlets dedicated to the franchise are studio-produced,
there are also many that are completely fan-made and run, containing fan fiction and art.
Some even have custom-made film-inspired souvenirs and memorabilia up for sale. As
those are not officially endorsed and do not bring profit to the studio, Lionsgate has every
right to shut them down. However, instead of doing so, the company has embraced them
and even provides them with fresh content, thus raising the bar of studio-fan interaction.

16
Chaney 2014
34
Lionsgate’s decision to allow those platforms to exist is a clear indication that the
relatively young company understands the power of online activity. Instead of using legal
force to shut those outlets down and risking fan backlash and serious negative word-of-
mouth, the company figured out that supporting the free third-party promotion would
actually raise the levels of audience satisfaction, potentially bring new fans and,
consequently, increase revenue.

A Note About Strategy
The expansive list of various tactics mentioned above is a mere way of
synthesizing the broad range of activities that PR professionals in the film industry utilize
in their quest of raising awareness for a movie. However, as any one of them will tell
you, putting random tactics together hoping to get as more publicity as possible is not the
way to go in trying to establish a solid launch pad for a release. Depending on the film,
some of the aforementioned tactics will work and others would be a waste of time and
money. Success in every case is the result of carefully developed strategy taking into
consideration a film’s needs and goals, as well as its strengths and weaknesses, especially
when you are dealing with a limited budget and trying to get the best value for your
money.
“If a film doesn’t have a distributor, doesn’t have a Universal behind it, you take
what you have and you strategically allocate whatever the budget is to where you are
gonna get the best bank for your buck. So, you wanna do the best possible job you can
because that is your window of opportunity,” says Monique Moss from Integrated PR.
“You look at the way other films are spending their money, you look at what their
35
budgets are and you try to make the best possible decision with the money you have for
the film you have – what kind of film it is, what kind of people it’s reaching, the kind of
audience you want, the kind of media placements you want, the kind of word-of-mouth
you want.”
17

Distinction between film PR and hard-selling advertising
The main difference between a PR campaign and a hard-selling advertising one is
in the amount of money that goes with the effective execution of each. As mentioned
above, advertising budgets tend to soar very high as TV networks and outdoor location
providers can charge hundreds of thousands of dollars, even millions in some cases, for a
single 30-second spot or a one-week display period, respectively. However, one TV spot
or one outdoor location would not be enough to ensure a wide audience reach and justify
the time and creative work that went into the development of the campaign. Therefore,
one can easily imagine the budget needed to carry out a hard-selling campaign for a film.
Then again, hard-selling advertising guarantees that the message will reach audiences in
the very manner it was intended to and allows a studio or an independent filmmaker to
cast the widest net in terms of getting people’s attention.
At the same time, PR is much more cost-effective but is also among the least
predictable disciplines in film marketing. The producer of the message has virtually no
control over the extent of media coverage, be it positive or negative. However, if planned
strategically and carried out carefully and professionally, a PR campaign can saturate the
media landscape with numerous third-party endorsements by respected opinion leaders
and influencers such as film critics, analysts and public figures that carry the potential of

17
Appendix B
36
being even more persuasive than a paid announcement. At the end of the day, though,
publicity campaigns are not free either. In fact, they can cost tens to hundreds of
thousands of dollars per film. However, that is only a small portion of the amount that
goes into advertising, despite the exposure limits that come with the nature of PR.

3. Film Release Platforms
Speaking of communications strategy, one of the main factors that dictate the
building process of a marketing plan for a film is its intended release platform. Naturally,
a film that will be shown in theaters nationwide will require a different approach from a
title that will only be screened at a limited number of cinema houses or one that will
appear directly on Video on Demand (VOD) services.
“It depends on what the goal of the film is and the filmmaker,” says Moss,
pointing out the very notion that different platforms help acquire separate goals.
18
More
importantly, depending on the release platform, the marketing budget of a film can vary
from the low tens of thousands to tens of millions of dollars. Therefore, to understand the
needs and reasoning behind the utilization of certain tactics over others, one must be
familiar with the characteristic differences of the various release platforms.

a. Wide Release / Nationwide Coverage – In the American film industry,
the term “wide release” is applied to movies that are exhibited at 600 or more theaters all
over the country. Because of the numerous expenses tied to releasing a film on a
nationwide basis, such as print fees, exhibitor fees and inflated marketing budgets,

18
Appendix B
37
movies that open directly into wide release are usually big studio productions or ones that
have secured strong support from some of the biggest distributors in the business.
Films that open nationwide are normally big- or medium-budget productions
whose business strategy is to invest big to win big. In fact, in some cases the marketing
costs for wide releases can equal or even exceed production costs because these are films
that profit the most from casting the so-called widest net, as discussed earlier. In addition,
wide releases are trusted with this platform not only because they are meant to appeal to a
wider demographic range but also because, as a result, they will potentially enjoy long-
lasting success in subsequent release windows such as VOD, Blu-Ray and DVD, TV, etc.
Therefore, money spent on marketing the movie up front and creating awareness for it
helps develop a recognizable brand that can then potentially yield profits for years to
come.

b. Limited Release / Niche Marketing – Opening a film nationwide is
considered the most expensive avenue to go, so many titles are given the “limited
release” treatment, targeting key cities where the film’s primary demographics and top
critics are located, hoping to initiate positive buzz and momentum via reviews and word-
of-mouth that would justify expanding into more screening locations and potentially
getting a wide release. Limited releases (also known as “platform releases”) are typically
independent films (hence, with low budgets,) art-type movies and to a large extent titles
that would appeal to a more intellectual group of people, not necessarily to the majority
of the movie-going population.
19
By American standards, a release is considered limited

19
Ulin 2014
38
when a film opens in less than 600 theaters in a few cities across the country.
20
Therefore,
unlike the nationwide approach, opening a film in limited release does not require as big
of a promotional budget, making Internet-driven campaigns the preferred method of
reaching out to audiences hoping that the film would catch on.
Additionally, limited release can also be the initial platform given to titles that are
up for award consideration, thus living up to submission rules and hoping that potential
recognition would boost audience interest, ensuring strong box-office results when (or if)
the film is eventually distributed widely a few weeks later. Many recent award favorites
have gone that route, including Silver Linings Playbook (2012), Dallas Buyers Club
(2013) and Chicago (2002), to name a few.

c. Film Festivals – Film festivals are a special kind of platform release that
serves as a means to debut independently produced films, help them gain momentum and
land a distribution deal that would then lead to limited or even nationwide exposure.
Therefore, their impact has been tremendous in terms of providing independent
filmmakers with the necessary outlets to showcase their work and find a competitive edge
in an industry dominated by a few major studios. In fact, festivals such as the ones in
Sundance, Toronto or New York City’s TriBeCa have continuously spawned successful
films, directors and stars. “If you come out of a festival with no names in it but it has the
Sundance, or Toronto, or Cannes approval, that helps,” says MPRM Communications’
Guido Gotz, commenting on those events’ game-changing power in launching titles and
careers. “That, sort of, helps with getting press cause you can say ‘Look at this – it’s been

20
Box Office Mojo n.d.
39
playing at all these festivals and it’s been getting great reviews. Please take a look at it
and, hopefully, you can write something about it.’”
21

One great example of a success story is Leigh Whannell and James Wan’s low-
budget indie film Saw (2004) that became the most talked about feature film at Sundance
after its initial screening at the festival, quickly nabbing a distributor and eventually
turning into one of the most successful horror franchises of all time, spawning six sequels
to date.
However, it goes without saying that to score big at a festival, the film has to
really be an outstanding piece. While you can get away with negative reviews on a
nationwide platform, here quality is of utmost importance for a movie’s success. “[At]
Sundance, or at festivals in general, there’s no ads involved. It has to be a quality movie
and then it gets, hopefully, picked up for a lot of money for the filmmakers,” Gotz points
out. “There, really, it relies on word-of-mouth and PR and just raising awareness in
general.”
22

d. Video on Demand (VOD) Release
By definition, VOD is a distribution system that allows users to view content as
they wish with the freedom to pause, rewind and fast-forward. It has been around for
quite some time mainly as an additional service by TV providers, offering on-demand
streaming of network content. However, in terms of utilizing VOD for the primary
release of major feature films, the platform is relatively new. In fact, with the headstrong

21
Appendix A
22
Appendix A
40
development of services like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Crackle, VOD is certainly
becoming a widely used method of releasing new titles.
“That’s another new thing that we are seeing. A lot of distributors are going with
the whole VOD model,” says Gotz, reinforcing the novelty of this distribution
phenomenon. “Sometimes it’s day-and-date – it’s in the theater at the same time it’s on
VOD. Sometimes VOD is a little bit later. And sometimes they put it out on VOD first
without any big fan fair, not even ads or editorials and interviews around VOD.”
23

A great example of how successful a VOD release can be is Joon-ho Bong’s
critically acclaimed sci-fi action flick Snowpiercer (2013). Led by an all-star cast,
including Chris Evans, Ed Harris and Tilda Swinton, the indie film had its American
premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival after it had already achieved tremendous box-
office success overseas. Following an alleged misunderstanding in the deal with US
distributor Radius-TWC, the film appeared on various VOD services, including Netflix.
However, the movie proved that what used to be a platform kept for less-than-stellar B-
movies can be quite a successful primary vehicle for a major motion picture release
without utilizing hard-selling advertising but relying mainly on PR activities.
“[At] this point, I think it’s made over $9 million on VOD alone which is crazy,”
Gotz continues. “And it did so well on VOD that the industry really paid attention to
what they did because it hadn’t really happened before.”
24

23
Appendix A
24
Appendix A
41
The Budget

As mentioned earlier, a movie’s production budget can play a pivotal role in
determining the marketing strategy for it. After all, it makes sense that if a film costs
more than, say, $70 million, then the entity behind it (studio, production company,
distributor, etc.) will indulge into a more elaborate mixture of promotional initiatives.
More importantly, a big-budget release like that automatically demands a more
aggressive, hence more expensive, marketing approach. After all, it is a big investment
that needs to be returned and make a solid profit on top of that.
A smaller production budget, however, does not necessarily lead to smaller
spending on marketing. In fact, it is not uncommon to see a film the promotional budget
of which exceeds the cost of production. There are many factors that play a role in an end
result like that but, normally, it is either because it is a studio release and the movie is
pretty bad, so intense hard-selling advertising might help boost interest and balance out
negative word-of-mouth, or it is an acquired film that is being touted for wide release by
a major distributor. A perfect example is Jennifer Lopez’s latest endeavor, The Boy Next
Door. While the film’s production cost totaled just $4 million
25
, judging from the
seemingly endless television spots and billboard posters, paired with a heavy media tour
by both Lopez and co-star Ryan Guzman, the final marketing tally must come to at least
double that amount. In the case of The Boy Next Door, the release falls in the first group –
a bad studio-made movie, featuring a major star, in dire need of some extra push to get
people in theater seats.

