Screenwriter Press Release?

Question

I've been asked to write a press release about a screenwriter in connection with a script assignment. The idea is to circulate it to the trades and maybe further afield to see if it gets a mention.

I've written press releases for clients so I know what they consist of, I have the writer's biographical details, and I have some info about the production, but I'm at a bit of a loss to know what to put in and what to leave out in this rather narrow application.
Anyone here ever done this for themselves or anyone else? Any ideas where I might see such a release on line?

If only those who dream about Hollywood knew how difficult it all is. Greta Garbo

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]I've been asked to write a press release about a screenwriter in connection with a script assignment. The idea is ... bit of a loss to know what to put in and what to leave out in this rather narrow application.[/nq]
I like cats, long walks on the bach, candlelight dinners on the beach, cats on the beach, horseback riding on the beach, and I hate the beach.
jaybee

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I've been asked to write a press release about a screenwriter in connection with a script assignment. The idea is to circulate it to the trades and maybe further afield to see if it gets a mention.[/nq]
This is the junction of news and celebrity, no? And these are nominally 'news' organizations, eh? So, ah, pick a really slow news week, get a great quote from Spielberg, or get the author to do the assignment hanging 400 ft in the air from a burning scaffolding strung between the MGM and Universal skyscrapers.
-sam

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@reader2.panix.com:
[nq:2]I've been asked to write a press release about a ... further afield to see if it gets a mention.[/nq]
[nq:1]This is the junction of news and celebrity, no? And these are nominally 'news' organizations, eh? So, ah, pick a ... do the assignment hanging 400 ft in the air from a burning scaffolding strung between the MGM and Universal skyscrapers.[/nq]
Headline: "Spielberg denies being biological father of ***". It's not lying.
jaybee

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I've been asked to write a press release about a screenwriter in connection with a script assignment. The idea is ... here ever done this for themselves or anyone else? Any ideas where I might see such a release on line?[/nq]
I've done it, before, but not for a screenwriter's project (frankly, not the most exciting news in the world, except for the writer and maybe his wife and his mother. Budget marketing (aka guerrilla marketing). Sent emails all over, everywhere to event info websites, to film orgs, small and large in all sorts of cities. Internet is a wonderful thing. If your client keeps on appearing in web-searches, it ought to help generate buzz. The secret is to place the link to his website (asssuming he has one) to lots of "farm teams" not just the majors, so to speak.

If you pull this off, will you let us know how you did it?

Speaking of marketing:
Here's a website I'm having to craft myself: www.bluey.ca The fellow I paid (before, not after, foolish me) created one so nasty that I, having no more funds to pay anybody else, personally took, though I'm not a web-designer at all and have been pretty much working in the dark, learning from scratch. My wife, who's a computer programmer, is in China right now on a UN gig, but she will soon fix up the site for me, long distance. Now that I've rambled on explaining myself, here's the website again: www.bluey.ca I haven't been placing links anywhere or promoting the site and won't until it is totally ready. The director's still putting together a trailer. Gallery etc. will soon be up.

Usenet · Answer

"Distortion" wrote in
[nq:1]Speaking of marketing: Here's a website I'm having to craft myself: www.bluey.ca The fellow I paid (before, not after, foolish ... in China right now on a UN gig, but she will soon fix up the site for me, long distance.[/nq]
I always say, keep the site simple. No crazy fonts, no shockwave crapplets, no fancy graphics that take forever to load and display - not unless you're selling your talents as a web designer, and even then you should be showing how talented you are at creating a site that's not bloated and that people won't leave in frustration thirty seconds after getting there.
It's all about salesmanship: get your pitch across, show the product, and deliver the message painlessly and efficiently.

Just one comment about your logline, though (this is the perfect group, isn't it?):
"Bluey, a war vet, peddles his rickshaw (his home), encountering situations while trying to keep a promise he made to his dying best friend."
It's "pedalling", from "pedal". Also, be more specific about what "situations" he encounters (life-threatening or just quaint people?) and the promise he has to fulfill.
Otherwise I just think "The Straight Story" and my reaction is "Bah, been done".
jaybee

Usenet · Answer

"

"Distortion" wrote in
[nq:2]Speaking of marketing: Here's a website I'm having to craft ... will soon fix up the site for me, long distance.[/nq]

"

I always say, keep the site simple. No crazy fonts, no shockwave crapplets, no fancy graphics that take forever to ... a promise he made to his dying best friend." It's "pedalling", from "pedal". Also, be more specific about what "situations"[/nq]
Yikes. Glad you picked it up.

"

he encounters (life-threatening or just quaint people?) and the promise he has to fulfill.[/nq]
Ok. Noted. Thanks!

Usenet · Answer

"Distortion" wrote in @reader2.panix.com:
[nq:2]he encounters (life-threatening or just quaint people?) and the promise he has to fulfill.[/nq]
[nq:1]Ok. Noted. Thanks![/nq]
Yer welcome. You don't have to be specific about the actual encounters. For instance, in "The Straight Story", the hook was Richard Farnsworth's character travelling miles in a riding mower to visit his dying estranged brother. That alone tells you the trip's going to be an adventure. Here you have a guy on a bike, which is interesting enough, but not quite as unique (the photo almost suggests a homeless guy, like the ones I see downtown), and like I said the comparison to "Straight Story" is inevitable unless we know what sets this one apart.
jaybee

Usenet · Answer

I write press releases for a living. Keep it to one page. Make it sound like a newspaper article so that it can just be dropped into whatever pub picks it up. Work in a good quote around the third paragraph from a director, producer, actor, author of the book being adapted, somebody like that. Refer to a Web site at the end, and put the URL at the end of the sentence. Skip a line, then center the number 30 between two em dashes.
The PR person/publicists name and contact info go at the top. E-mail and fax it. Do not send the release as an attachment; put the text in the body of the e-mail. Do not mass e-mail it or blind copy it to several e-mail addresses. Send them one at a time to the majors. Make the subject line attention-getting and newsy, but not hype-y. Do not use words that will trigger spam filters.
I can look at it before you send it if you like.
Lois

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I write press releases for a living. Keep it to one page. Make it sound like a newspaper article so ... use words that will trigger spam filters. I can look at it before you send it if you like. Lois[/nq]
Thanks...

If only those who dream about Hollywood knew how difficult it all is. Greta Garbo

Usenet · Answer

"Distortion" wrote:
[nq:2]It's "pedalling", from "pedal". Also, be more specific about what "situations"[/nq]
[nq:1]Yikes. Glad you picked it up.[/nq]
Is there aany special reason that one of the characters spells his name "Wolter" and not "Walter"? If not, this is exactly the kind of thing that I find irritating. Seems like an affectation for no good purpose.

If only those who dream about Hollywood knew how difficult it all is. Greta Garbo

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