I hadn’t a clue what to expect that evening, seeing as it was my first red carpet experience. Not only was I doing a PR celebrity event for the first time as a Miller PR Account Coordinator, but it was with rock-star legend Gene Simmons; that’s enough to make a girl very nervous! “Rock God” or not, Gene and his family made it extremely easy and enjoyable to be part of his Miller PR team.

Accompanying Erika Gutierrez, our Talent SAE, to the awards show was eventful and helped me gain an inside glimpse at the Simmons family. Although they are poised on the red carpet, it is great to get an inside look at how fun the family is behind the scenes.  I found it unique and grounding that the Simmons family is extremely tight-knit and very real.

I walked away learning many important things that night: how to conduct interviews on the red carpet, how to escort celebrities safely through vicious crowds with security, and how to make sure they are prepped and ready for their entrance.  Most importantly, I left with the knowledge that even though the Simmons family members are full-fledged celebrities, they don’t require a red carpet to have an amazing time with each other. That is what I love about Miller PR – we choose our clients wisely because we truly do represent the best.

Turner Classic Movies has held their film festival for the last two years, playing a variety of classic films across four days.  In its third year, TCM paid special homage to film producer Robert Evans, screening five of his films across the weekend. For those who may not be familiar with who Evans is (and if not, shame on you!), he has been responsible for some of cinema’s most renowned films including The Godfather, Rosemary’s Baby and Love Story.  Roman Polanski’s film noir, Chinatown, is considered to be one of the greatest films of all time.

The screening began with Robert Evans and screenwriter Robert Towne (who won the Oscar for Best Screenplay in 1975) talking shop about how they came to make the film.  As Evans and Towne walked into the cinema, 1200 members of the audience erupted into a standing ovation and cell phone cameras flashed across the theater, certifying their legendary status forty years later. One of the most interesting insights they provided was how Polanski changed the ending to what they both thought was too simplistic for such a complex film. Looking back, they realized that it worked perfectly and ironically the last line of the film has now become one of the most famous lines in cinema history.

As those famous five words were uttered, “Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown,” and Jerry Goldsmith’s haunting score started to play as the credits began to role, all of us at Miller PR couldn’t agree more that it is the perfect ending for such an iconic film.

The best part about gearing up for the festival is that there are a series of smaller events hosted by the BANFF event team in the months leading up to it.

One of the preview events traditionally takes place in Los Angeles. This year, Miller PR had the honor and pleasure of playing a key role in organizing BANFF LA. We helped the event team pull together BANFF’s first-ever Los Angeles panel event at the beautiful London Hotel in West Hollywood.

The panel was moderated by Andrew Wallenstein, TV Editor of Variety. The panel featured Anna Robertson – Head of Yahoo! Studios, Scott Nocas – Head of Distribution and Marketing for Vuguru LLC, Kim Evey – President of Geek & Sundry, Inc., Michael Wayne – Co-Founder and CEO of DECA, and Aaron DeBovoise – EVP of Network Programming for Machinima.

More than 250 entertainment industry executives showed up for the panel and cocktail reception, many of which were invited by our hard-working team at Miller. It was great to see our media friends show up as well.  Dawn Chmielewski from Los Angeles Times, Susan Karlin from Fast Company, James Israel from indieWIRE,  Hollie McKay from FOX News, and Peter Carancas from Variety, were present in full force.

The evening started with a lively discussion from the panel on topics ranging from advertising models for online content to celebrity value and involvement, to the expected growth of digital long form packages.

When the panel was over, everyone went upstairs to enjoy the gorgeous view on the rooftop of the hotel and continued to discuss many of the hot topics the panelists touched on. Most importantly, many of the people were talking about how interested and excited they are about attending the BANFF event in June.

Overall, BANFF LA was a big success.  We’d like to extend a big thanks to our friends over at BANFF for giving us the opportunity to partner with you on such a successful event. Additionally, we want to thank the team at Miller for doing a stellar job at making sure the event went off without a hitch. Many hours were put into preparation for the LA event and it’s only the beginning. We’re looking forward to doing a great job with the BANFF festival in June!

What started out a 50 character title and 1,000 word description, quickly morphed into something much, much more and over the course of a week a panel was born.  Writers from Cracked.com, The Onion, and McSweeney’s signed on to tackle the world of online reading and how comedy is playing its part.

With our description finalized and our panelists lined up, we submitted to the mercy of our peers and entered the dreaded “Panel Picker” to be judged, reviewed, and voted on.  Months rolled by until I received the email in October letting me know that our panel survived the onslaught of the “Panel Picker” and made it into the SXSW Interactive agenda!