25
Box Office Mojo n.d.
42
The main point here is that different productions require a different marketing
approach that can be partially determined even before the product is complete. To explain
and explore how that works, the author has developed the following film categories based
on production budgets:

1. The Mega-Budget Blockbuster (Budget: $70+ million)
This category is reserved for major studio productions or smaller company titles
that have secured distribution from powerful entities in Hollywood. Rather than mere
films, though, blockbusters should be considered full-blown enterprises instead. The
reasoning behind that lies not only in the fact that, at hundreds of millions invested only
in producing one, they devour more money than some actual companies have in their
bank accounts, but also because of the astonishingly sizeable roster of secondary branded
products and services that flood the market as a result of the release of such films. The
main reason, however, is because these films are designed to appeal to a wide variety of
target audiences and entertain large portions of the movie-going population. As such,
they tend to feature a rich combination of plot point from various genres such as action,
drama, romance, etc.
For example, Roland Emmerich’s 1996 sci-fi blockbuster Independence Day was
more than just an aliens-vs-humans action flick. It actually interwove elements of
comedy (delightfully delivered by Will Smith), romance (an ongoing will-they-or-won’t-
they subplot revolving around Jeff Goldblum and Margaret Colin’s characters), drama
(the tear-jerking demise of the First Lady) and, of course, history (after all, the film’s title
itself clearly alludes to a certain very important event in America’s past). As a result, the
43
final product has the potential to resonate well with many different types of personalities
and tastes across the board.
However, to successfully incorporate all of those elements in a truly engaging
manner, budgets can run very high. Consequently, the financial risks that studios face
grow bigger as well. That is why studios tend to go all out in terms of advertising,
publicity and promotions with titles of this rank – they must ensure the widest possible
reach. In other words, the bigger the production budget, the harder the pressure to attract
a large audience and perform overwhelmingly at the box-office, hence the need for a
bigger marketing spending.
Recent examples of titles in this category include:
The Hunger Games franchise
The Avengers (2012)
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
The Hobbit franchise
Divergent (2014)

2. The Medium-Budget Flick (Budget: $20-$70 million)
This category houses films that fall predominantly into one specific genre:
romantic comedy, psychological thriller, musical, action, etc. Even though they might
contain some elements of other genres or there might be actual overlap with another
genre (e.g. action comedy, musical drama, etc.), usually one is more prevalent than the
other. These films certainly do not strive to appeal to as broad an audience as a
44
blockbuster. However, they are going after certain portions of movie-goers that are still
quite size-able.
A great example is the 2009 romantic comedy The Ugly Truth starring genre-
staple Katherine Heigl and fan-favorite Gerard Butler. From start to finish, the film
knows exactly who its audience is. There are no additional elements and sub-genres
involved aimed at expanding that target group. However, as the rom com fan base is quite
large, yet picky in its own merit, and with a solid production budget of $38 million
26
, The
Ugly Truth had to shoot for a more massive appeal, hence its reliance on a combination
between hard-selling advertising and various publicity initiatives.
Titles in this group do not necessarily have to be produced by a large studio.
However, they most definitely have the support of a major distributor and that is
determined at the very beginning of the production process. Normally, the budget for
such films runs in the upper two-digit millions because of expensive production aspects
such as prominent cast, on-location shooting, etc. Whatever the factors that affect the
final cost, though, the producers must consider them healthy investments and strong
selling points that justify the casting of a wide net when it comes to marketing. Even
though the films in this category do not cost as much as the blockbusters in the previous
one, they are still quite a hefty investment that requires some strong hard-selling backup
to raise the needed awareness for it.
Recent examples of titles in this category include:
Neighbors (2014)
The Fault in Our Stars (2014)
The Other Woman (2014)

26
Box Office Mojo n.d.
45
3. The Low-Budget Attention Seeker (Budget: below $20 million)
This is definitely the most complicated of the three budget-based categories. The
reason for that is the wide variety of productions in terms of origin, genre, company
involvement, and commercial goal that fall under it. The titles featured in this one range
from low-cost independent films with zero marketing budgets to studio-made (relatively)
cheap thrills looking to make a quick buck without too big of an investment in production
quality. As a result, these films are also the most challenging in terms of determining the
best approach in marketing them, constantly posing the question whether to utilize hard-
selling advertising profusely or just for an initial push and then drive the majority of the
campaign through PR, or abolish advertising whatsoever and bet mainly on publicity to
raise awareness.
To provide more clarity and structure, the author has divided this category into
two sub-groups based on the two major differences between the movies that fall in it:
studio-made low budget films and independent films.

a. Studio-Made Low Budget Films (Budget: below $20 million) - Earlier
in this chapter, the author mentioned Jennifer Lopez’s latest film The Boy Next Door.
That movie is the perfect example of a title that fits in this sub-group. With a relatively
low production budget by Hollywood standards and guaranteed distribution from the get-
go, movies like this one pose a lower financial risk than the titles in the previous two
categories. However, they are also among the toughest to plan for when it comes to
marketing. On one hand, if it is a relatively small production, you don’t want to (or can’t)
spend too much and, consequently, increase said risk. On the other hand, if the movie has
46
the potential to appeal to a mainstream audience (like The Boy Next Door does), then the
marketing budget, as mentioned above, may end up surpassing the cost of the actual
movie with the hopes that the total investment will be returned later in the box-office and
subsequent release windows like VOD, Blu-Ray & DVD, TV, etc.
Ultimately, with a low-budget flick on their hands, marketers look for the best
value-for-money approach. As a result, campaigns can go two ways: either invest heavily
in hard-selling advertising, bombarding audiences with ads about the film hoping to get
them hooked just from seeing it everywhere, or be more creative with publicity channels
and social media and, thus, keep the marketing budget at bay.
Recent examples of titles in this sub-group include:
Ouija (2014)
If I Stay (2014)

b. Independent Films (Budget: any amount, but tends to be below $5
million) - There are many different opinions regarding the definition of an independent
film, or an “indie.” Essentially, an indie is a film production developed and executed
outside of the major film studio system. However, the production and marketing
processes can differ greatly among separate titles depending upon certain economic
factors affecting the creative forces behind them. The most influential factor usually
tends to be the coveted distribution deal. Sometimes, an indie will land a distributor at the
very early stages of production. The reasons for that can vary widely and could range
from an attractive script and a star cast to good connections or former contractual
obligations of the filmmaker. In that case, a major burden is lifted from the shoulders of
47
the filmmaker because, in whatever capacity, their movie is guaranteed an audience. As a
result, potential funders and investors can be more easily convinced to provide financing
for the project, knowing that the final product will see the light of day, especially if a
major brand agrees to give it the stamp of approval.
For example, the Jon Favreau-penned and directed film Chef (2013) is considered
an independent production because it was produced through the filmmaker’s own
company Fairview Entertainment. However, Open Road Films, the mutual spawn of the
two largest U.S. theatrical exhibitors, AMC Theatres and Regal Entertainment Group,
acquired the movie’s distribution rights even before the start of principal photography
27
.
Obviously, in spite of not being on the roster of a major studio, the film was going to
receive a decent exposure platform.
The riskier and more intriguing type of indies, however, are those that do not have
a guaranteed distributor. Usually, such films have very limited production budgets and
even smaller financial resources for marketing purposes. “Most indie filmmakers and
artists think of marketing as an after thought and don’t understand that a PR and
Marketing plan is the most crucial element of the success of anything,” says Jennifer
Kang, a Los Angeles-based independent film professional. “The plan or campaign should
be put together as soon as possible not after you have a finished product. Like the
steering wheel, it can drive the trajectory of the success of the project.”
28

In fact, these films are just as dependent on marketing as the blockbusters are
because, unlike the latter, they are not necessarily designed to appeal to mainstream
audiences. Actually, a lot of independent films deal with unique topics and tend to have

27
The Deadline Team 2013
28
Hardwick 2013
48
more unconventional plots and narratives. Therefore, to attract a large enough audience,
the filmmakers behind them must develop a sense of the manner in which they are going
to market their creation as they start working on the movie itself
29
. Each year, hundreds
of films are made by independent directors and barely get any exposure primarily
because of poor marketing planning and insufficient resources. However, as one of the
examples in the next case study sections reveals, investing as much creative thought in
marketing as one would in the actual filming process is bound to yield good results.
Recent examples of titles in this category include:
They Came Together (2014)
Birdman (2014)
Just Before I Go (2014)

Having said all of the above, it is clear that low-budget films can be the most
vulnerable releases because, even though they do not have the responsibility of
accounting for enormous production and marketing budgets and making a profit on top of
that, they are, by definition, limited in terms of access to exposure-generating channels.
However, as suggested in section 3.a above, if filmmakers (independent or not) act
strategically in the way they market and promote their movies, they might not need that
many various channels and platforms to raise substantial awareness about their projects.
The main uncertainty here is whether hard-selling advertising is critical to getting
people in the theater or can that be achieved effectively by merely utilizing the power of
the far less costly, yet potentially more engaging, strategic public relations. As already
demonstrated, medium- to big-budget productions do need to cast the widest net to justify

29
Hardwick 2013
49
their spending and make sure that the substantial investment end up delivering profit. At
this point in time, no study needs to be conducted to conclude that productions of that
type stand the chance of making more money if aggressive advertising is involved.
However, as the public relations field has developed tremendously over the past few
years, especially in the film industry, whether it has grown enough to carry the
promotional campaign for the theatrical release of a low-budget feature film is an
absolutely legitimate question. To ascertain the answer, the author has prepared case
studies on two films – one studio release and one fully independent title. The studies and
the results from them are examined in the subsequent chapters.

50
Case Study #1: Low-Budget Studio Film

NO GOOD DEED

1. Film Overview
Directed by Sam Miller

Figure 5: Theatrical poster of No Good
Deed (2014)
Produced by
Will Packer
Lee Clay
Written by Aimée Lagos
Music by Paul Haslinger
Cinematography Michael Barrett
Edited by Randy Bricker
Production
companies
Screen Gems
Will Packer Productions
Distributed by Screen Gems
Release date
(U.S.)
September 12, 2014
Running time 84 minutes
Budget $13.2 million
Box-office gross
(U.S.)
$52,543,632
Table 1: Main production credits of No Good Deed (2014)

MAIN CAST
Idris
Elba
Colin
Taraji P.
Henson
Terry
Leslie
Bibb
Meg
Kate
del Castillo
Alexis
Henry
Simmons
Jeffrey
Table 2: Main cast of No Good Deed (2014)

51
Plot Summary
The film tells the story of Terry (Henson), a lonely mother of two, who offers
help to a handsome man (Elba) claiming that he had just experienced a car accident.
Unaware that he is actually a dangerous escaped convict, she invites him into her home
only to find herself fighting for survival when he starts terrorizing her family.

2. Organization History
a. Screen Gems - Screen Gems is a film production and distribution
company. It is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Columbia TriStar Motion
Picture Group. At present, the company specializes in producing low-budget genre films.
Since its creation in 1939, the company has gone through two major
transformations and, as a result, has served three different purposes in the Columbia/Sony
family. Initially, Screen Gems was created as an animation studio and it operated as one
until 1948 when it became Columbia’s television production subsidiary, following the
parent company’s acquisition of Pioneer Telefilms, a television commercial company. In
1974, the division was renamed as Columbia Pictures Television (presently known as
Sony Pictures Television.) The Screen Gems brand remained out of active use until 1999
when it was resurrected to serve as the name of one of Sony’s specialty feature film
divisions.
Currently, the Screen Gems headquarters are located at the Sony Pictures
Entertainment lot in Culver City, CA. Clint Culpepper serves as the company’s president.

52
b. Will Packer Productions - Will Packer Productions is an American
motion picture production company named after its founder and on-going leader,
producer Will Packer. Over the past few years, Will Packer Productions has managed to
strike production contracts with some of Hollywood’s leading studios, including a first-
look deal with Universal Pictures and Universal Television.
Will Packer Productions’ roster features titles like Obsessed (2009), Stomp the
Yard (2007), Ride Along (2014), and, most recently, The Wedding Ringer (2015).

