Strategic Public Relations To Make Your Business Bloom
Monday, July 31, 2006
An Update on the Strumpette Movie
From my (junk) mailbox, a message from the Strumpette:
Scott,
As we are finishing the first draft of the screenplay for the movie, thought you'd like to know: the Scott Baradell character is a total [expletive deleted], petty and jealous. He exemplifies the worst of the PR bloggers.
FYI.
-- Amanda
Did you hear that? I'm in it! Yesss!
The photo? Oh, just two minor characters in the movie -- Brian Connolly and Howard Solomon. More on them later.
Update:
Shortly after this was posted, I was cc'ed on the following e-mail from Brian Connolly to Howard Solomon:
Sounds like Baradell is going to write about the "Eric Samuelson" emails in TMR. You just may end up the MD of the Ruder Finn office in Hawaii, or more likely Pago Pago.
Regards,
Brian Connolly President WePublishing, Inc. 312.482.9229
With occasional exceptions, newspaper people usually get the hero treatment in movies and TV shows. This is in sharp contrast to TV reporters, who are just as likely to be trashed. TV journalists might be prettier and better paid in real life than their ink-stained brethren and sistren, but on screen there's no contest about who comes off better...
Sure, newspaper reporters in the movies can be a cynical, tough-talking, hard-drinking bunch who aren't above cutting a few corners to get the story ([Scarlett]Johansson's character, for example, sleeps with two of her sources in "Scoop." But all is forgiven when they expose the truth.)...
TV reporters? They're not nearly as lucky. Television journalists tend to be depicted as fatuous pretty boys and girls, mostly out for career advancement. The truth? Not only can't they handle it, it's not even very important. Think of William Hurt's character in "Broadcast News" (1987) or Bill Murray's cynical weatherman in "Groundhog Day" (1993), or more recently, "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" (2004). The most devastating portrait of all might be the deranged TV newsman Howard Beale (Peter Finch) in the satirical "Network" (released the same year that Woodward and Bernstein were being lionized in "All the President's Men").
We're not crying for the TV reporters. Have you ever seen a single positive portrayal of a PR practitioner on film? Us neither.
Here, by the way, is our list of the Top 10 Films About Journalism and/or PR. We'll drag it out again in case anyone would like to discuss it -- even though we don't expect Scoop to alter it:
The video's director and I had some differences over my wardrobe for this one. But he convinced me that Strumpette is such a hot property right now -- after the Kurtz column -- that I should throw caution to the wind and go for it.
Yeah, we know -- we're writing two Strumpette posts in a row. But we have to call your attention to this piece by Ron May and this one by Mike Driehorst -- which go a long way toward outing Brian Connolly as the mastermind (pea-brain?) behind Strumpette once and for all.
Casting the Strumpette Movie: Guess What -- You're In It!
Strumpette informed us on Wednesday that "my agent is working on a movie deal, and I am going to be profiled in the NYT."
Forget the New York Times; they already got scooped on the big Strumpette story by the Washington Post. And no one reads those liberal rags anyway, right Dee?
But the movie deal is intriguing. What would the story be? Who would the characters be? And how would we cast it?
Since Strumpette is an anonymous cabal, possibly led by disgruntled ex-PR vet Brian Connolly, that's a tough casting job. To make the movie work, Strumpette would have to actually be a woman, unlike Brian, and would have to be less intellectually pretentious and mean-spirited than the members of this anonymous cabal.
Let's face it -- what Hollywood wants is The Devil Wears Prada crossed with Sex and the City and a sprinkling of Jerry Maguire. The story is this: a sexy, promiscuous babe in the PR industry finally gets fed up with the hypocrisy and double-dealing around her and decides to destroy her massive, evil New York PR firm in the name of all that is good and holy. In the process, she recaptures her soul and decides to stop sleeping around and settle down with a nice man with a hint of stubble.
The movie also need villains, of course -- lots of villains for Strumpette to skewer. Folks like Richard Edelman, Steve Rubel, Shel Holtz, Phil Gomes, Andrea Weckerle, Susan Getgood, Kami Huyse, and all the others Strumpette has defamed on the blog. All of these people, and others, should be characters in the movie. After all, Strumpette certainly writes more about the alleged foibles of little PR bloggers than any other subject matter.
