Julia Short, Head of Marketing
What does a job in marketing in the film industry involve?
In a nutshell, the marketing department's job is to make sure that the public knows that a film is in cinemas and hopefully create interest in the film, in order than the public wants to go and see it.
There are two key decisions that a marketing department has to take.
Firstly, you have to find out who the key audience for the film is. Then all the advertising and publicity has to be geared to that audience. The films that are difficult to market are the ones where you don't know who the audience is - you avoid those like the plague if you can! You could end up spending your money in completely the wrong place.
Secondly, after viewing the film at an early stage, you then have to work out what message from the film you want to communicate to audiences. Do you sell it as a romantic comedy? Or, if it has won lots of prizes, do you sell it as a BAFTA winning film? Or, if it's a high profile director, do you sell it on the director?
The great thing about being in marketing is that you have lots of money to spend. But you have to decide how best to spend that money to promote the film and what medium will best serve your purpose. Big studio films will tend to go for TV and big visual ads. Smaller budgeted films might use posters, press or radio.
A marketing director would also oversee the publicity department in most companies and would make sure that the publicity team are singing from the same songsheet as the marketing team when speaking to the press.
By way of example, one of the films I'm most proud of working on was Maybe Baby. It was written and directed by Ben Elton, a household name in the UK. And it starred Joely Richardson, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson, Dawn French and Rowan Atkinson. It was relatively easy to pitch the film to the public as a romantic comedy and it also starred well-known comic actors.
But it was very poorly received by the press. However, we fundamentally believed that it had an audience, in particular women over 25, would feel comfortable with the film and the cast.
We tested the film audiences Leeds and again in Reading. We found that women over 25 loved it and that their recommendation levels were huge. The testing helped give us confidence in the film.
There was a big royal premiere for the film, which got a lot of attention because Joely Richardson wore a very little dress. The cast were also very supportive and did lots of promotional work and interviews for it.
We also spent £1.3m marketing it - and made £2.5m at the box office.
How did you get into the business?
I started off at an advertising agency and then went into consumer PR working on cigarette and alcohol accounts. I then joined advertising agency DMB&B to help set up an entertainment unit where our clients included Virgin Video and Films and 20th Century Fox. Because I'd worked on the Fox account, I got a job at Rank Film Distribution where I did the marketing for films such as The Silence Of The Lambs. I've since worked at Polygram Filmed Entertainment, Redbus, and FilmFour. I am now a partner in my own distribution company Verve Pictures.
What skills do you need to work in film marketing?
If I were trying to employ someone, I wouldn't particularly look at any kind of qualifications they might have. I'd look for two particular qualities.
Firstly, I'd look for someone who has a love and knowledge of film. I believe that the marketing of film is instinctive - and you can't teach it to someone. You're either a natural or you're not.
Secondly, you've got to have a fairly outgoing personality and you've got to be able to juggle more balls than you can imagine. You may have to work on something like eight films at any one time. So it doesn't suit if you are someone who likes working on one project and is very single minded - you've got to be able to multi-task.
You've also got to be a people person and a clear communicator as you're dealing all the time with producers, creatives, directors and media agencies.
I look for people who would have aptitude for the job, rather than specific skills. The skills can be learnt on the job and via training courses. A lot of the people I have employed come from a publishing background. They can launch books on a shoestring budget and can be amazingly effective with a small amount of money!
Click here to read a profile of Verve Pictures.
In a nutshell, the marketing department's job is to make sure that the public knows that a film is in cinemas and hopefully create interest in the film, in order than the public wants to go and see it.
There are two key decisions that a marketing department has to take.
Firstly, you have to find out who the key audience for the film is. Then all the advertising and publicity has to be geared to that audience. The films that are difficult to market are the ones where you don't know who the audience is - you avoid those like the plague if you can! You could end up spending your money in completely the wrong place.
Secondly, after viewing the film at an early stage, you then have to work out what message from the film you want to communicate to audiences. Do you sell it as a romantic comedy? Or, if it has won lots of prizes, do you sell it as a BAFTA winning film? Or, if it's a high profile director, do you sell it on the director?
The great thing about being in marketing is that you have lots of money to spend. But you have to decide how best to spend that money to promote the film and what medium will best serve your purpose. Big studio films will tend to go for TV and big visual ads. Smaller budgeted films might use posters, press or radio.
A marketing director would also oversee the publicity department in most companies and would make sure that the publicity team are singing from the same songsheet as the marketing team when speaking to the press.
By way of example, one of the films I'm most proud of working on was Maybe Baby. It was written and directed by Ben Elton, a household name in the UK. And it starred Joely Richardson, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson, Dawn French and Rowan Atkinson. It was relatively easy to pitch the film to the public as a romantic comedy and it also starred well-known comic actors.
But it was very poorly received by the press. However, we fundamentally believed that it had an audience, in particular women over 25, would feel comfortable with the film and the cast.
We tested the film audiences Leeds and again in Reading. We found that women over 25 loved it and that their recommendation levels were huge. The testing helped give us confidence in the film.
There was a big royal premiere for the film, which got a lot of attention because Joely Richardson wore a very little dress. The cast were also very supportive and did lots of promotional work and interviews for it.
We also spent £1.3m marketing it - and made £2.5m at the box office.
How did you get into the business?
I started off at an advertising agency and then went into consumer PR working on cigarette and alcohol accounts. I then joined advertising agency DMB&B to help set up an entertainment unit where our clients included Virgin Video and Films and 20th Century Fox. Because I'd worked on the Fox account, I got a job at Rank Film Distribution where I did the marketing for films such as The Silence Of The Lambs. I've since worked at Polygram Filmed Entertainment, Redbus, and FilmFour. I am now a partner in my own distribution company Verve Pictures.
What skills do you need to work in film marketing?
If I were trying to employ someone, I wouldn't particularly look at any kind of qualifications they might have. I'd look for two particular qualities.
Firstly, I'd look for someone who has a love and knowledge of film. I believe that the marketing of film is instinctive - and you can't teach it to someone. You're either a natural or you're not.
Secondly, you've got to have a fairly outgoing personality and you've got to be able to juggle more balls than you can imagine. You may have to work on something like eight films at any one time. So it doesn't suit if you are someone who likes working on one project and is very single minded - you've got to be able to multi-task.
You've also got to be a people person and a clear communicator as you're dealing all the time with producers, creatives, directors and media agencies.
I look for people who would have aptitude for the job, rather than specific skills. The skills can be learnt on the job and via training courses. A lot of the people I have employed come from a publishing background. They can launch books on a shoestring budget and can be amazingly effective with a small amount of money!
Click here to read a profile of Verve Pictures.