3. Industry/Category Overview
As mentioned above, Screen Gems is a specialty feature film studio, producing
and distributing low-budget genre titles, a.k.a. films that follow the common
characteristics of a particular genre. Most of its releases can be categorized as horror,
thriller, comedy or urban feature. Unlike the major releases presented by fellow Sony
studio Columbia Pictures, Screen Gems indulges into smaller scale productions intended
for distribution in a less publicized manner.
Some of Screen Gems’ more prominent direct competitors include Dimension
Films (a subsidiary of The Weinstein Company), Rogue Pictures (a joint venture of
Relativity Media and Universal Studios), as well as Disney’s Hollywood Pictures.

4. Competitive Analysis
No Good Deed was released on September 12, 2014. On the same weekend, two
other films came out in wide release: Warner Bros.’ Dolphin Tale 2 and Fox
Searchlight’s The Drop. While Warner’s title was a family-oriented film and a sequel to a
53
2011 release, No Good Deed and The Drop fell in the somewhat similar categories of
criminal thriller and criminal drama, respectively. However, while Screen Gems’ release
appeared on 2,175 screens, Fox Searchlight’s Tom Hardy-led vehicle opened only on
809. Dolphin Tale 2 succeeded both, hitting a total of 3,656 screens in its opening
weekend.
All three titles, however, were aided in their performance by the fact that only one
wide release took place the previous weekend – the critically panned Ray Liotta and
Ashley Judd starrer The Identical – and it failed to make a significant impression at the
box-office. Also, even the fresh wide releases from two weeks prior – Relativity’s Pierce
Brosnan-led The November Man and Universal’s thriller As Above/So Below – had not
become massive hits, thus not posing a major box-office threat for the films released over
the weekends to follow.
In addition, there was not a significant entertainment event or a major holiday to
take place on or around the September release date that could have either hindered or
boosted movie-going traffic. As a result, the releases were given the great opportunity of
capturing audiences’ undivided attention.

5. Challenge/Opportunity
a. Challenge: Low quality of final product and many release date
pushbacks – One of the challenges that the studio executives found themselves facing
was the fact that the finished film was not going to impress film critics, risking the
alienation of potential moviegoers due to negative reviews. Additionally, the movie’s
54
release had been delayed on a number of occasions, leaving room for speculation
surrounding the studio’s confidence in the final product.

b. Opportunity: Lack of major competition – As mentioned earlier, the
film did not face serious competition from other releases that came out around the same
time. As a result, that provided the opportunity to stand out at the non-crowded market
and possibly eased the process of raising awareness about the title.

6. Marketing Campaign Review
Led by EVP Loren Schwartz, the marketing team at Screen Gems took an
interesting and, more importantly, creative approach in promoting No Good Deed. Rather
than coughing out millions on advertising, hoping for the best, the company put together
an engaging and strategically choreographed campaign, combining different PR elements
and social media initiatives. In fact, even Hollywood analysts were surprised by the
studio’s actions but, as demonstrated further below, the latter were quite effective.
a. Publicity / Media Relations
• Press Junket – As noted in chapter II above, nowadays studios are
moving away from the long-loved tradition of hosting a major premiere event and relying
more and more on smaller, yet more valuable (in terms of generating press) events. The
same is the situation with No Good Deed. Instead of hosting a big, glamorous and, most
importantly, expensive Hollywood premiere, Screen Gems focused efforts on a more
media coverage-lucrative press junket. According to Danielle Misher, SVP of Marketing
at the Sony-owned company, one of the reasons for that decision was the busy schedule
55
of the film’s main talent figures, Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson. However, she also
pointed out it was budgetary constraints that prompted the studio to opt for the best
value-for-money approach.
As a genre film, No Good Deed caters to a specific audience, so the list of media
invitees was designed to feature outlets that focus precisely on that. As a result, the press
junket was attended not only by film journalists and bloggers with an affinity for crime
films and thrillers, but also by numerous African-American-oriented outlets. Misher
justifies that approach by underlining how important it is to really know who your
audience is and a film like this certainly gives you the perfect opportunity to take
advantage of that.
• Screening for Critics – Initially, the film was supposed to be screened for
critics on September 10, 2014 – two days prior to the nationwide release date. However,
in the morning of that same day, Screen Gems decided to cancel the advanced screenings,
saying that the film contained an important plot twist that the studio did not want to be
spoiled for regular movie-going audiences. As a result, critics were unable to see the final
film before audiences could, restraining them from posting any negative (or positive, for
that matter) reviews.
30

Whatever the actual reason for the cancellation – be it that he studio really did not
want the plot twist to leak or they were afraid the reviews would dissuade people from
seeing the film – that was a smart PR move by Screen Gems. Not screening the film for
critics in advance of release always holds the threat of tipping off audiences that the
product must not be good if the studio opts out of the opportunity to use positive reviews
to fill theater seats. However, keeping in mind that the Screen Gems team was aware that

30
“No Good Deed” Gets Punished 2014
56
No Good Deed was not going to be a raging success with critics, the company chose to
bet on the lesser evil, so to speak, and let audiences make up their own minds.
Upon its release, No Good Deed was universally panned by critics across the
board, calling it dull, derivative and generally uninspired. The film currently holds an
average of 3.2/10 on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on a total of 50 reviews.
31

As a result, the critical response could have placed a serious obstacle on No Good Deed’s
opening weekend success if the majority of movie-goers decided to take critics’ advice
and take a pass on the movie.
• Media Placements – Screen Gems certainly took advantage of the star
power and media appeal of the film’s leading actors. In spite of the star’s aforementioned
busy schedules, the studio still managed to put together an impressive publicity
campaign, featuring a promotional media tour with guest appearances by Elba and
Henson on leading TV programs, cover stories or placements in long- and short-lead
publications, as well as mentioned in prominent entertainment websites.
- TV Appearances – Both Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson appeared
as guests on ABC’s leading late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live”
32
during the week
leading up to the opening date of No Good Deed. During their appearances, the network
aired short clips from the film and the actors shared stories related to the filmmaking
process. Additionally, Henson was a guest on a number of other programs. The more
prominent of them included a one-on-one conversation with Chris Witherspoon of
MSNBC
33
where the actress discussed the topic of violence against women (a theme
explored widely in the film), an appearance on the highly-rated morning show of Los

31
Rotten Tomatoes n.d.
32
ABC 2014
33
MSNBC 2014
57
Angeles’ KTLA5 channel
34
, as well as guest spots on BET’s “106 & Park”
35
and “Live!
With Kelly & Michael.”
36

- Long- and Short-Lead Publications – As part of the publicity
machine for No Good Deed, Idris Elba graced the September issue cover of Details
37
,
while Taraji P. Henson was the cover girl on Ebony’s October issue
38
. Both placements
generated additional coverage on highly visited outlets online (including People.com and
JustJared), as well as mentions on leading entertainment TV programs like E! News and
Entertainment Tonight, among others. In terms of short-lead publications, more notably,
Elba did an interview with The New York Times’ Sunday Magazine
39
and Henson was
the subject of a feature in UsWeekly called “25 Things You Don’t Know About Me:
Taraji P. Henson.”
40
Additional coverage in short-lead outlets was also generated using
generic interviews or press releases by Screen Gems’ hard-working PR team.
- Online Media – In addition to coverage spawned by any of the
aforementioned activities, additional online outlets paid attention to the film and its stars.
For example, GQ.com ran a feature on Idris Elba’s style and fashion sense
41
, highlighting
No Good Deed’s upcoming release. Similarly, online lifestyle magazine theYBF.com (an
abbreviation for Young, Black and Fabulous) published an interview with Taraji P.
Henson.
42

34
Rubin 2014
35
BET 2014
36
IMDb 2014
37
Sachs 2014
38
Baylis 2014
39
Chozick 2014
40
Us Weekly 2014
41
Phili 2014
42
Underwood 2014
58
• Premiere Event – As mentioned above, Screen Gems decided against
hosting a big Hollywood premiere for No Good Deed in favor of spending their budget
on a press junket and other promotional vehicles. As a result, studio organized what was
referred to as a private screening on August 27 (two weeks before the film’s official
release date) at Regal Cinemas L.A. Live in Los Angeles, CA.
43
The event was, indeed,
kept small and simple with red carpet appearances only by the film’s main stars Idris
Elba and Taraji P. Henson. Additionally, Screen Gems hosted a smaller screening party
in Miami on September 4, 2014 headlined by cast member Kate Del Castillo to utilize the
actress’ local popularity.
44

b. Social Media Initiatives - A few months prior to the release of No Good
Deed, Screen Gems set up promotional profiles for the film on various social media
platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To a large extent, the content
delivered through those profiles featured teasing images and video clips from the movie,
heavily promoting the impending release. Also, the platforms continuously promoted any
other activities related to No Good Deed, such as upcoming appearances of the stars,
published interviews, etc. Also, it is worth mentioning that, rather than having a separate
official site, the movie was treated to a uniquely designed Tumblr profile to deliver all the
information that an official site would have contained in addition to giving visitors the
opportunity to share the content elsewhere.
45

However, there were a number of meticulously orchestrated initiatives that not
only provided for remarkable audience engagement but actually left a lasting impression

43
Underwood 2014
44
Mendoza 2014
45
No Good Deed - Official Movie Site | Sony Pictures n.d.
59
on journalists and analysts alike due to their seemingly simple, yet very creative,
execution.
• “Terror Hits Home” Instagram Journey
46
- For fans of the image- and
video-driven platform, Screen Gems created an interactive experience that took
participants on a quest through a variety of secondary Instagram profiles. Using the
platform’s “tag” option, fans were invited to jump from profile to profile, uncovering
pictures and exclusive short clips that revealed parts of the film’s plot.
• #TweetToEscape Twitter Game
47
- Taking the suspense a few steps
further from the Instagram initiative, the studio launched an interesting and original game
on Twitter. Appropriately called #TweetToEscape, the game was, essentially, a fresh
digital take on the popular create-your-own-adventure type of books where participants
were presented with a set of challenges, trying to outwit escaped killer Colin Evans (Idris
Elba’s character). From the very start of the game, users were put in Taraji P. Henson
character Terri’s shoes and given two options of moving on through each consecutive
tweet. Those who managed to “escape” from the killer were treated to a special video
message from Taraji P. Henson.
The game was unique and captivating in that it utilized hidden posts and bit.ly
links to engage users with customized non-linear story telling. More importantly, the
adventure inspired users to tweet more and more about the title, driving awareness levels
for No Good Deed higher and higher.
• Social Power of Leading Actors - Even though neither Idris Elba nor
Taraji P. Henson can be considered among the world’s most famous movie stars, they

46
Sneider 2014
47
Sneider 2014
60
both have accumulated quite a hefty following on social media. Elba has almost 3.5
million fans on Facebook
48
in addition to 1.33 million followers on Twitter
49
. Henson
trumps those numbers with more than 5.6 million Facebook
50
devotees and 3.19 million
Twitter followers.
51
More importantly, both actors are very active on their accounts. Of
course, those facts did not go unnoticed by the Screen Gems team and both stars were
engaged in spreading the word about the release of No Good Deed, thus directly reaching
the film’s target audience.

c. Hard-Selling Advertising – To promote the film, Screen Gems did utilize
the help of expensive television airtime. However, it was not massive or sporadic.
Instead, the studio relied on a limited number of spots scheduled at strategically selected
time slots and programs.
• BET Awards (60-second spot) – The studio debuted the film’s first
trailer during the live telecast of the BET Awards that aired on June 29, 2014 on the BET
network. The trailer was delivered in the form of a 60-second commercial.
Despite the supposedly big price tag that came with it, the spot was a smart
investment by Screen Gems. The 2014 BET Awards attracted 7.9 million people to the
TV screen, making it the highest rated cable award show for the year by then.
52
More
importantly, the program is usually predominantly watched by the same type of audience
targeted by No Good Deed, making it the perfect vehicle to ignite the buzz for the
upcoming release.

