Freelance Publicist

Responsibilities

• Festival and premiere publicity - Build and run the publicity plan for each title from festival acceptance through premiere: positioning language, press announcement, advance screenings, interview schedule, red-carpet and press-line logistics, and on-the-ground management of talent and filmmakers at the festival. - Know the press attending each festival and get the film in front of the right critics and reporters before the premiere. - Coordinate with the sales agent and, once attached, the distributor's publicity team. Hand off cleanly when they take over.
• Trade and consumer press - Place announcements in Variety, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and IndieWire: financing, casting, festival selection, sales, release dates. Draft the release, secure the exclusive, manage the embargo. - Pitch feature stories, interviews and profiles to consumer and specialty outlets through release. - Field inbound press requests and manage approvals with producers, talent reps and the distributor.
• Materials - Write and maintain press kits, synopses, bios, production notes and fact sheets. - Manage stills, key art and clip approvals; keep the asset library current and cleared. - Prepare briefing documents and talking points for talent and filmmakers before press days and panels.
• EPK and behind-the-scenes - Plan and coordinate EPK and behind-the-scenes capture on set and in post, working with the production and Fenton's video team. On Conversion, this includes a short documentary piece on the filmmakers and the story's origins.
• Social and digital - Draft the social calendar and copy for each title, timed to announcements and premieres. Fenton's digital staff execute; you set the content and the timing.
• Campaign management - Keep the press list, the coverage tracker, and the approvals log. Send weekly coverage reports to producers and partners. - Track festival submission deadlines and materials for titles not yet placed. - Support awards-season activity where a title qualifies: screener strategy, guild and press screenings, FYC materials.

Requirements

• 5 to 10 years in film publicity at an entertainment PR firm, a distributor, a studio, or a festival press office.
• Agency experience at Sunshine Sachs, 42West, ID, Cinetic, Falco Ink, or Obscured Pictures, or equivalent in-house work, is desired.
• A track record of festival premieres at the top tier (Sundance, Venice, Telluride, Toronto, NYFF, SXSW, Tribeca) and at genre festivals (Fantastic Fest, Sitges, Beyond Fest, Fantasia), with campaigns you ran yourself, not observed.
• Working relationships with the film trade press and with critics and feature writers at major consumer outlets.
• Experience managing talent and filmmakers through press days, premieres and panels, including working with their personal publicists and agents.
• Strong writer. Releases, notes, bios, and pitch emails that need no rewrite.
• Comfortable owning the calendar, the list and the tracker without being asked.

Preferred

• Both prestige and genre campaigns on your résumé. Our slate runs from an Andrew Scott chamber piece to a Gen Z horror film.
• Experience with live-capture or stage-to-screen titles.
• Experience coordinating EPK and behind-the-scenes production.
• Awards-season experience, even one cycle.
• Familiarity with the social impact or advocacy world is a plus, but not required; Fenton has that in-house.
• Willingness to apply the same skills to Fenton's communications clients when the studio calendar is light. This is a new practice within an established agency, and the person who thrives here will see it as a range rather than a detour.