Susan d'Arcy, Unit Publicist
Credits include: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, Memphis Belle, The Secret Garden, Saving Private Ryan, Tomb Raider, The Tailor of Panama, Sahara.
How did you become a unit publicist?
I got in via journalism, which is one of the time honoured ways of getting into publicity. I'd been a journalist for ten years and I'd worked as assistant editor for Films Illustrated magazine and freelanced for The Sunday Telegraph, The Guardian and many women's magazine. I thorough enjoyed life as a showbiz journalist and it never occurred to me to want to do anything else.
I was enticed into unit publicity by Gordon Arnell, the top publicity director of his day. I'd got to know him because I'd visited many of the films he worked on, interviewing actors and directors. It was 1976 and he was about to start on A Bridge Too Far. It was a massive job and he was looking for a journalist to help him and he asked me. I'd never worked so hard as I did on A Bridge Too Far and I'd never had such a good time.
Then I spent four years working for Lew Grade at ITC. I've been a freelance unit publicist since the beginning of the 1980s. My first film as a freelance was Local Hero, followed by Greystoke: the Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes. I went directly on to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and several years later worked on the third Indy - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. My other films include Memphis Belle, The Russia House, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, The Secret Garden, Saving Private Ryan, The End of the Affair, The Tailor of Panama.
I've been doing the job for so long now that fortunately I get repeat business from studios and film-makers. It is a great privilege to watch great directors like Steven Spielberg and Richard Attenborough. In this business you tend to get known for certain kinds of movies and that is, by and large, what you get offered. If I like the sound of a proposed production, I might declare an interest with the production company, or producer.
One of the great pluses is the travel. The two Tomb Raider movies took me to Cambodia, Kenya, Hong Kong and Santorini; Seven Years in Tibet took me to Argentina; Gorillas in the Mist was shot in Rwanda - before the genocide; and I've just spent four months in Morocco and a month in Spain for Sahara.
What does a unit publicist do?
A lot of people - mostly journalists - think it is all about looking after journalists when they visit a film set! In fact on more than one occasion when I've been working on 'closed set' movies, journalists have asked what I do with my time. If only it was that easy...
My remit includes working closely with the stills photographer, captioning all the photographic material. I work with the documentary team making the EPK (Electronic Press Kit) ensuring they get the material they need. I also write all the publicity material for the film. This involves interviewing all the actors and key crew to produce production notes for the press that explain the film and profile the people making it. With production notes, I always aim to have enough direct quotes and authentic flavour so that any journalist who might not have visited the set can write an accurate piece about the film.
I like having journalists visit the set because material gained then has far greater impact. But of course it very much depends on the filmmakers and the talent. Set visits are quite intrusive, so you have to pick your days carefully. Certain directors find it very hard to have the press on set - and of course they call the shots. Obviously you are also very reliant on the goodwill of the talent. Angelina Jolie on Tomb Raider and Matthew McConaughey on Sahara, for example, understand the process and are very open.
It's easier, say, on action films because they are not so intimate and there's usually a lot going on and plenty to see.
On Sahara I worked closely with the production company, Crusader Entertainment and the US distributors, Paramount Pictures, as well as the filmmakers. We discussed which days would be best for the press. Much of the film was shot deep in the desert and would have taken journalists four days to get there and back so we concentrated on the locations in Marrakech and Spain.
For several weeks we did two or three press days a week and brought out about eight journalists each time. They would watch the filming for a day and interview the actors. One of the aspects you have to take account of these days is that most actors have personal publicists, so part of the job is reaching agreement with them over meetings with the press.
When we are away on location, part of my job involves acting as conduit between the production and the local authorities, as well as dealing with the press. Very often the Mayor and local dignitaries might visit the set and I would help facilitate this.
What advice would you give to someone trying to get into the business?
It's very hard for people coming in. The advice I always give is to try to get a grounding either in PR, with one of the film PR agencies, or with a distributor, or in television. There is almost no formal training so you learn by example, honing your organisational, writing and communication skills. You need to build up your contacts and your experience before venturing into the chilly climate of the freelance life. My time with ITC was invaluable - there's very good stuff happening in television. You get to do on a smaller scale what I now do on a feature film.
Unit publicity is a fantastic job: you need tenacity and enthusiasm and energy. And a lot of luck!
How did you become a unit publicist?
I got in via journalism, which is one of the time honoured ways of getting into publicity. I'd been a journalist for ten years and I'd worked as assistant editor for Films Illustrated magazine and freelanced for The Sunday Telegraph, The Guardian and many women's magazine. I thorough enjoyed life as a showbiz journalist and it never occurred to me to want to do anything else.
I was enticed into unit publicity by Gordon Arnell, the top publicity director of his day. I'd got to know him because I'd visited many of the films he worked on, interviewing actors and directors. It was 1976 and he was about to start on A Bridge Too Far. It was a massive job and he was looking for a journalist to help him and he asked me. I'd never worked so hard as I did on A Bridge Too Far and I'd never had such a good time.
Then I spent four years working for Lew Grade at ITC. I've been a freelance unit publicist since the beginning of the 1980s. My first film as a freelance was Local Hero, followed by Greystoke: the Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes. I went directly on to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and several years later worked on the third Indy - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. My other films include Memphis Belle, The Russia House, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, The Secret Garden, Saving Private Ryan, The End of the Affair, The Tailor of Panama.
One of the great pluses is the travel. The two Tomb Raider movies took me to Cambodia, Kenya, Hong Kong and Santorini; Seven Years in Tibet took me to Argentina; Gorillas in the Mist was shot in Rwanda - before the genocide; and I've just spent four months in Morocco and a month in Spain for Sahara.
What does a unit publicist do?
A lot of people - mostly journalists - think it is all about looking after journalists when they visit a film set! In fact on more than one occasion when I've been working on 'closed set' movies, journalists have asked what I do with my time. If only it was that easy...
My remit includes working closely with the stills photographer, captioning all the photographic material. I work with the documentary team making the EPK (Electronic Press Kit) ensuring they get the material they need. I also write all the publicity material for the film. This involves interviewing all the actors and key crew to produce production notes for the press that explain the film and profile the people making it. With production notes, I always aim to have enough direct quotes and authentic flavour so that any journalist who might not have visited the set can write an accurate piece about the film.
I like having journalists visit the set because material gained then has far greater impact. But of course it very much depends on the filmmakers and the talent. Set visits are quite intrusive, so you have to pick your days carefully. Certain directors find it very hard to have the press on set - and of course they call the shots. Obviously you are also very reliant on the goodwill of the talent. Angelina Jolie on Tomb Raider and Matthew McConaughey on Sahara, for example, understand the process and are very open.
It's easier, say, on action films because they are not so intimate and there's usually a lot going on and plenty to see.
On Sahara I worked closely with the production company, Crusader Entertainment and the US distributors, Paramount Pictures, as well as the filmmakers. We discussed which days would be best for the press. Much of the film was shot deep in the desert and would have taken journalists four days to get there and back so we concentrated on the locations in Marrakech and Spain.
For several weeks we did two or three press days a week and brought out about eight journalists each time. They would watch the filming for a day and interview the actors. One of the aspects you have to take account of these days is that most actors have personal publicists, so part of the job is reaching agreement with them over meetings with the press.
When we are away on location, part of my job involves acting as conduit between the production and the local authorities, as well as dealing with the press. Very often the Mayor and local dignitaries might visit the set and I would help facilitate this.
What advice would you give to someone trying to get into the business?
Unit publicity is a fantastic job: you need tenacity and enthusiasm and energy. And a lot of luck!