48
Facebook n.d.
49
Twitter n.d.
50
Taraji P. Henson n.d.
51
Taraji P. Henson (@TherealTaraji n.d.
52
Wright 2014
61
Ultimately, No Good Deed needed a massive outreach like that to inform
audiences that, following a number of delays, the film was finally coming out and an
official date had been set. As a result, the tactic proved to be extremely strategic both in
terms of raising awareness about the film and overcoming any communication challenges
that the production had faced by that point in time.
• Additional TV Spots – Leading up to the release date, the studio relied
mainly on PR placements and creative online and social media content to drive interest in
the film. However, after it started to appear that No Good Deed was actually looking at
the very real possibility of claiming the coveted top position at the box-office, Screen
Gems decided to give the title an extra push through paid 15- or 30-second TV spots
scheduled during programs that cater to viewership similar to that of the movie, such as
ABC’s “Scandal” and “How to Get Away with Murder.”
Additionally, after the successful opening weekend, and possibly to offset the
negative reviews, the studio decided to use the momentum of having the #1 film in the
country
53
and extended the TV ad campaign, editing the spots to add the accolade.

7. Results
In its opening weekend, No Good Deed ended up making $24,250,283, almost
doubling its production budget. Additionally, throughout its 8-week big screen course,
the film ended up earning $52,543,632, proving to be a solid commercial success.
Even though it is hard to determine what exactly the success stemmed from, based
on the poor reviews by both critics and audiences (the film currently holds an audience
score of 59% based on 27,496 user ratings), it is safe to say that it was not due to positive

53
Alexander 2014
62
word-of-mouth. In fact, analysts from Hollywood trade publications such as Variety and
The Hollywood Reporter largely attributed the surprising success to the expertly executed
and engaging social media campaign that shamelessly underscored the film’s plot twist
with any given chance, as well as to the star power and social media appeal of the film’s
star duo.

63
Case Study #2: Independent Film

DEAR WHITE PEOPLE

1. Film Overview
Directed by Justin Simien

Figure 6: Theatrical poster of Dear
White People (2014)
Produced by
Effie Brown, Ann Le, Julia
Lebedev, Angel Lopez,
Lena Waithe, Justin Simien
Written by Justin Simien
Music by Kathryn Bostic
Cinematography Topher Osborn
Edited by Phillip J. Bartell
Production
companies
Duly Noted
Homegrown Pictures
Code Red Films
Distributed by Roadside Attractions
Release date
(U.S.)
Jan 18, 2014 (Sundance)
Oct 17, 2014 (Nationwide)
Running time 108 minutes
Budget N/A
54

Box-office gross
(U.S.)
$4,404,154
Table 3: Main production credits of Dear White People (2014)

MAIN CAST
Tyler James
Williams
Lionel Higgins
Tessa
Thompson
Sam White
Kyle
Gallner
Kurt Fletcher
Teyonah
Parris
Coco Conners
Brandon P
Bell
Troy Fairbanks
Table 4: Main cast of Dear White People (2014)

54
The film’s official budget has not been released by its production companies. However, based on the
articles and interviews cited in this case study, it is safe to assume that the budget was quite minimal,
possibly under a million dollars.
64
Plot Summary
Dear White People is a social satire that tells the stories of four black students at
an Ivy League college who find themselves in the middle of a sudden controversy over a
popular but offensive blackface party thrown by white students. Utilizing strong tongue-
in-cheek humor, the film explores racial identity in a country that is not quite over racial
stereotypes yet.

2. Organization History
a. Justin Simien – The creative force behind Dear White People, Justin
Simien, is an American film director and writer who rose to prominence with this title.
Prior to devoting himself to filmmaking full-time, Simien had built an impressive resume
in the field of public relations in Hollywood, having worked in the publicity departments
of Sony Television, Focus Features and Paramount Pictures.
b. Duly Noted, Inc. (Effie T. Brown) – Duly Noted, Inc. is an American
film production company founded and operated by Los Angeles-based producer Effie T.
Brown. Brown specializes in helping bring independent films to life. Some of her more
prominent productions include Rocket Science (2007) that won the 2007 Sundance Grand
Jury Prize for Directing and The Inheritance (2011) that won Best Actress at the 2011
American Black Film Festival. Brown is also on the Board of Directors of Film
Independent.
c. Homegrown Pictures (Stephanie Allain) – Founded in 2003 by
Stephanie Allain, Homegrown Pictures is an American film company that has produced
numerous award-winning films and short content. Some of the titles on the company’s
65
roster include Peeples (2013) and Hustle & Flow (2005). Allain also serves as the
director of the Los Angeles Film Festival.
d. Code Red Films (Julie Lebedev) – Code Red Films is a boutique film
production company founded and operated by Julia Lebedev. The company specializes in
financing and producing independent feature films. Prior to launching Code Red Films,
Lebedev has worked for Participant Media and William Morris Endeavor Entertainment.

3. Industry / Category Overview
All of the aforementioned organizations and individuals specialize in bringing
small productions by independent filmmakers to the big screen. Unlike studio-produced
titles, independent movies require special financing approaches and face serious
competition in landing a distributor.

4. Competitive Analysis
a. Original Release at Sundance Film Festival – Dear White People
officially premiered on January 18, 2014 as part of the official competition lineup at the
Sundance Film Festival.
55
Therefore, initially, the film’s main competitors were the other
15 contenders in the U.S. Dramatic category. The more prominent among them included
Cold in July (2014), Happy Christmas (2014), Hellion (2014), The Skeleton Twins (2014)
and Whiplash (2014).
b. Nationwide Release – The film hit theaters nationwide on October 17,
2014. However, in addition to opening only on 11 screens throughout the US, the movie
faced stiff competition on that day from other releases, both wide and limited. Dear

55
Siegel 2013
66
White People opened against the James Marsden / Michelle Monaghan romance The Best
of Me and the Brad Pitt-helmed Fury, as well as Fox’s animated feature The Book of Life.
On the limited release front, the film met tough competition too in the face of Alejandro
González Iñárritu’s Birdman. The following week, when Dear White People expanded to
393 theaters, it had to compete with Keanu Reeves and his action movie John Wick and
Universal’s horror flick Ouija, both of which got a wide release. However, that particular
week Dear White People was the only limited release with such an expansive coverage.

5. Challenge / Opportunity
a. Challenge: Extremely Tight Budget – Just like any independent film, the
biggest challenge that Dear White People faced from the onset of production was limited
financial resources. However, as covered later in this chapter, the filmmaker behind it
utilized unique ways to make the best of the materials and opportunities that he had.
b. Opportunity: Attention-Grabbing Title – One of the strongest assets of
the film from the very beginning was its head-turning and original title. A title like that
not only causes people to stop and pay attention but its boldness actually drives them to
look up more information on the project almost immediately. As a result, the title in itself
played a crucial role in getting not just regular people but the right people (investors) to
take notice of the budding production.

6. Marketing Campaign Review
As peculiar as it may sound, the marketing campaign for Dear White People
commenced even before the very first scene of the film was shot. Indeed, writer and
67
director Justin Simien relied on a rather creative marketing approach to raise funds and
ignite the production process of the movie. Even though the developments that take place
in the pre-production stage is so far away from a film’s actual release date and, usually,
have little effect on the promotional campaign for the finished product, in this case,
looking into the pre-production marketing activities for Dear White People is quite
necessary as they play a crucial role in the overall promotional agenda of the movie. That
is why the author decided to divide this section of the case study into three parts as
outlined below.
a. Pre-Production Activities – T his part features the activities that
filmmaker Justin Simien indulged into, trying to raise enough funds to initiate the
production process of Dear White People.
• Concept Trailer – After spending five years working on the script,
Simien was ready to start bringing his characters to life. However, before being able to do
that, the aspiring, at the time, filmmaker needed to find investors that would finance the
feat. Instead of going the more traditional path that independent directors take trying to
lift their project off the ground, which involves using the script as the main selling point,
Simien took it a step further and produced an actual concept trailer.
56
The video
illustrated not only the main plot points of the film but also demonstrated the visual and
directorial approach the young filmmaker envisioned for his production, making for a
more convincing pitch. Most importantly, the concept trailer ended up looking like the
actual full-length trailer of a film that was ready to hit theaters. The quality of the
product, paired with the engaging topic and attention-grabbing title of the potential film,

56
Robinson 2014
68
proved to be a winning recipe as the video quickly went viral on various film and
entertainment media outlets.
• Indiegogo Fundraiser
57
- After the concept trailer was completed, Simien
used it as the main selling point for a fundraising campaign on crowd funding online
platform Indiegogo. The campaign began on June 13, 2012 and ended exactly a month
later. With an initial goal of raising $25,000 to move the project from “pre-production”
phase to “in production,” the attempt ended up raking in $41,405, sending a loud and
clear message to potential investors that people were embracing the budding project.
Simien’s fundraiser ended up winning Indiewire’s Project of the Year award
58
, which
then led to an invitation to participate in the fest’s famous Filmmaker/Industry
meetings
59
, all the while generating more and more favorable buzz for the yet-to-be-
filmed project.
• Social Media Initiatives – Justin Simien laid the foundations for effective
social media presence as early as the fundraising stages of the project. Instead of just
creating profiles on Facebook and Twitter and expecting people to come flocking, Simien
embarked on a quest to build a community (or a “union,” to be exact) around his film’s
story. Through the movie’s official website and social media profiles, people were invited
to “join the union” and given the opportunity to share their personal stories related to
experiencing racial stereotypes, thus spreading the word about the film.
60
More
importantly, though, rather than aiming only at the African-American audiences, the
community was widely accepting of anyone who wanted to share their experiences.

57
Dear White People 2012
58
Bernstein 2014
59
Indiewire 2013
60
Dear White People - Help make This Movie n.d.
69
It is also worth mentioning that Simien actually utilized Twitter even prior to
writing the screenplay for Dear White People to test out how the language and tone of
voice of some of his characters would resonate with people. "The [@DearWhitePeople]
Twitter account started off as a way to see which of Sam’s jokes would land and which
would offend, and, if so, how they would offend,” the writer/director tells Complex
magazine. “It was a research tool for me long before it became a promotional tool for the
film.”
61

By extending the film’s story off the screen and to the audience, Justin Simien
actively engaged the fans instead of using them as passive consumer content, thus
initiating a long-term discussion relevant to the theme of the film and building a loyal fan
base.
• Publicity / Media Relations – As a result of the extremely successful
Indiegogo fundraiser and the incredible concept trailer, Dear White People caught the
attention of numerous leading media outlets. The seemingly ordinary story of the
independent film looking for funding was picked up by some of the most popular print
publications and online destinations, including The Washington Post
62
, Huffington Post
63
,
and Vulture
64
, among others. In addition, Dear White People went on to be named
“Project of the Week” and, subsequently, “Project of the Month” by movie and
entertainment news website Indiewire.com
65
, further expanding the future film’s list of
supporters.

