I came across this today courtesy of Popbitch, it rang a strangely familiar bell though it related to posh and becks...
" The tabloids are often interesting reading for what is not in them, rather than what is. We were intrigued to see report after report of the Beckhams "trying for a baby" and "romantic holiday" recently. There were surprisingly candid shots of the pair on holiday on a unnamed Caribbean island, the family's detailed itinerary and loads of flattering quotes about what a romantic time they were having. So why would a pair of multi-millionaires with a lifestyle of private jets and private islands allow so much access that us plebs could know everything about their romantic holiday and pregnancy intentions?"
If you take out the preganancy intentions, every word of this could apply to our favourite couple (i'm thinking that holiday in Sydney where they fancied working the Romeo and Juliet vibe). Shall we continue with the hallowed words of pop bitch?
"Well, that's the interesting question. Usually when you see these kind of stories,
the most likely interpretation is that they've been placed so that a less complimentary
tale fails to see the light of day. There are rumours circulating involving a US magazine and an attempt to break a confidentiality agreement but that might be entirely unrelated"
argghhh its just such rubbish, and its interchangeable between each celeb couple... so and so has problems, has a romantic holiday, is getting married, is breaking up....
so much hype and bollocks....
Oh Orlando.... were you always like this???
Okay, let's go slow. It's. All. Bought. And. Paid. For.
ReplyDeleteYou hire a publicist in Hollywood. The kind of publicity you get depends on how much you pay per month. It's a sliding scale. You pays the publicist, she/he picks up the phone and schedules you, your photos, your copy, with whatever outlets you've paid her to contact and place stuff with.
Loose (very loose) examples:
$5,000 per month will get you print mentions without photos in the rags.
$10,000 per month will get you mentions in the rags with photos.
It's a sliding scale. You want to be on Leno/Letterman? That'll be $100,000 a month please. That is reserved for the A-listers who have projects coming out THAT MONTH.
Watch the tabs, watch the entertainment shows, watch the talk shows. Write down who you see when and why.
The publicity you're seeing now is on behalf of:
1. One person who needs to continually market herself in order to keep her face/name familiar to her market.
2. One person who needs to keep his name/face familiar/known to the public while he has NO PROJECT PREMIERING soon.
The more blanketed the coverage, the higher they are on the A-list.
You'll notice some only pay when they have something professional to promote (see Depp, Streep, Neeson). They're not paying for the promotions unless they have something to promote. And sometimes, not even them (like Neeson). They go only where the studio tells them to go to promote the product/project.
And some pay all of the time. Like Orlando. And Miranda.
It's not rubbish. It's marketing and it's part of their industry. It's part of their job. THEY'RE the product. Everybody makes money, the actors are marketed to their audience, you watch or buy the marketing, voila. Everybody's happy.
As for their personal relationship, it could also be contracted or not. Hard to call, that one. Sometimes they're legit. Sometimes they're not. Time will tell.
Anomers...thanks, no need to go slow :) I understand what PR is all about I just don't like it much (though its very interesting to see what the cost is likely to be - i had no idea thats how much this shit costs - man, this must be a major part of their expenditure!)
ReplyDeleteI don't agree that its not Rubbish on some level (and I'm not talking OB for a moment here) If you are truly good at something why do you need your private life to keep you "out there", simplistic I know but why can't your work speak for itself at the appropriate time.
I know I'm talking about a parallel universe but I think its bollocks.
I totally take your point that I buy into this bollocks though, otherwise I wouldn't be on here seeing what they are up to :D!
For me, I guess, its something thats wrong with society, I totally agree that the celebrities are a product of it..
In fact OB and the PM arent the best examples of totally pointless celebrities... they both actually have a talent that they are still using (I know but you can't get away from the fact Miranda is an active model so bear with me), so you could argue its part of that process to keep them out there..... At the moment the ones i'm getting excercised by are Kerry Katona, and katie Price...just why oh why do I and others want to see that plastered across all the mags every week..
Another really pointless example - Big Brother..to me that programme said it all - for the most part a lot of wannabe's poised to pimp their asses of the moment they left the house, but what were they actually good at?? sitting around??? making tea??? trying to shag each other on camera?? (I'll admit the first time seemed like an interesting concept, but after that.....)
Yet they are there, we still buy them, even though they haven't done anything that sets them out from the rest of us for years (and in some cases never).
I come from a classical music background and in that environment (for the most part anyway) you are as good as your last performance / record - there is still nothing like the consistent strive for exposure that goes on in other parts of the the entertainment industry, but of course the stakes and rewards are a lot less, and the "fame" when it comes is accepted as fairly fleeting in terms of the general public. You hope to maintain a profile within the classical music circuit based on your standard... I'd guess its different for people right at the top of the field, but you don't get random people who have done one good performance sticking around in the press for the next 6 years trying to make money out of it...
The other actors you mention are great examples of people who i percieve anyway as doing the minimum, and in fact they are all extremely talented in my view (Hopkins would be another for me) and yet I have no idea what their private lives are up to unless its (sadly) news worthy - thinking Neeson here.
THAT i respect, I'm sure they all have PR agents but they excercise caution...
I'm rather firmly of the opinion that the PM and OB are in an arrangement, but i'd agree on it swinging between becoming more "real" and less depending on what time you catch them.... why that is is anyones guess...
I'd also say that Orlando did spend an awful lot of time selling this "down-to-earth-british-boy" image to the world, he/his PR had everyone believing that for years, Its therefore more than a little sad when you realise that was another set of smoke and mirrors, I'm singling him out because I am (have been???) a fan of his, there are PLENTY of more useless buggers out there that don't appear to have a specific talent other than getting in the papers..