How to Increase Exposure in the Entertainment Media

By George S. Mc Quade III

“There’s a fine line between being a pain in the ass and being a good PR pro,” said Bill Cipola, who has been the entertainment producer for KTTV Fox 11, Los Angeles since 1994.  He was one of five entertainment media editors at a Business Wire Media Breakfast,  at the Flying Museum, Santa Monica, CA.  Cipola also supervises entertainment news coverage for Fox’s morning show, “Good Day L.A.” and is responsible for live coverage of all the major awards shows, plus backstage interviews, set visits, movie premieres, press junkets and in-studio celebrity interviews for “Good Day L.A.”  (cipolla@fox11la.com ; fax: 310.584.2250)

Pitch Secrets
”One of the biggest secrets, and one sure-fire way for you guys to get our attention is free stuff. It’s true, and I hate to say it, but we get inundated with people products. But you still need to know the show you’re pitching to. For example, I received a pitch the actor Gary Coleman during Black History Month that had nothing to do with our show. Know our audience, the people who are on our show. The best way to approach me is in the morning and with a fax, I have trouble with email, and I like a hard piece of paper. Followup with one phone call, not several calls. Our job is to sell our product, not yours and sometimes PR Pros forget that fact.”Previously, Cipola was a news producer at KCBS Channel 2.

ET Editors Pet Peeves
Columnist Booth Moore for the “Southern California Living” section of the Los Angeles Times likes her pitches in the afternoon and relies on a lot of publicists faxes and email. “I try not to write about events that I don’t attend.” Her column, “SoCal Confidential,” appears five days a week. Before joining the Los Angeles times “Calendar” section in 1996, she wrote for the Washington Post and the Manchester (Vermont) Journal. And she loves to write about “great personalities in Los Angeles or events in LA. For example, two recent stories included a feature on a jellyfish farm, and a popular hotel where staff was trying to exorcise ghosts there.” (booth.moore@latimes.com; fax: 213.237.4712)

Rob Silverstein, co-executive producer of “Access Hollywood,” says your pitch “gotta have the “WOW FACTOR.” Silverstein joined the program in 1996 as a weekend producer, rose up to senior broadcast producer in 1997 and became co-executive producer in 1999. A three-time sports Emmy Award winner, Silverstein started his career as an executive sports producer at KMOX-AM in St. Louis. He went on to join CBS Sports in New York as chief researcher, then as a producer in 1990. In 1993, Silverstein moved to Los Angeles to serve as broadcast producer of Fox News “Front Page.” He then became senior producer of “American Gladiators” in 1995. A native of New York, he resides with his wife and four children in LA. 

Silverstein describe Access has having an incredible four years and mushrooming into a “Monster.” Former sports announcer Pat O’Brien solidifies the show. “For the first time in history of the show we were the number one Hollywood show in this ‘May Sweeps’ ratings. We don’t care for exclusives, were non-tabloid, and were the only show that goes Hollywood all the way,” explained Silverstein.  The show airs three times daily and there is an Internet division in New York with segment producers and a news director. Producing the show begins at 5:30 AM and he prefers an email pitch the most. Anytime you're not getting cooperation from our people email me and let me know.  We do like to give your story our Access spin. We have to think like David Letterman and Jay Leno, and what different things can we do with your story.” Access doesn’t always cover celebrities. “We do music charts and sports, too,” said Silverstein. (rob.silverstein@nbc.com; fax: 818.526.7011)

CNN Loves Your Stories
Senior Assignment Editor Lynne Lester with CNN’s “Showbiz Today” says she prefers getting pitches by phone or fax. (lynne.lester@turner.com; fax: 323.993.5057) “I love all your stories, however I’m amazed how often I’ll get 10 pages of information and half of it is a black hole.” Lester says it boils down to basic journalism 101 “the five W’s, who, what, when, where and why.”  

Lester started with the network in 1990 as an intern on the news desk, later switching to the entertainment unit as an assignment editor. Previously, Lester was the manager of the DC Bar Sections Office in Washington, D.C., where she oversaw the activities of the mandatory bar’s 21 sections, each specializing in an area of law. She also served as Bill Graham’s assistant at the first US Festival and then briefly for him at Graham’s San Francisco headquarters. “I don’t like to say no in email, so I prefer the phone pitch, Lester said. She warns that when you pitch a story be truthful about who will be at the event. “When we arrive, it’s not just ‘Showbiz Today.’ Our TV crews are sending the story to Atlanta for 400 affiliates. We get really disappointed, and so do our editors when we get there and we don’t get to interview the honoree, because they had to leave.”