61
Barone 2014
62
Butler 2012
63
Simien 2012
64
Glazer 2012
65
Bernstein 2014
70
Following the aforementioned activities, Dear White People was able to secure
funding from independent financier Julia Lebedev of Code Red Films, with additional
support from Duly Noted, Inc. and Homegrown Pictures. Once the film was completed, it
was submitted for consideration for the 2014 Sundance Film Festival where it was
admitted in the U.S. Dramatic Competition category
66
and was set to have its world
premiere with a screening on January 18, 2014.

b. Original Release Activities – This segment features the activities that the
Dear White People team performed to raise awareness for the film leading up to its debut
at the Sundance Film Festival.
• Sundance Film Festival – As soon as the first screening of Dear White
People at the festival took place, the film started receiving tons of praise and positive
buzz from audiences and critics alike. The movie event went on to receive the U.S.
Dramatic Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Talent.
67
Following the fantastic
reception and booming interest in the title, it was not long before Dear White People
snatched itself a distributor. Lionsgate’s subsidiary Roadside Attractions acquired the
film during the festival and went on to release it nationwide later that same year.
68
Prior
to that, though, the movie appeared at a number of additional festivals, including Atlanta
Film Festival
69
, Seattle International Film Festival
70
, Los Angeles Film Festival
71
and
Chicago International Film Festival.
72

66
Siegel 2013
67
Kim 2015
68
Kilday 2014
69
Dear White People - Atlanta Film Festival n.d.
70
Dear White People - SIFF n.d.
71
McNary, ‘Dear White People,’ It’s OK to Laugh, Says Director Justin Simien at L.A. Film Festival 2014
72
Sergio 2014
71
Gunning for a spot at Sundance was an obvious move for Dear White People but
also a very smart and profitable one from a PR perspective. The film received a lot of
invaluable attention from the press that helped skyrocket interest in it by the general
public, leading to a successful nationwide tour (detailed below) and tremendous
achievements at the box-office later on.
• Social Media Initiatives – Leading up to the film’s premiere at the
Sundance Film Festival, the writer-director and the majority of the cast members
provided ongoing updates through the Dear White People Facebook and Twitter profiles,
as well as on their own accounts. The updates became even more intense when the whole
crew arrived at Sundance, ultimately leading to a Google Hangout session where “union”
members from all over the country were able to interact directly with the film’s key
figures.
• Publicity / Media Relations – As mentioned above, media interest in the
film was over the top as a result of both the heightened expectations stemming from the
gone-viral pre-production activities and the actual quality of the movie. Among the
outlets that reviewed and/or recommended the title were The Hollywood Reporter
73
,
Variety
74
and Entertainment Weekly.
75

c. Nationwide Release Activities – This part features all the activities that
took place after Dear White People was acquired for national distribution by Roadside
Attractions, leading up to the film’s nationwide premiere on October 17, 2014.

73
Lowe 2014
74
Chang 2014
75
Sperling 2014
72
• Nationwide College Tour – In parallel with the aforementioned
appearances at a number of films festivals, Roadside Attractions took the film on a
screening tour at higher education establishments around the country. The schools visited
included Harvard University, as well as a string of historically black colleges.
76
Not only
was the film’s target audience precisely at those places, but said schools were also the
very locations that inspired the creation of the film. As a result, the tour evolved from a
distributional tactic to expand the “union” and make some money into a big PSA
movement, igniting discussions about the realities portrayed in the movie.
• Publicity / Media Relations – With a distributor at hand, Dear White
People was treated to a classic Hollywood-style media tour during the weeks leading up
to the film’s nationwide release date. As it had already had its official premiere at
Sundance, there was no need for another premiere event. Instead, the following publicity-
seeking initiatives carried out:
- Press Junket – The cast and crew convened to meet with film and
entertainment journalists to promote Dear White People and share their experiences over
the long journey of shooting and releasing the anticipated film.
- TV Appearances – As part of the media tour, writer-director Justin
Simien appeared as a guest on a few national talk shows. The appearance that drew most
attention was Simien’s turn at “The Colbert Report.”
77
As one of the highest-rated late
night shows in the country and one that shares the filmmaker’s affinity to clever tongue-
in-cheek humor, “The Colbert Report” certainly started a lot of extra buzz for the title
right in time for its nationwide release. Additional appearances by Simien included

76
Cunningham 2014
77
The Colbert Report 2014
73
BET’s now-defunct “106 & Park,”
78
as well as MSNBC’s “The Last Word with
Lawrence O’Donnell.”
79

- Print & Online Placements – In addition to the aforementioned TV
appearances, Simien also took some time for sit-down interview with leading print and
online outlets to spread the word about his movie. The most prominent placements
included articles in The New York Times
80
and Complex magazine
81
, as well as
interviews with online entertainment destinations The Dissolve
82
and Yahoo! Movies.
83

• Social Media Video Campaigns – While the social media profiles of
Dear White People continuously promoted all of the activities mentioned so far, over the
months of the festival runs and the college tour leading up to the nationwide release, the
PR team behind the film released a unique set of videos recorded in a PSA-ish, yet
humorous, style on various topics related to racial ignorance closely relevant to the plot
of the film. In a variety of series such “Black Face in a White Place” and “The More You
Know” the cast of Dear White People provided social commentary on pressing issues and
social misunderstandings in the form of short-form comedy skits. The videos’ funny and
creative content and execution led to them being shared profusely on social media,
raising more and more awareness for the movie.
Filmmaker Justin Simien reportedly recorded said videos during the production
process of Dear White People with the intention of using them later on in the marketing
campaign for the film. That is a perfect example of the levels of awareness that

78
Diaz, Justin Simien: 'There Are Many Different Black Voices, We Should All Be in the Room' 2014
79
MSNBC 2014
80
George 2014
81
Barone 2014
82
Robinson 2014
83
Polowy 2014
74
independent filmmakers should have of the way their film will be marketed as early as
the filming stages of production. Not only does it alleviate costs since you already have
the cast present and the equipment set up, but it also allows you to build content that is so
much more creative and impressive.
- Special Messages from Justin Simien – In addition to those videos,
right before the nationwide release of the film, Justin Simien posted personalized videos
to the different town in the country where the movie was going to open, demonstrating
one more time his understanding of communicating directly with people and engaging
them in the promotional campaign.
• Hard-Selling Advertising – Dear White People did not utilize paid
advertising to promote the theatrical release of the film. It wasn’t until the box-office
success of the film and after its theatrical run that TV spots began airing here and there
promoting its upcoming release on VOD and Blu-Ray and DVD.

7. Results
Over the course of its 11-week theater run, Dear White People ended up
collecting more than $4.4 million at the box-office
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which is remarkable
accomplishment for a film on a limited release without a major production company
behind it. While the film’s intriguing plot and eye-catching title certainly played a big
role in getting people in theaters, if it weren’t for the spectacular PR and social media
campaign that really focused on the important aspects of the film’s story and certainly
demonstrated that the filmmakers knew who their audience was, the movie could have
easily come and gone without much of an impact.

84
Box Office Mojo n.d.
75
Findings & Observations

While the two films featured in the preceding case study analyses have little in
common in terms of plots, budgets and production background, the both definitely serve
as a perfect demonstration of the ongoing development of public relations and inevitable
transformation of the use of paid hard-selling advertising in film marketing. As
mentioned on a number of occasions in the previous chapters, paid hard-selling
advertising is a tool that has the power to grant widespread overnight awareness.
However, with the rapid development of relatively new promotional strategies such as
social media utilization, direct audience interaction and earned (a.k.a. practically free)
media coverage, expensive TV or print ads are no longer the only way to reach a massive
number of people at once. More importantly, in a media environment overflowing with
content provided from various sources, simply informing the audience that a film is out is
no longer enough – people must be lured by the creative elements of the movie, they need
to feel involved into the journey of bringing it to the big screen and should be convinced
that it is worth their time and money when there are a million other means on which they
rely for entertainment purposes.
So, the big question that inspired the study at hand emerges again and, this time
around, it demands an immediate answer: can PR activities alone be sufficient enough to
lay the foundations for a solid performance at the box-office for a new theatrical feature
film release without relying on the already-established power of paid hard-selling
advertising? The short answer is not just yet. However, after carefully comparing and
analyzing the marketing campaign for No Good Deed and Dear White People, the author
76
reached the conclusions listed below, demonstrating that “not just yet” is not an
indication of the enduring potency of paid advertising but rather a sign of its slow but
steady dethronement as the preferred go-to awareness generator.

1. Advertising alone cannot sell a movie – strategic communication can
For decades, marketing professionals refused to blur the lines between advertising
and publicity-seeking initiatives. In fact, only recently have communication specialists
begun to support the notion that PR is not a mere synonym to spinning information in a
plausible way but it can actually be a very effective tool in reaching audiences on a more
intimate and less formal level. With the rapid growth of the Internet and social media
came the process of convergence of communication platforms. Most importantly,
audiences were given the opportunity to voice their feelings of excitement or
disappointment in a free and immediate manner. Naturally, the passive absorption of
advertisements and commercials in a world where people could easily ignore them or
skip through them would no longer do the trick. The campaigns for No Good Deed and
Dear White People, as well as the examples featured in Chapter III, clearly demonstrate
that promoting a film effectively nowadays involves the creative and strategic mixing and
matching of various communication tactics and platforms. Therefore, while the main
objective of this paper is to figure out whether PR alone can “sell” a movie, to answer
that adequately, first it is important to point out that, obviously, advertising alone cannot
do that anymore.

77
2. Advertising is transforming from a leading marketing channel to a
host of PR tactics
One of the most glaring results from the aforementioned process of media
convergence is the ever-growing interconnectedness of all promotional activities for a
film. While ad campaigns used to be considered a completely separate entity from any
other publicity-generating initiatives, they are now more and more tightly woven with PR
and social media activities in terms of messaging, timing and content.
A great example of that shift is the advertising move made by Screen gems to
kick-start the promotional campaign for No Good Deed. As mentioned in Chapter IV, the
campaign leading up to the release featured a limited amount of TV spots. However, the
latter were timed very carefully and strategically in accordance with the overall PR plan.
The 60-second spot that aired during the BET Awards on June 29, 2014 reached a large
portion of the film’s main target audience due to its strategic scheduling. However, rather
than marking the start of a big hard-selling advertising campaign, the TV spot was just a
tactic that was carried out as part of a PR strategy to get the publicity and social media
machine for the film going after a number of release date push-backs. From a marketing
point of view, this move can be compared to the commercials that air during the Super
Bowl. While they do reach a massive number of people, the mere fact that a spot is part
of the official Super Bowl ad roster, automatically makes it so much more influential and
bestows upon it an intrinsic social value stemming from the cult-like reputation and
popularity that those commercials have amassed over the years (as a result of on-going
PR activities). In a similar way, airing a TV spot for No Good Deed during the BET
Awards, which is one of the primary entertainment programs catering mainly to African-
78
American audiences, was a move designed to lead into further PR endeavors rather than
an overwhelming advertising campaign. In addition, the spots that aired over the days
prior to the release all encouraged viewers to join the party on social media, mentioning
specific hashtags and activities such as the Twitter and Instagram games.
In the case of Dear White People, the film did not utilize hard-selling advertising
until its VOD and home entertainment release. However, that was merely the result of a
strategy implemented to reach beyond the massive core of fans that the film had already
accumulated through its elaborate publicity and social media campaign. Dear White
People had already accrued a rich track record of positive feedback and audience
reactions. Therefore, airing a few spots during programs geared toward audiences similar
to the ones to which the film would appeal was an untested way to encourage people who
had not seen or heard of the film to look it up and be met with all of the wonderful
comments it caused.
So, both films relied on paid advertising to a certain extent. However, in both
cases the use was propelled by grand public relations plans to bring together and utilize
various elements of the overall promotional campaign, demonstrating that advertising is
slowly but surely losing its long-held independent nature and becoming a PR tool.