So here's the question: Who should play you (or someone else) in the Strumpette movie?
Post your suggestions in comments, and we'll follow up with the final cast -- complete with comparison pics -- later.
It began with the death of Mpozi Tolbert, a 34 year-old photographer who collapsed and died in the newsroom of The Indianapolis Star on July 3. Three weeks later, debate over the circumstances of his death has raised two sets of questions. The first deals with the facts of what happened that night.
Ruth Holladay, a former Star columnist used her personal Web site to accuse the paper's management of failing to maintain safety standards that might have saved Tolbert's life. Dennis Ryerson, editor and vice president of the Star, dismissed her charges as "reprehensible ... erroneous and hurtful."
The second set of questions deals with what's happened, journalistically, since that night. Specifically, the questions involve links from the Romenesko page on Poynter Online to the allegations Holladay published on her blog. Ryerson denounced Poynter's handling of the links in e-mail messages to Poynter's Jim Romenesko and Bob Steele...
Poynter's links to Holladay's blog raise questions about how journalists in general -- and Poynter in particular -- should handle coverage of the kind of important but often unconfirmed -- and sometimes just plain wrong -- comments that populate some of the new media landscape.
Read this piece; it touches on issues all bloggers should think about.
Why Most Journalists Dislike Fox News: It's Not the Reason You Think
According to Dee Rambeau, July is Media Orchard's "Pick on Fox News" month -- so since July is almost over, I thought I'd better get in one last lick.
This may be hard for people who have never been journalists to understand, but I do not dislike Fox News because my politics are left of Roger Ailes'. I dislike Fox News because it undermines the efforts of all journalists who work hard to be objective in their coverage of the day's events.
Ailes smirks that Fox News is "Fair and Balanced" when everyone at that network knows that it has a political agenda that comes down from on high. That smirk not only makes Fox News a liar -- it also mocks the integrity of all journalists who have committed their lives and careers to the ideals of objective journalism.
Let me explain something to those of you who have never been reporters; for most journalists, integrity is everything. Say what you will about reporters' ethics, but I know from experience that you'll hear more serious discussion of ethical questions in a newsroom than you'll ever hear in a boardroom. Most reporters care passionately about what they do -- and just as passionately about doing it right.
Journalists, in general, don't enter the profession to make money. If money were their goal, they would apply their college educations and insatiable curiosity in more profitable directions -- such as becoming political operatives.
Young people enter journalism, for the most part, because they want to make a difference. Their egos are fed not by the money they make, but by the impact they have. Journalists have impact by covering controversy and causing change. If change is anti-conservative -- in the true sense of the word "conservative" -- it is not anti-Republican.
Republicans and Democrats have worked together peacefully and productively in newsrooms for years, because they have always used the same rulebook. When I was a reporter in Lynchburg, Va., I remember covering a series of stories on a politically charged issue with a reporter who was as Republican as they come. I don't think we discussed our personal politics once while writing that series -- because we both were more committed to the discipline of journalism than to our politics.
While more individual journalists may tend to hold so-called "liberal" views than so-called "conservative" views, none of Fox News' competitors -- not CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN or MSNBC -- issues dictates from the executive suite about how stories should be covered. Only Fox News does that. None of Fox News' competitors has a political filter for hiring talent. Only Fox News has that.
That's why "Fair and Balanced" is an example of the Big Lie. And why all of us -- no matter our politics -- should be a little bothered by that. It's certainly why virtually all journalists who take objectivity seriously dislike Fox News.
One last point: This phenomenon works both ways. I once worked at an alternative weekly -- one with its own set of political views. In that setting, I was the staff "conservative." I once wrote an article that the chain's editorial chief thought was too "conservative" in tone, and -- in so many words -- he told me as much.
Having been trained in daily newspaper newsrooms -- where it was about what you learned from your reporting, not what you believed beforehand -- I was shocked by the complaint. It wasn't long before I left that alt weekly.
So when I knock Fox News, it's not because I worry about its politics. No, I worry that the ratings success of Fox News will undermine the profession of journalism generally in the public's mind, so that any reporter who endeavors to cover stories objectively will be greeted with a Roger Ailes-inspired smirk.
NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas -- In the midst of attempts to crack down on raunchy and rowdy behavior during traditional summertime tubing river trips through this city, a San Antonio topless club is planning a tubing excursion featuring strippers.
Trey Maddox, a manager at Palace Men's Club, said Sunday's excursion -- during which men can pay $25 to join the strippers -- isn't meant to fly in the face of the city's new rules...
City Councilman Ken Valentine isn't so sure.
"I'm really disappointed that this is going to occur on Sunday when people should be in church," he said. "I hope they behave themselves and keep their clothes on, but I'm not sure they will because strippers are trained to take off their clothes."...
Mayor Bruce Boyer said he thought it was unfortunate that the San Antonio club is taking advantage of the situation "to get free publicity."
We're feeling a little sentimental tonight, so we're gonna give it up for our former guest host and No. 1 commenter (in terms of volume, certainly not quality) -- Bill Green.
When we started the Idea Grove last year, our goal was to evolve from mostly project work to exclusively retainer-based relationships. We completed that transition a few months ago and have been working our butts off ever since.
The one downside of doing only retainer work is that you can't network with as many companies. So it occurred to us that if we could package an offering -- one with pre-defined deliverables and timeline -- we could integrate it into our practice without disrupting the flow of our other work.
What GoDaddy Recommends When You Accidentally Check for the Availability of Ho.com
We promise this is a true story. We were trying to reserve a domain name on GoDaddy today and accidentally hit "submit" before we had finished typing in the name. We had only punched in the first two letters: "h" and "o."
We were quickly informed by GoDaddy that ho.com, ho.net, ho.us and all other variations had long since been purchased. However, GoDaddy was helpful enough to suggest the following alternatives:
Our friend Joy, who's been in the PR biz for many moons now, e-mailed us that an intern at her company had asked her for advice as she starts out in the business world.
Joy replied to the intern with the following list:
1. Be honest and ethical. You'll be able to look yourself in the mirror.
2. Be friendly with your coworkers. Don't view them as competition.
3. Proof your work. The typo you don't notice is the one that everyone else will spot immediately.
4. Be polite and genuine to everyone you encounter. Display an interest in who they are and what they do.
5. If you point out a problem, you must have a solution to offer as well. And when you take on responsibility, be able to go to your superiors with both a summary of the problem and the solution you have already started implementing.
6. Try to make your boss look good. Both to his/her boss and to the rest of the company.
7. Carry a pen and something to write on -- whenever you walk into your boss' office.
8. Don't worry about people "talking about you behind your back." People are going to talk. Let them.
9. Be busy. Ask for extra projects if you run out of things to do, especially from coworkers whose projects interest you.
10. Be professional -- in your dress, demeanor and cube decor.
11. Don't fall asleep at work. Stop partying till all hours before workdays and get to bed at a decent hour.
12. Stay informed about national and international events. Don't be the last to hear that Israel is bombing Lebanon. And why. And where Lebanon is.
13. Accept responsibility when things go wrong. Be ready to say that something is your fault and apologize for your error. Do so even if you have to accept responsibility for something that is technically someone else's error. You'll earn respect.
14. Plan ahead. Have a contingency plan for things that could go wrong (such as taking extra supplies to an event or having a paper back-up of your PowerPoint presentation).
15. Follow up. Stay on top of projects that have been assigned to you. Don't say, "He never got back to me" when you should be following up frequently.
16. Show up. Avoid taking your sick days -- yes, you CAN get fired for attendance problems alone.
17. Keep a neat desk. You'll appear to be organized, responsible and trustworthy.
Media Orchard Interviews Beer Goggle Theater's Andy Sidaris
Andy Sidaris is our kind of guy. The 73-year-old film director, an SMU alumnus who has shot many of his movies in Dallas, is no Martin Scorsese -- but he sure seems to know how to have a good time.
Not familiar with Andy's films? Watch this scene from Hard Ticket to Hawaii -- it'll tell you all you need to know. That's right; Andy did "Snakes in a Toilet" when Snakes on a Plane was a twinkle in David Ellis' eye.
