Public Relations and Hollywood: A Fistful of Publicity.

From silent film to made-for-television films, public relations professionals have either been behind the scenes or stage center in the movie-selling business. Press-agents, one of the several subcategories of practitioners working in the entertainment industry, are often busy finding unusual news angles and planning events to attract media attention for that aspiring or mega star client while publicists work exclusively on media placement. Many times too, both are busy managing media coverage of a star who is in the middle of messy divorce proceedings, or who has been arrested for shoplifting, or indecent exposure. Staff planters deliver news to print media while bookers schedule stars on talk shows and in public avenues. To further promote a film while it's in production, unit men or women assigned to the project generate story ideas for the trade media and mass media. Public relations professionals also try to get their client's products into movies usually paying, of course, for such silent publicity. Often, location can be the product that professionals are trying to promote.