3. Creativity is Key
Finally, one thing that stood out from both case studies was that, while relying
heavily on paid advertising is not necessarily the way to reach success at the box-office,
if a studio is going to utilize mainly PR activities to raise awareness about a title and get
people excited, those activities need to be not only impeccably executed but also, and
79
most importantly, very original. Yes, PR and social media endeavors are certainly on the
rise when it comes to marketing an upcoming film. However, the main reason why both
No Good Deed and Dear White People managed to stand out was because of their
unusual and highly creative campaigns. The special content and initiatives that the latter
featured attracted people’s attention because they were fresh, original and perfectly
tailored to the theme of the respective movie. Therefore, it is not enough to just be active
on social media and host a few media-oriented events. In a world where people’s
everyday lives are oversaturated with information, to make your intended audience care,
the content you put out there must be fun and captivating, delivering a unique experience
or an innovative take on a proven successful tactic. Essentially, not spending big bucks
on paid advertising and expecting big results requires a lot of work and massive levels of
creative thinking. The feat is not impossible but it certainly can be challenging.

80
Conclusion

One of the golden rules of any type of business is that you have to invest money
to make money. This notion is not at all different when it comes to marketing a motion
picture. However, as the findings in the preceding chapter demonstrate, the mere
spending of funds does not guarantee success. The author believes that herein lies the
portal for increased PR presence. It is creativity, strategic approach and fine knowledge
of your audience’s likes and dislikes that can make or break a campaign.
Both No Good Deed and Dear White People stand as examples that box-office
success can be achieved without breaking the bank but they also indicate that it cannot be
done with absolutely on a zero budget either. Surely, Dear White People did not splurge
on an expensive hard-selling campaign to promote the film’s theatrical release. However,
producing the short video campaigns on social media and traveling to different festivals
and media appearances all cost a pretty penny – definitely not as much as a long-running
TV ad campaign would have cost but still not free. Regardless, the study at hand did
manage to point out that, by combining hard work and proper expertise, it is, indeed,
possible to rely primarily on PR endeavors to successfully market a movie.
One of the underlying notions that emerged from the case studies of No Good
Deed and Dear White People is that the ever-growing power of PR and fading
prominence of paid advertising are directly related to the ongoing development of
technology and new media. Therefore, it remains to be seen how much more influential
and effective the work of PR professionals will become as communication platforms
continue to evolve.
81
Finally, film marketing is a process that features too many variables and, no
matter what the budget is, there is always the desire to make it bigger. The even more
frustrating part is that promotional planning and cost allocations are done (or at least
should be done) before the final product is finished, making it that much harder to nail
down its strongest selling points and the elements that make this particular film stand out
among the competition. As Jeffrey C. Ulin writes, “[this] is not like marketing one brand
of soap against another.”
85
Indeed, promoting a film acutely resembles an intense
thinking-on-the-go chess game in which the blind are leading the blind. As a result,
driven by emotion, imperfect information, extremely high stakes, and fierce competition,
passions can run high.
86

85
Ulin 2014
86
Ulin 2014
82
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L.A. Film Festival. June 19, 2014. http://variety.com/2014/film/news/dear-white-people-
its-ok-to-laugh-says-director-justin-simien-at-l-a-film-festival-1201223608/.
—. ‘No Good Deed’ Surges to Possible $25 Million Opening at Box Office. September
12, 2014. http://variety.com/2014/film/news/box-office-no-good-deed-opening-weekend-
1201304765/.
—. ‘The Interview’ Will Lose $30 Million, ‘Not a Game-Changer,’ Says NATO. January
16, 2015. http://variety.com/2015/film/news/the-interview-will-lose-30-million-not-a-
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2014. http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/7-film-related-viral-marketing-campaigns-that-
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Appendix A – Interview With Guido Gotz, Director of Film Publicity, MPRM
Communications

Staffo Dobrev: Based on your experience and your observations of the industry, do
you think a movie can succeed in attracting a solid audience utilizing only public
relations initiatives such as media placements, publicity stunts and other audience-
engaging activities without relying on hard-selling print, TV and outdoor
advertising?
Guido Gotz: Honestly, I think it depends on the movie. If the movie is bad, then they
would have to rely on ads because it would get bad reviews and that won’t really get the
movie anywhere. Word of mouth I feel like is really important. I just did Horns with
Daniel Radcliffe and I don’t think they took a lot of ads or ad buys for TV commercials
but Daniel did a lot for it.

SD: But did it attract an audience? Did people go see it in the theater?
GG: The thing is it didn’t. It didn’t do well in theater but they had released it on VOD
three weeks before. That’s another new thing that we are seeing. A lot of distributors are
going with the whole VOD model. Sometimes it’s day-and-date – it’s in the theater at the
same time it’s on VOD. Sometimes VOD is a little bit later. And sometimes they put it
out on VOD first without any big fan fair, not even ads or editorials and interviews
around VOD. They want to keep everything for the theatrical release. So, it didn’t do well
in theaters but it did really well on VOD.

SD: Are they really making good money on VOD? Is that a good platform?
GG: Yes. Radius-TWC, specifically, who did Horns, their big one that changed the game
in the industry was Snowpiercer, which I also did over the summer.

SD: I saw it, actually, the other day. It’s on Netflix.
GG: Oh, really? They didn’t even plan on releasing it on VOD so soon after [it’s
theatrical release.] They opened it in theaters. It was the opening night of LA Film
Festival and then only two weeks after they put it out on VOD and, at this point, I think
it’s made over $9 million on VOD alone which is crazy. And it did so well on VOD that
the industry really paid attention to what they did because it hadn’t really happened
before. A movie of that, sort of, scope – cause it is an independent movie, but at the same
time it’s a sci-fi movie with a big cast – so they really went all out with the VOD release.
It was an experiment for them.

SD: I think I was actually at the movies when you guys started working on it. I
remember Alex having me do some stuff for Snowpiercer.
GG: That was a brilliant campaign from our side as well. There was a lot of interest. The
movie was good. People liked the filmmaker from his previous work. Once people saw
the movie, they liked most of the performances and we got just so much different stuff
out of it. It’s not only the straightforward editorial pieces and interviews. But we also did
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the sketchers of the train that director Bong used. I think the New York Times ran that.
New York Magazine did different GIFs form the movie with Tilda [Swinton.] It was just
really a perfect storm of everything coming together and, honestly, I feel like there wasn’t
much advertising spent on it. I didn’t see that much. It just really relied on word-of-
mouth, social media, editorial – our publicity campaign. And it worked. We only really
had Tilda [Swinton] and Ed Harris on the carpet cause no-one else was available. Chris
Evans only was available at Comic Con and he gave us an hour of a press conference, not
even one-on-one interviews. And that was a month after the movie had opened up
already. That did a little bit more as well but, you know, it was mainly just a really good
campaign with a mix of everything.

SD: And you guys came up with everything?
GG: Together with Radius and the New York agency, which, I believe, was Falco. It was
just really well strategized. Nowadays, even with ads, who watches TV live anymore? I
feel like everyone tapes on DVR or TiVo and then just fast-forwards through the ads. I
can only speak for me but I feel like other people do this as well. I mean I don’t know
what the middle of the country does, but I feel like it’s gotten so common that people tape
everything and don’t watch stuff live anymore and just don’t even care about ads. I know
I haven’t seen a TV ad in forever. Only when I watch TV live when I’m bored I see ads
and that’s it. Online, I don’t even look at ads, like at all. They are there but I don’t pay
attention. In print, it depends. I still read papers and I prefer reading papers to online.
Online is obviously quicker and more accessible but I do like, especially in the Sunday
New York Times, I do like the big print ads. I just think they are cool. And sometimes
through that I notice a movie or a TV show that I hadn’t heard of yet or there hadn’t been
any editorial yet. So, through the ad I get interested but I feel like, overall, these days
they are not as important anymore as editorial. Having said that, if a movie’s terrible and
you cannot get any PR for it, even if there’s a big name in it but the writers watch the
movie and don’t like it, and there’s like no written stories – you don’t get an LA Times
piece, you don’t get a New York Times piece – that’s when I feel like ad buying would
be more efficient for the distributor or the production company, so there’s a little
awareness of it. Cause if you can’t get anything, something should be in the paper or
wherever, or online.

SD: Does that mean that you think that people should start mainly with PR first and
then rely on TV nowadays?
GG: At least with the smaller movies, yes. I think it still helps if you have a small ad in
the paper at least for that week when the movie comes out even if it’s a small film and
you don’t have a big budget. I think it helps to have that in the paper, so people are aware
of it. Because nowadays there can be between twenty and thirty movies opening on a
weekend, cause it’s small movies and they’re just out there but no-one knows about them,
so to stand out, and you can’t get an editorial piece on it or anything on it, then the ad
helps.

SD: In relation to what you just said about advertising, some studies that I have
gone over actually suggest that still TV and print ads are the most preferred method
an upcoming title because studios seem to think that they draw in the biggest
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amount of crowds. So, I think you already kind of answered this but do you think
that films that cannot afford a lavish TV and print campaign are doomed to box
office mediocrity at the theater and should they look, based on what you said, into
other platforms such as VOD and home entertainment?
GG: I think so. Especially if you don’t have a big budget and you really are small movie,
then I think you should try and rely more on PR. Having said that, even for a small movie
you should have a small ad in the paper. It just helps. It really depends how small the
movie is, if you have a big name in it cause that’s some sort of incentive that you might
get an editorial out of it, obviously, instead of just a tiny movie that no-one’s ever heard
of that hasn’t played at a festival even that’s just all of a sudden out there. Festivals are
another thing. If you come out of a festival with no names in it but it has the Sundance, or
Toronto, or Cannes approval, that helps. That, sort of, helps with getting press cause you
can say “Look at this – it’s been playing at all these festivals and it’s been getting great
reviews. Please take a look at it and, hopefully, you can write something about it.”

SD: Is it the PR person’s or the filmmakers’ job to submit the movie to festivals?
GG: The filmmaker’s. Cause we don’t really come on board until the movie is at a
festival. We’ve been watching a couple of movies already for Sundance, for example, but
that’s through the production companies who said “We have submitted this, but we
haven’t heard yet” cause Sundance only announces the week after Thanksgiving, so they
only tell their filmmakers after Thanksgiving if they got in or not but they want us to
watch it already in case it gets in and if we wanna work on it.

SD: So that you can have ideas already in mind.
GG: Yeah, exactly. But, generally, it’s the filmmaker who has to submit the movie to the
festivals. If we really like the movie we can go to the festival and say, basically, “This is
a good one, please put it on top of your pile” cause they get so many submissions that
they don’t know what to watch first. That way we can help a little but we can’t really
help it get selected. It’s just a way to sort of nudge in the programmers and be like “Take
a look at this, it’s good.”

SD: But you do your best to raise awareness about the movie at the festival itself.
GG: Yes, exactly. It’s always at the festival. Which is actually my favorite – launching a
movie at a festival cause no-one really has heard of it and it’s just so cool to be part of
that whole set of first screening and first reactions and, hopefully, it goes well and then
the movie sells and then you get to, hopefully, work on the general release campaign as
well. It’s always very cool when that happens. Cause at Sundance, or at festivals in
general, there’s no ads involved. It has to be a quality movie and then it gets, hopefully,
picked up for a lot of money for the filmmakers. There, really, it relies on word of mouth
and PR and just raising awareness in general.

