PR, Films and Fantasies

Yesterday I went to London for an amazing event. I first heard about the BAFTA evenings on a school forum and was a bit reluctant about them… I thought yeah, good for filmmakers, but how could I fit in there, surrounded by directors, producers and all the big names? However, I knew this one was made for me:

While Stanley Bielecki may not be a household name to film fans, the smash hits he helped to market certainly are: Rocky Horror Picture Show, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Star Wars, Legend and Alien to name but a few. Fans and friends from Mel Brooks to Star Wars producer Gary Kurtz rave about the marketing genius of Bielecki who worked with many major studios as a marketing consultant and commissioned some of the great film stills that remain iconic classics.

For this event, Bleiecki’s friends and former collaborators including Kurtz (producer Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back), Pierre Spengler (producer, Superman), Sandy Lieberson (producer, Performance and formerly president of production at 20th Century Fox) will join us to celebrate some of his best commissions. Throughout the evening we will explore the art of the great film still and effective film marketing in the hopes of learning from a living legend of the craft.

A few years ago when I wanted to study Cinematography and work with images in the film industry, I think that Stanley’s profession was what I had in mind. Today, this keeps haunting me as I struggle to find my way to movie marketing and PR. As I entered the beautiful BAFTA building through the BAFTA door I could feel the power of the place. Then I got a glimpse on the people… speechless. To actually get to see these legend a few meters from me was absolutely amazing and even more thrilling was when the speakers appeared on stage and presented themselves. I thought I lost my breath

Anyway, I put every available event organised by BAFTA on my planner and hopefully, one day, I’ll be able to approach these Gods and introduce myself without swallowing my words.