While being selected brought on a sigh of relief, it was shortly lived as we were forced to hit the ground running on 25 new deadlines that needed to be checked off and finalized prior to March 9.  From coordinating conference calls to selecting a hashtag, our checklist slowly began to dwindle down until the only thing left on it was arriving at the Austin Convention Center to pick up badges and enjoy SXSW Interactive.

With SXSW slowly becoming a distant memory, I’m looking forward to tackling the beast again this Summer.

The Near Networks’ client that day was the super-chic Wags Club, a doggy day care and training company on the Westside.  I was enthusiastically greeted by wet noses and paw handshakes. Jen Ringel, head of production for Near Networks, led me to the room where they were filming a shot of the dogs in the hang out area.

What I found, among these perky pooches, was that instead of a full film crew, there was only one producer and one filmmaker with a stylish, yet surprisingly compact HD DSLR camera and a tripod. Despite the camera, the business was still open and operating like normal.

Even more surprising than the limited production team, was how Near Networks’ gorgeous, broadcast-quality videos come from just one HD camera. It’s amazing how recent advances in technology, and the resulting lowered equipment costs, have revolutionized film and video production and made it such a simple, affordable process. Of course professional-quality editing and detailed advanced preparation, both of which Near Networks provides for its clients, helps immensely with the quality of the finished product as well.

When the Wags Club video is edited and posted online I’ll update this posting with the link. I think you’ll be as impressed as I when you see the quality, knowing the secret of the simplicity that is behind it.

Using technology from our client Ortsbo.com, a real-time translation platform allowing users to chat with each other in more than 53 languages, the interview started with simple pleasantries:

Huffington Post: Wie geht’s Dir, Gene? (How are you, Gene?)

Simmons:  Great. Thank you for asking. (Great. Danke für die Nachfrage.

As the interview continued, the reporter could see how quickly Ortsbo instantly translated messages into a different language.  No more cutting and pasting!  Ortsbo can be used completely free on GTalk, MSN Messenger and Facebook or even on-the-go with an iPhone app.

My favorite part of the interview was when the reporter asked Gene, “What emoticon represents you best?” Clearly, a smiley face sticking out its tongue was the best choice!

The two GTalked in their respective languages about Gene’s recent wedding, KISS projects and of course, how he uses Ortsbo to communicate with fans and business partners across the globe.  I’ve worked with Gene on many projects, but this one was quite different.  Unlike most interviews, the focus of the story was actually the use of Orstbo, not the answers from Gene.

I came away learning that as publicists we truly work to create the story with our client and the reporter.  From the beginning, the interview was about working to flush out an interesting storyline that readers of the Huffington Post would like to see. Because of this experience, I will remember to always look further than the interview. How will the reporter make MY clients interview standout?  How will the story actually look in the end?  How will the end focus meet our goal? These are all important key points that any publicist should follow from the first step!

Since becoming the social media coordinator at Miller PR, I’ve grown to understand the potential and perils behind every post.  The biggest social media fail I have seen, was when an agency publicly put game reviewers on blast due to negative reviews, and then blacklisted them from receiving future products.  The agency sent a clear message to reviewers: hold your tongue or face repercussions.  The tweet not only tarnished the reputation of public relations professionals, but it also resulted in the agency being fired for creating the spectacle.

This gaffe is a testament to reviewing your messaging before posting. As a brand representative, I’m a gatekeeper to the agency’s social networks, and tasked with triple checking everything that comes across my desk.  This process ensures that our tweets and posts are adeptly crafted to achieve the optimal result. Add-ons like Tweet Deck and Hootsuite have proven vital in forming and maintaining positive relations with industry influencers and reporters. Most importantly, it’s the message that serves as the ultimate social media tool, just like in PR.

While these hubs and networks provide us with nearly an endless amount of information, they also keep us accountable for our actions online.  With this in mind, I’ve become far more cautious when putting myself and clients before the mercy of the internet.

Anyone familiar with Stan’s work will understand why this honor from the Visual Effects Society is most definitely appropriate. Stan co-created numerous Marvel Super Heroes including Spider-Man™, The Incredible Hulk™, X-Men™, The Fantastic Four™, Iron Man™, Daredevil™, The Avengers™, Silver Surfer™ and Dr. Strange™ among many others. His characters have been the basis of Hollywood blockbusters for years. From Professor X’s super-powered Cerebro to prolific inventor Tony Stark’s robotic suit of armor, the imaginative worlds and characters Stan has created have required artists and engineers to push the boundaries of visual effects and computer animation to an entirely new level.

Stan Lee is truly a legend and it was an honor to work with him and coordinate an announcement for this honor.

Stan Lee Earns Visual Effects Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award (MTV.com)

http://splashpage.mtv.com/2011/10/19/stan-lee-earns-visual-effects-societys-lifetime-achievement-award/