SD: I feel like at the end of my thesis, in the Findings chapter, the first sentence is
going to be “You have to make a good movie and then…”
GG: Well, it’s true. But then again, filmmakers think they made an amazing movie and
it’s not. And then they have sometimes such high expectations. We try not to take on
movies that are shit. We really try to not work on them. I did a movie called 50 to 1. It
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was self-distributed. It didn’t have a distributor. The guy who produced it used to be
Kevin Costner’s producing partner, so he had money, so he just self distributed the whole
thing but then it also wasn’t a great movie and he was expecting a lot of things. He had
such high expectations and I tried to manage those expectations from the moment we
talked to him about it. That’s another thing – you really have to… well, not set the bar
low cause you don’t wanna be a pessimist, but some people just really think they have
got God’s gift on their hand and you know that there’s no interesting angle there, there’s
no-one in the movie or people who are old-fashioned TV stars that no-one cares about
anymore, or C-list celebrities. But I was able to actually get him an LA Times piece
because one of the guys who was in it was also in 24 and the new season had just started
again and it just so happened that the writer wanted to include this movie as well. It was
good timing. But apart from that, it bombed and it also didn’t play in good theaters. I
don’t even think it played in one good theater in LA, only in surrounding areas of LA, so
it was sort of doomed.

SD: It’s easier, I guess, to promote a movie that’s good, that people are actually
excited to see rather than something that’s you know for sure is not very good, so…
GG: I mean, Horns is not my kind of movie but it’s a good movie, not a great movie –
but I had Daniel Radcliffe. He was available to us and it’s sad because he did a lot of
stuff in the summer for What If, his romantic comedy, which also bombed, but he was
everywhere. And people love him and that helped a little.

SD: Why do you think then that it bombed if he did all these things to promote the
movie?
GG: Honestly, I don’t know. And it got decent reviews. It’s puzzling to me and I went to
see it and I actually really liked it. I was surprised how much I liked it. It just didn’t do
well and I don’t know why. But I feel like that happened with A-list celebrities before.
Robert Pattinson has done a lot of smaller movies but they all tanked and you would
think all the Twilight girls or anyone would go see the movie that Robert Pattinson is in
but no.

SD: Remember that Remember Me film?
GG: I didn’t even see that. I did one called Little Ashes, which was right after the first
Twilight. He played Pablo Picasso and no-one went to see it. He wasn’t available to us
either which didn’t help. I remember I got an EW cover offer for him and he didn’t
wanna do it. He didn’t wanna do “Ellen.” I think it’s that he had just done everything for
Twilight but people wanted him back.

SD: Aren’t they kind of contractually obligated to do promotion for their films?
GG: For the big stuff, not if it’s an independent movie. But talking about bad movies,
I’m working on one right now for Millennium that I work with a lot cause I like them.
It’s called Reach Me. It’s Sylvester Stallone and a ton of people. It’s Stallone, Kelsey
Grammer, Nelly with the band-aid, Kyra Sedgwick, but the movie is terrible. To this day,
we haven’t gotten a thing for the movie. None of the cast is available for interviews. We
are gonna do a premiere cause Stallone is coming and I think they had to do a premiere
contractually because it was a Kickstarter campaign, so they promised all the backers.
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But I won’t get a thing on this movie, only probably an LA Times review. That’s it. But,
thankfully, Millennium knows. They told me from the beginning that it’s a really bad
movie, do what you can, but no-one’s available. And everyone who’s seen it hates the
movie.

SD: So you did have screenings for press?
GG: Yeah, yeah. That’s what Millennium was like – let’s just get reactions and see how
it screens and that’s it. It’s very helpful when the distributor actually knows that it’s bad
in terms of expectations, so you’re not so stressed about it cause if they would think it’s
God’gift then we’re screwed.

SD: Going off of what you said about how you can do a lot of things for a movie,
have the star of the movie go and be everywhere and still not have big box office
success, there is obviously not a PR formula guaranteeing people to come to the
theater but you must have a number of go-to strategies that have proven to you over
the years that they really work. What are they? What tactics do you rely on when
you’re faced with the challenge of a low promotional budget? Can you give me some
of the most effective ones that work across the board in terms of getting media
placements and getting awareness among viewers?
GG: I think our biggest movie in terms of best campaign this year was Snowpiercer. The
movie was liked; it was well received. People were interested in Tilda, obviously. But
also, apart from that, there was a lot of social media going on. A lot of people tweeted
about it. A lot of Buzzfeed and Vulture and all these high profile websites they just took
movie under their wings and came up with their own stuff, which is always great. That
was a really good one. The one I haven’t worked on but it just came out was Dear White
People. No one in it, no name in it but it started at Sundance this year, got great buzz
there. It got picked by Roadside Attractions. It went to a ton of different festivals and it
was gaining steam since Sundance continuously. And I don’t think they had a big
advertising budget but it did really well opening weekend because I know they also had a
really specific social media campaign and it was a ton of word of mouth about this
movie. And it’s for a specific market – it’s African-American. I didn’t really like it. I
don’t know if its’ because I’m white or not but I feel like I got it and I still did not like it.

SD: I feel like it was the same case, to a certain extent with No Good Deed, because it
was also more African-American oriented and those titles have a wider appeal
among that community.
GG: And I feel like it’s a community that sort of has a wider reach within its own people
and that’s why word of mouth is probably better and that’s why they all went to the
theater.

SD: So, basically, again it comes down to doing a good movie.
GG: Yes, again. I don’t know if I would’ve gone to see Dear White People but the
filmmaker is a friend of mine, so I wanted to support his work. I went because of the
good word of mouth, that’s basically it. I mean I knew Justin [Simien] but also because of
the rave at Sundance and then how it gradually grew over the rest of the year at all those
festivals and the New York Times review was a rave, sort of like a love letter to the
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movie. There were great pieces in the New York Times, the LA Times… the movie was
everywhere and not necessarily with TV commercials cause I didn’t see them anyway. I
didn’t really care about ads, in general, for this one but because of the buzz that it had and
the good word of mouth I wanted to see it. That’s the only reason.

SD: As I told you, I am going to do a case study on both studio films and
independent films, so besides Snowpiercer, can you give me another example of a
low budget studio movie or an indie that did well and it attracted an audience
without spending too much money?
GG: I think Dear White People. That’s the most recent one that I can think of. I thought
Moonrise Kingdom was a good one too. I did that one. It was one of the biggest
independent weekend openings that year. I think it was the second biggest with a
$145,000 per screen average which is crazy cause usually it’s like $15,000.

SD: One thing that I’m struggling to define is the definition of low budget. How big
is a low budget? For some cases it can be $10 million and compared to some movies
that is very low but compared to others it can be ten times bigger.
GG: It’s so weird cause when I think about the requirements for the Independent Spirit
Awards, you can get in without spending more than $20 million on a movie but that’s not
small. That’s a big movie. That cannot be seen as an independent movie. That makes me
crazy because if you really wanna celebrate independent film at the Independent Spirit
Awards it shouldn’t be $20 million cause who can raise that these days? Most filmmakers
really don’t have money.

SD: You touched upon this all over, but for an independent filmmaker trying to get
an audience for their movie with little or no money to spend on marketing, what
would your three main suggestions be?
GG: Hire a PR agency. These days I feel like social media is everything. If you tweet and
re-tweet and Facebook and God knows what else you can do with social media, it’s like
people are aware of it, more so than taking time out to sit down and read an actual piece
in the newspaper. It’s instant. And you just get it straight away. If it’s on Facebook, even
if it’s just a couple of lines, if it’s friends of friends and recommendations… I mean
yesterday, I loved this movie so much The Way He Looks which I don’t work on but I
loved it so much that I put it on Facebook and people who know me and, hopefully, trust
my taste will probably go see this smaller movie that isn’t Interstellar or Theory of
Everything or has a sort of studio behind it. So, they should really rely on social media
and friends and just getting the word out in an old-fashioned way. Obviously, we as a PR
agency can help with getting the bigger pieces but there isn’t a lot of money social media
is definitely the best way to go.

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Appendix B – Interview With Monique Moss, Founder, Integrated PR

SD: What I am exploring is whether you can really attract a big audience for a small
either studio-made or independent film on a small budget without relying so much
on expensive hard-selling advertising and really utilizing a lot of different PR
initiatives. So, my first question is, based on your experience and observation in the
industry, do you think a movie can attract a large audience only utilizing public
relations initiatives such as media placements, or stunts, or audience-engaging
activities on social media or word-of-mouth stuff without relying on TV ads, or
billboards or print advertisements?
MM: Yes and I think that there are different goals for different movies. I’ll give you a
couple of case studies. One of the films that probably Jen told you about is Geoffrey
Cowan’s son Gabe Cowan’s film. The films he makes are very limited in budget. Anyone
you talk to in smaller agency is gonna be working with films where not only the budget’s
restricted but their filmmaking expenses. This cost $1.5 million to make. It’s an epic
movie set in the 1970’s and it looks like $5-7 million. It really does. You would not be
able to tell it was $1.5 million. And just the award season budget for a movie like this,
like Forgotten, is $25,000. So, we got a $25,000 budget. What you look at when you
have this kind of movies - for Gabe Cowan’s film Cheap Thrills which my guess is he
probably makes his films for $400,000-500,000 tops, that’s the independent model for
small films. Let’s just say tops is at half a million. They have different goals, so you have
to look at what the film’s goal is. Every film’s first goal is to find a distributor and get it
into the theaters. That’s the first goal. There are different goals now. Everybody wants
their film to at least play at a Langley theater or a Regal theater which are really good
independent theaters in Los Angeles or some of the cities, let’s just use Los Angeles as a
model.
It depends on what the goal of the film is and the filmmaker. Gabe Cowan makes half-a-
million dollar films and sometimes less, sometimes two-three hundred thousand, that are
absolutely wonderful with terrific actors and good content and he takes them to film
festivals. If the goal for every film is to get bought, or acquired – it’s called “acquisition
by distributor” – there’s gonna be a couple of different paths to do it and that’s where
publicity comes in and it’s strategic publicity. It’s not the old-fashioned type where
people look at getting as many eyeballs to see it and it’s much word-of-mouth and it’s
much critical lauds if the goal is to get a distributor to buy it. The goal is to get the right
people to see the movie at the right time and snap it up. And then you start worrying
about everything else. PR has moved and broadened out into that sort of space in the last
couple of years and movies like Gabe Cowan’s that are younger, that appeal to the 25-35
years old movie-going audience always screen at movie festivals like SXSW and it’s the
relationship of excellence and it will get picked up by a distributor. At that point much of
the media placements, much of the word-of-mouth, critical lauds won’t matter that much
96
to a person your age, they really won’t… so, you have to look at what the other
components are that make each movie successful. Different movies have different
pathways. Gabe Cowan’s movies, almost all of them, are film festival movies. He’s got
an alternative type fair product, like a movie called Cheap Thrills. It’s great to look at.
They got into SXSW, it was snapped up and it showed there and in limited at 12 other
markets. We worked on it week by week by week. They had a local firm that does
guerilla marketing that did fantastic.