To reach Scott Robson, who was recently named acting editor-in-chief of E! Online try email first (scottr@eonline.com) or fax 323.692.6565. “If it doesn’t have a celebrity angle or there is not a familiar face it will be hard to pitch,” said Robson. “Depending upon the buzz, stories come in all ways. It might be part of a live chat session, a news angle, or the celebrity might be newsworthy. It is a great experience for the user and a rush for the celebrity.” Robson said it was a struggle the first year with shows on E!, because “we didn’t want to be a promotional site, and we did not have a lot of material then.”

Hot Stuff
CNN’s Lynn Lester said the “reality-based shows are the hottest stories right now. Half of my phones at CNN are from DotCom pitches.” Lester says media training should be done at the office not on the site referring to an incident where PR pros and staff held up smile signs over the interviewer’s shoulder while the guest was being interviewed. “Access Hollywood’s” Rob Silverstein points out that if a PR Pro can get them into a remote location at a celebrity event, then you’ve hooked us. It really needs to have a ‘Wow’ factor or special effects. For example, the Disney folks gave us a step-by-step of how the “Dinosaur” movie was done. We ran the story every Thursday for 10 weeks before the premier and it was a hit. Then “Matrix” sets the bar a little higher,” said Silverstein. The Grammy’s seem to be the “Super bowl” of all events, because of the
interest and unpredictability. One tip from Silverstein: “try to be accurate on your tip sheet. Remember we’re sending crews out at night and were trying to get a fix on who is going to be at the event. Are they coming and can we interview them, or are they speaking and taking off? As for exclusives at a celebrity event. There is always one winner and a lot of losers.”  Moore, Lester, Silverstein, Robson and Cipola all agreed that stories, which have a human-interest angle, or stories behind the scenes are more appealing to their target audiences. “ I don’t care for the Red Carpet treatment. I like to go inside to get the flavor of the celebrity events,” said Booth Moore at the LA Times.

E! Online is geared toward users finding out what they want to know about celebrities in movies, TV shows and plays. Not only does the site have a new column that elevates the art of celebrity gossip, but also there is even a review section where PR Pros can pitch celebrity stories to freelance writers. “Live press conferences for Warner Brothers type of shows are a big draw and live chats and Q&A’s with stars. “We recently teased that actor George Clooney will be here on E! Online, said Robson.”We narrow his email down from thousands to 40, and he answers 20 to 30 of them. It makes the fans feel like they’re connect. One of our most successful live chats was the “X-files” where we do it all live with thousands of fans around the world.”

Weekend Coverage is No Problem
Asked if there is a difference in coverage of celebrity events on the weekends versus the weekdays. “ We have no problem covering weekends,” said Access’ Silverstein. “In fact the New York bureau has 60 people working there.”  It might be a good time to pitch those enterprise stories to CNN too. “The enterprise stories take time and usually run at the end of the show,” said Lester. “We cover everything from model makers to toy manufacturers, and any human interest story behind the scenes.”

Future of TV/PC Convergence
All the panelist scratched their heads and admitted they have no idea what the future holds for the emerging technology impact the entertainment media. “I was just in a meeting this week on “Showbiz Today” to find out what coming up,” said CNN’s Lynne Lester. “I really don’t have an answer.” From the LA Times: “ I can tell you I was surprised to learn that more people read my column online,” said Booth Moore. “I get questions in email from readers who saw my material on www.latimes.com.” Robson who has been with E! Online since its inception in 1996 and helped build in into the largest entertainment content site on the web said “we’re already there, and it’s exciting to provide a service where users can watch entertainment TV on their PC.”  However, “Access Hollywood” ‘s Rob Silverstein had the best answer, which was “If I knew the answer to your question, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now, I’d be in the Silicon Valley.”

George S. McQuade III, V.P. Internet Accounts, MAYO Communications, Los Angeles, www.mayocommunications.com is the West Coast correspondent for O’Dyre PR Daily. He can reached at 818.340.5300 or email: extremepr@socal.rr.com

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