Joe Swanberg of FilmBrats sums up the Sidaris canon well:
I remember my first Andy Sidaris film like it was yesterday. I was a pimple-faced teen working at Hollywood Video and Return To Savage Beach appeared on the new release wall. After staring at the box for 10 minutes, I decided I should rent the movie. I figured the big breasted, bikini clad babes who fought crime as the members of the L.E.T.H.A.L. Force would be good for a laugh. Laugh I did, but there was something more to these movies. I got the distinct sense that the filmmakers knew the kind of movie they were producing, and were having fun with it.
There are other things to like about Andy. Like Cathy and me, Andy and his wife Arlene have also managed to build a husband-and-wife business with no one getting killed -- at least not yet.
Andy hasn't directed a "guns and babes" film in nearly 10 years, but is having a career resurgence with Spike TV's Beer Goggle Theater and a nicely packaged DVD collection. He's also making a new flick in which "the snake that was killed in Hard Ticket to Hawaii laid an egg prior to its death. This egg is hatched and just like its mother, this huge, cancerous-infected python is mad as hell!"
Here's our interview with Andy Sidaris.
MO: So, how is it working with your wife, Arlene?
Andy: When we did the first film together, Hard Ticket to Hawaii, it was often embarrassing to be in the same room with us. The arguments were pretty fierce. Little by little, we got past our differences, realizing that together we were a pretty strong force and that we each could complement the other's attributes. I'm not saying that today we never disagree, but we are way more civilized. MO: You started out in sports TV, right?
Andy: My TV career started in Dallas when I was 19 years old. In 1960 I directed a children's show, The Magic Land of AllaKazam, which aired on CBS & ABC for 6 years. In 1960 Roone Arledge called from ABC Sports. He hired me as their first contract director for that company. My career there lasted for 28 years, at which point I had directed over 500 football games; AFL, NFL and NCAA. I also directed hundreds of basketball games & various events for Wide World of Sports. In fact I directed the first Wide World of Sports show in 1961.
MO: How and why did you transition to film directing?
Andy: The career was very rewarding for me. In fact, I was able to garner 7 Emmys for my work. However, it wasn't enough. Living in Hollywood, I decided I wanted to get into the movie business as well. My production company, The Sidaris Company, was doing numerous film shows for Wide World of Sports and several film specials for ABC on racing. It was natural that I segue to my first movie in 1969 entitled The Racing Scene, starring James Garner. This was gratifying to me because it got me hooked on filmmaking.
MO: Tell us about your first "guns and babes" film, 1973's Stacey.
Andy: With my film production company, I hooked up with Roger Corman. We each put up $37,500 for a total of $75,000. I directed and produced and co-owned Stacey. This film had over 3,000 theatrical playdates in the US. It also did very well in the international market. The film did quite well for me and for Roger. Obviously, Stacey was a 'guns 'n babes' flick. It set me on the path to do 13 more films in that genre.
MO: Your career really took off 12 years later, with Malibu Express.
Andy: I wrote, produced and directed Seven in 1978, starring Rich Man, Poor Man's William Smith. I also directed TV episodes such as Kojak and Nancy Drew Mysteries (produced by my wife, Arlene Sidaris). This was such damn hard work that I realized if I was going to do films, I might as well own them.
During the period between making Stacey and Malibu Express, I was working night and day for ABC Sports. I was directing and producing football, Wide World of Sports and Head Drector of several Olympics. I finally got around to doing Malibu Express in 1984. I did it in conjunction with Playboy Enterprises. We each put up $250,000. When the opportunity arose, I bought them out & made a distribution deal with Universal Home Video.
The success of the Universal distribution, laid the groundwork for me to create a brand name for The Andy Sidaris Collection that includes Malibu Express and 11 additional films. Universal only had the home video rights, so cable and worldwide television became extremely important to us. We started out in late night and after just a few seasons, ended up on prime time on both HBO and Showtime because the audiences discovered us and loved us.
MO: After Malibu, you made a series of films in the '80s and '90s. How did you settle on your casts?
Andy: I realized the popularity of Playboy magazine and the recognizability the name had around the world. Later, after I met Julie Strain, I included Penthouse Pets. We liked the Playmates because we knew they had experience in front of the camera, but we also considered their athletic prowess when casting.
We got lucky with Playmates Dona Speir, Hope Marie Carlton, Cynthia Brimhall and Roberta Vasquez in casting our leads, along with about 15 other Playmates who played supporting roles. Each and every one of them got with the program. They were talented, athletic, loyal, dedicated and had a damn good time working for us.