SD: Was this only in the US?
MM: Yeah, most of these small films on a limited budget, we are talking about US.
Independent films here are not gonna play that well overseas unless they are like The
Theory of Everything. And to look at those films and for you to get into your research to
do that, you wanna look at the Spirit Awards. You wanna look at what’s nominated there.
I can refer you to someone that may or may not take time to do it. He mentored me on
this. He gave me advice. He is about ten years older than me. He couldn’t work on it but
was kind enough to give us some guidance at the beginning. I’ll walk you through what
you do on a campaign.
This (the foreign-language Bolivian film) is ongoing. I don’t think this is necessarily
gonna get an Oscar nomination but I can tell you of the competitive nature. If you go
back to Gabe Cowan and his competitive nature and you look at movies that he makes –
low budget movies that will never get nominated for a Spirit award but they will get into
SXSW which is one of the top three festivals. Cheap Thrills got in last year, it got a
release date and it came out early this year (2014.) It takes that long for a distributor to
pick it up and make their marketing plan. Very limited ad budgets – so limited that their
premiere was at a 99-seat theater on Fairfax that you burp at when you drive by. But it
was cool for the film and it fit and it was grungy and it was hip and it’s got good stars and
it was enough to generate good press to get the film into two or three Lemleys. And then
it played into two or three Lemleys and they made back their money. One of the people
you should talk to is whoever does the VOD angle of the deal cause that’s what’s really
important nowadays. That, I am sure, with the Gabe Cowan films, which will be far more
profitable than these films (Bolivian foreign language film) will be. I can tell you the
prices for Lemley theater cause we do book at theaters. We do do that nowadays. We
never used to do that five or ten years ago. Now we do. You have to have all that
knowledge to launch a film and do a campaign in LA. So, a film like Gabe Cowan’s
Cheap Thrills that plays to 25-35 year-olds, I am sure, on VOD or Netflix, whatever
those deals are, that maybe pretty much simultaneous are digital platforms that you can
go access cause you’re not gonna go to the Lemley theater, are probably what is the
tipping point that puts it into profitability.

97
SD: That’s really what I’ve been told by other people that I have interviewed. I used
to intern at MPRM and they were telling me about Snowpiercer.
MM: Mark and Rachel are just fantastic. Mark Pogachefsky is one of the best. He is very
good. I have great respect for him.
So, I think that is the tipping point. That’s for Gabe Cowan. Now, when you have films
like his that are really good and the other one that he produced that was supposed to be
the big hit for last year was Courteney Cox’s and I just blanked out on it. It was at
Tribeca (Film Festival.) It’s called Just Before I Go. So, we worked on it from start to
finish.

SD: I was trying to remember if it was Tribeca or Sundance.
MM: Most of his films don’t get into Sundance to tell you the truth. I don’t think he’s
ever had a film at Sundance. He rarely goes to Sundance. For some reason, his style of
filmmaking is far more SXSW but he did a bigger one and filmmakers like him try to get
in the first one you get because it can be the answer towards a distribution deal. Tribeca
was Courteney Cox. We loved the film. We saw it early with Geoffrey Cowan. I was the
first one to see it with him. It was a wonderful film and it’s got terrific actors. And we let
a little bit of critical stuff leak out and then put PMK on it in New York, we were on it
out here. We did most of the Gabe Cowan interviews. We launched it big and helped him
get his next two to three films going. He’s a doer. He gets it done. Good amount of hype.
Everybody was at the film premiere. Good amount of publicity. Courteney Cox even did
the Today Show. We had Gabe on 20 major film outlets. Huffington Post wasn’t nice. A
couple of the other ones didn’t wanna deal. It doesn’t matter. Her ex-husband David
Arquette – they have such a nice family relationship now – he plays an asshole in the
film. And I think that there’s different angles, not necessarily the budget, that we spent
that much time doing it. So, you try to do things that way. For a film like this, obviously
they didn’t do any advertising. For Cheap Thrills very little and it depends on the movie.
It depends on the target audience and it depends what the platform market is. Most of
these independent films are opening up in what’s called “platform.” You open it up in a
market where you know your weekend box-office will be great. And I’ve worked on
award campaigns for Oscar and for documentaries as well.
A documentary that I had last year that was extremely successful at the box office that
did very very targeted advertising but they had a corporate parent who underwrote some
of it because they had their products in the film. That one is called Generation Iron and
it’s a good one to look at too. It was a sequel to Pumping Iron. We did that awards
campaign here last year. It didn’t get nominated for anything. It wasn’t a particularly
great film. It was an OK film. You know, for muscle heads – it’s about working out. This
one (the Bolivian foreign language one) is a much better film and I can tell you where
dollars go for something like this.

98
There is nothing as big or as important as the Academy Awards, I mean nothing. A year
ago, if you had asked me working with Gabe Cowan, I would have told you the guy is
capable, he is such a good producer, worthy of an Oscar but I don’t think he wants to go
that way. That’s not his cup of tea. His cup of tea is the SXSW, Sundance, Tribeca
model. Other people are a different kind of filmmakers with epic style – Interstellar, a
horrible film. I have a theory about the Interstellars, about the Unbrokens. I can show
you what they are doing for Unbroken which is ridiculous the amount of money they are
spending cause we heard it wasn’t a good film. We’re friends with and we know every
single film critic there is, so we have lists and lists and lists of film critics that we work
with.

SD: The so-called opinions leaders and influencers.
MM: Well, sort of. They use that in school and I think that’s a great way to put it, you
just need to know there’s ten names that can make a difference.
I am with the critics all the time. We’re involved with the Golden Globes, with some of
those journalists. Some of them are good, some of them not very good at all. They are
sleazy. But some of the journalists that cover the Golden Globes are wonderful and I see
them all. There’s a very cool young professor Ryan Pearson in the undergraduate
program, he just started teaching, who is one of the movie guys for AP. He is a smart
guy, he can tell you a lot about a lot of stuff he goes to. He is really honest about films
because we have somebody in American Sniper and he didn’t think it was good. These
people that are journalists that also teach are really knowledgeable.
When you start seeing mega expensive events, huge dollar events, I can tell you - I am
very experienced, I have done this for a long time – I can tell you that this kind of event
(the Unbroken screening) renting out the Annenberg Performing Arts Center, having the
cast and Angelina there…

SD: Well, she is the main drawing point.
MM: They’re trying to get her a director nomination. The film is not particularly good.
When you look at this really for the Oscars and you see the amount of money that they
are trying to spend on this, they wanna make Angelina look good and think “Oh, if they
have Cloris Leachman who is an Oscar winner endorsing it,” it’s gonna mean that much
more to somebody who is voting for it. So, you have Angelina, you have the cast, you
have to fly them over, you have to put them in a hotel… it’s a freakin’ lot of money. You
have to do all the policing, you have to do all the staffing, you have to do excellent
catering because Angelina is on your premises and you have good journalists. And every
week they are doing another one of these. They were doing sort of similar for Interstellar.
They started early. When you are spending that much money, you are trying to buy some
sort of love and if you have a high enough budget to buy it, my guess is this spurs the
foreign sales like crazy. It’s more than local sales, obviously. We’re not gonna call them
99
DVDs now but, for the sake of the argument, let’s just call them DVD sales which is
really digital and online sales and VODs. This spurs the sales like crazy.
Does this equate to opening a movie great? Does it equate to making a lot of money?
With Interstellar, it did. Cause it’s not a good movie. It looks like 2001: Space Odyssey
meets Gravity. It’s done really good box office, it’s got really good stars and it’s done
well with the money they’ve spent. So, you have to look at some of that when you go
back to the independent films. They do this to counter-act any critical negativity. When
you have the big events and movie galas, for lack of a better word, and you have people
like Cloris Leachman dress up and go to a beautiful performing arts center, a classic place
in LA, for a supper party, which already says ‘more elegant,’ you already know that they
are trying to diffuse the critical reviews. They did the same thing for Interstellar. They
had a massive premiere. We took some of our clients. They couldn’t get a lot of love or a
lot of stars to come. We had all of our stars there. They spent a load of money on this and
it opened pretty well but you never know.
Now, for these smaller films, for a $25,000 budget I can tell you where they money goes.
So, for a small film like this $5,000 goes to the PR firm, so we are working at half fee
already. Because it’s an awards campaign, because it’s a prestige product, because it’s
actually even a learning process for us, we cut the fee in half. We are working two solid
months on a film. $5,000 goes to the PR firm. You have to start figuring out where you’re
gonna spend your money. If there’s only $20,000 left, you’re not going to have a lot of
money for ads. And we’re not even selling the film yet but the awards campaigns are
extremely important to selling a film. I believe that if you do a really good solid awards
campaign and you don’t have a distributor, you probably will come out with one at the
end because of the publicity. I do believe that you will put a film in a position where you
can make it profitable and it can open well. So, you take the opportunity you have at the
time. If a film doesn’t have a distributor, doesn’t have a Universal behind it, you take
what you have and you strategically allocate whatever the budget is to where you are
gonna get the best bank for your buck. So, you wanna do the best possible job you can
because that is your window of opportunity. Your vehicle is that you have Bolivia’s
choice for the Oscars where there are 45 other movies. First of all, it’s the highest
grossing movie in Bolivia in the last seven years. Second of all, it’s a very serious film,
it’s equated to the level of epic of Schindler’s List. That said, 63 movies are eligible right
now. Of those 63, three won the top prizes at Cannes – Leviathan, Wild Things and the
other one I can’t remember. So, I have been watching this and doing all my homework a
month before I was on the account. So, a month before the account actually starts, you
have to start looking at the competition. You look at the way other films are spending
their money, you look at what their budgets are and you try to make the best possible
decision with the money you have for the film you have – what kind of film it is, what
kind of people it’s reaching, the kind of audience you want, the kind of media placements
you want, the kind of word-of-mouth you want – a lot of which is social media that we
100
generate. Even the tweets – every one tweet that I did has #Oscar, #AwardsSeason,
#Forgotten.

Abstract (if available)

Abstract This paper examines the ever-growing role of public relations (PR) initiatives as they relate to marketing the theatrical release of a motion picture without relying on a hefty promotional budget. The study compares and contrast PR and traditional hard‐selling advertising in terms of their effectiveness and economic efficiency. The paper provides an extensive look into the background and development of both promotional disciplines, analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of both through the prism of the rapidly evolving nature of film production and distribution. ❧ The key issues discussed in this paper include the convergence of advertising and PR under the mutual cloud of strategic communications, as well as their varying utilization in terms of the unique characteristics of each individual motion picture release. Ultimately, the main purpose of this paper is to discover whether, at this point in time, a film can achieve satisfactory box‐office success relying predominantly (or exclusively) on public relations activities with little to no paid hard‐selling advertising. To do that, the author compiled case studies on two recently released motion pictures: ❧ 1. No Good Deed—released on September 7, 2014 and produced and distributed by Screen Gems, a division company of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group

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Asset Metadata

Creator Dobrev, Stanislav (Staffo) (author)

Core Title Public relations vs. advertising for the big screen: the ever-growing role of strategic public relations in the effective marketing of theatrical motion picture releases

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Strategic Public Relations

Publication Date 04/21/2015

Defense Date 04/21/2015

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Advertising,film,Marketing,motion picture,movie,OAI-PMH Harvest,Public Relations,release,strategic

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Floto, Jennifer D. (committee chair), Murphy, Mary (committee member), Tenderich, Burghardt (committee member)

Creator Email dobrev@usc.edu,staffo.d@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c3-554540

Unique identifier UC11298697

Identifier etd-DobrevStan-3351.pdf (filename),usctheses-c3-554540 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-DobrevStan-3351.pdf

Dmrecord 554540

Document Type Thesis

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Dobrev, Stanislav (Staffo)

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA