The Business: Understanding the Role of the Publicist

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• published: 13 Feb 2013
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"Being a publicist is like management in a lot of ways - you're their friend, you're their mother, you're their confidante." - Debi Maza When is it time to work with a publicist? How do publicists work with actors to help move their career forward? This panel of seasoned professionals will shed some light on this very important behind the scenes job. Richard Hoffman began his career in television development and production. As Director of Creative Affairs for Marian Rees & Associates, he worked on five Emmy award winning "Hallmark Hall of Fame" telefilms and at Hanna-Barbera Productions, during his tenure as Director of Television Development, was Executive in Charge of Production for numerous projects including the CBS series, "Fish Police," and the ABC telefilm, "The Flintstones." Hoffman then segued into public relations and worked with legendary publicist Warren Cowan for over 15 years. As Executive Vice President of Warren Cowan & Associates, Hoffman was responsible for the development and implementation of national public relations campaigns. Cowan & Associates closed in June, 2008 and Mr. Hoffman established his own firm, Richard Hoffman Public Relations, representing a diversity of clients in both the entertainment and corporate arena. Nicole Perez-Krueger is a Vice President at PMK*BNC and co-chair of the Talent Department. Her career has spanned almost 2 decades establishing her as one of the go publicists in the business for clients who are multi-hyphenates. Perez currently works on clients such as Christina Aguilera, Matthew McConaughey, Lauren Conrad, Jewel, Anna Kournikova, Jennie Garth and Stacy Keibler overseeing all aspects of their careers. Her expertise comes in not just promoting a project but branding a client's entire image. For her, the client itself is the brand. She also spent over a decade working on campaigns for artists such as Beyonce, Denzel Washington, Liam Neeson, Laurence Fishburne and Rob Lowe to name a few. In addition she has worked on fragrance campaigns for Christina Aguilera, Usher, Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez as well as book campaigns for Rob Lowe, Lauren Conrad and Jewel. Jillian Roscoe has been at ID for almost 11 years where she has risen to represent some of Hollywood's top talent including Ty Burrell, Jim Parsons, Rashida Jones, Judy Greer, Lake Bell, Rachel McAdams, John Slattery, Nat Faxon, Rosamund Pike, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Bill Paxton, James Marsden, John Cho, Max Greenfield and Lea Michele. She has led the awards campaign for Jim Parsons of the CBS hit comedy The Big Bang Theory, Ty Burrell of ABC's hit Modern Family and Max Greenfield of FOX's latest show, New Girl. For Parson's work, he has won two Emmys for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, a Golden Globe, the Critics Choice TV Award for Best Actor in a Comedy, and the Television Critics Award for Individual Achievement in a Comedy. Burrell won the Emmy last year for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy series, the Television Critics Award for Individual Achievement in a Comedy and also recently won a Critics Choice TV Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy and received his 2nd SAG nomination. Greenfield was most recently nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a TV Show, Miniseries or TV Movie. He was also nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and received a Comedy Critics Choice TV Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy for his performance on the show. Moderator - Graham Clarke was educated at Penn State University in Labor & Industrial Relations. Graham worked in the AFL-CIO for 4.5 years as an organizer and business agent for one of the largest unions in North America. Taking a fork in the road, he taught himself computers in order to pursue acting but got side-tracked, working for Microsoft Corporation for nearly a decade. The last 5 years there, he was one of 10 men who traveled throughout North America delivering 4-hr live seminars on business and technology. Snowboarding in Mammoth proved to be a lucky break... of his ankle. The severe injury allowed Graham to finally concentrate on theatrical training and pursue his passion of performing. He gleefully left Microsoft and has been a professional actor since 2010, appearing in a variety of TV and film projects.