MO: When you were directing those movies, did you have a timer in your head that said, "Every five minutes, I need either blood or a nude scene?" It seems like clockwork.
Andy: In making a movie, the most important thing you can do is to keep the action moving as you tell the story. We don't do long, drawn out scenes with underlying psychological bs. We set the story, set the pace and move on. We know people like our style. And, yes, we throw in nudity whenever possible and augment it with a whole bunch of chases, explosions and gunshots. What I'm trying to say is, even though our movies run 94-98 minutes, we always have over 200 scenes in each movie...much more than most other movies.
MO: What was your strategy for marketing, promotion and distribution? You've done a great job of getting your films noticed.
Andy: As a team, I am an Emmy Award winning TV Sports pioneer. Arlene is an accomplished TV executive and producer of TV movies and the TV series, Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries. Combine those qualities with the surprising entertainment value of these films, and the fact that we're pretty nice folks, and the response of the TV and print media is strong.
MO: You must like Dallas -- I believe you've set one or more of your films there.
Andy: Boy, do I like Dallas. I went to college there. I graduated from SMU. It's where I began my TV career. We film there and in Shreveport and Bossier City, Louisiana. We also love filming in Arizona, especially in Lake Havasu and Sedona, as well as California. Las Vegas has been a great place for us to film. The people are great and the city is dynamite. Of course, last but not least are the islands of Hawaii, Oahu, Molokai & Maui. Molokai is where most of our damage is done. It's offbeat and secluded. The people love us and we're able to make beautiful films there.
MO: What do you think about the critics' reviews of your films?
Andy: Check in at www.andysidaris.com & click News. You'll see loads of great reviews. In fact, if you check TV Guide, IMDB, Netflix you'll see some pretty good touts for our films. On the rare occasion that we get criticized, I shrug it off thinking that they simply didn't get the joke.
MO: What are you and Arlene up to these days?
Andy: Arlene and I are very fortunate that all 12 movies in The Andy Sidaris Collection are represented by Warner Bros. for worldwide cable and television distribution. They have done a wonderful job for us and we know we're the only small company who has an association with a company of its stature...
As you probably know, our films are now playing every Friday night on SPIKE-TV. Warner Bros. made this deal for us. These 12 movies have been edited to 86 minutes, taking out approximately 10 minutes. They're still a hell of a lot of fun and I think will entice fans to want to buy the "R" rated versions of these films. For more information on the dvd's click on www.andysidaris.com & click on Products.
We also have my autobiography (of sorts) available. I personally autograph each copy of the book purchased from our Web site. The title is "Bullets, Bombs & Babes" published by Heavy Metal, available at comic book and specialty stores and at www.andysidaris.com. All purchases from our Web site arrive with an autographed photo.
MO: What are your future plans?
Arlene and I have taken a hiatus in order to get up to speed on our company and our ongoing projects. We are now ready to get back into production. I've written a pretty exciting outline for BattleZone Hawaii with all the usual ingredients; many exotic locations, fabulous explosions, extraordinarily beautiful Playboy Playmates and Penthouse Pets, extremely handsome men; some of whom can't shoot straight but their hearts are in the right place and, most importantly, the snake that was killed in Hard Ticket to Hawaii, laid an egg prior to its death. This egg is hatched and just like its mother this huge, cancerous-infected python is mad as hell!!! Wow! I can't wait to see this movie.
When we saw that subject heading in our e-mail, we figured it was just another critic complaining that Media Orchard is dragging this week. Then we actually read the e-mail:
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Maybe we should consider it. Nah -- we'll just post another picture of Ute and Meredith Vieira's dog instead.
David Hasselhoff joins the list of stars -- think Leslie Nielsen -- to create second careers out of self-parody, with this ad for U.K.-based broadband firm Pipex. (Is that a wig?)
In the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility, because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.
Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf
What are you worried about? That we're going to do fair and balanced reporting at the local stations? I have no problem with fair and balanced reporting anywhere it's done.
Fox News Channel boss Roger Ailes, to television critics on Monday, when asked about his plans to take charge of the news operations of Fox-owned local television stations.
