Currently I’m in the midst of In the midst of planning a photo shoot, Yeah yeah, I hear you. Rent a space, show up with a camera and some pretty models and push the little button on your camera. Nope, it’s not that easy, but more on that later.

I took a quick break from planning because some more great news was delivered in the mailbox this morning. I am humbled by the notification that I received announcing my 12th and 13th lifetime Telly Awards*. Just like last week, these two are the super elite Gold Awards.

This is especially good for my inner being since I’m an awards junkie. I want to own the advertising world and now the resume can list that’s 13 Tellys, two CLIOs, two Emmy Awards, a Davey Award, a Communicator Award, and a bunch of others.

* – What’s a Telly Award? Well…”The Telly Awards honors the very best film & video productions, groundbreaking online video content, and outstanding local, regional, & cable tv commercials and programs.”

Here are a couple of outtakes from the two-picture photo combo that was the foundation of a European ad series (these were generated from months and months of planning) and ultimately earned the Telly awards:

Now, back to the planning. Hear me now when I tell you that the best images that appear in print are snapped with the mostly basic tools of photography. If you have a keen eye, most likely you will be able to view the photos and tell what the light sources are from the shadows that embrace the models, where it comes from, and begin to understand what went into making this particular production special. Most out there can follow your recipe, use the same tools, yet fall short of the brilliant plan and theme you devised.

Buy the book…trust me! (It’s not even my book!)

The difference makers are the little things that all come together perfectly. You know the old adage by Aristotle, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” This truly applies to a photo shoot. The perfect formula of parts make a huge impact and until you are able to plan these advertising or editorial events solo, you’ll want to be meticulous about the obvious fundamentals that turn something regular into an editor’s choice or something worthy of a cover.

First things, first. The theme…idea…concept.

I’ve been talking about the Big Idea forever. Stumble into one an you’ll be a star in your industry for a very long time. A star similar to a country singer who gets a top 10 hit and makes money from that one-hit wonder for decades. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Chances are, if you’re in charge of the creative, you have dozens of idea that rumble through your mind. Keep a journal handy and make sure you jot down everything that flies through because you’ll forget them minutes later. You have nothing to lose by writing it all down. It will even spur new ideas. Brainstorm it out in your own head. Find the process that creates genius. Trust me, your ideas will flourish in due time. Sketch, draw, highlight, dream. Visualize your ideas and come back to them later and add to them. They might not work for this shoot, but it will work for something, some day.

If you’re not good at revving up your creative engine, then you need to practice. Try investing $11 into Wreck This Journal which very productive to teach your brain how to go against the norm and fosters big ideas. Do the whole book and then graduate into the black book journaling.

Now the little big things.

You might say that the location, timing and equipment are really big things. But you are probably wrong. One of my best photos—that made a lot of money and was my country singer star moment—used a 20D Canon, the hallway of colleague’s apartment, and a makeshift Soviet Cosmonaut helmet made from throwaway materials from Goodwill and $3 of paint.

Location – $50. Model – $250. Materials – $39. Results – Priceless.

For my private exhibition shoots, I use no lighting and a Canon 80D and clean it all up in Photoshop afterwards. You too can use minimum gear for your production. You could go all crazy and gear up with a rented studio filled to the gills with outrageous doohickeys to light up your set and create the illusion of a big show. It’s up to you, but many times, less is more.

Many of my photographer colleagues trust in modest natural sunlight as the primary light source. Sure, sometimes they add reflectors, but that’s still an easy photo hack that will make you look like less of a, uh, hack. Research is vital and remember that if you pick a location, it might require permits or simply not look good as the backdrop you want. Take some quick test photos and tinker around with them before you fully commit.

If you feel strongly about your idea, do not listen to the naysayers who want to poke holes in your vision. Any location you chose could be an incredible choice is it fuses theme with reality. You can use guesthouse or living room with some rudimentary lights, an ironed bed sheet, or paper backdrops. It won’t be expensive and could save you a wad of cash for a studio. Even a hotel room might be a better option and give you the elements you need. It all depends on your concept. All of this works until you land that really big client or can afford to build your own studio, A studio gives extra advantages of an atmosphere where natural light is essentially non-existent. You regulate and control the environment with artificial light sources that can be purchased on the cheap on eBay or second-hand at a local camera store.

Outside shoots are different. Invest in some magazines or photography books, or even an online course to broaden your knowledge of this type of shooting. (READ: It ain’t easy Mr. Know-it-all!] The biggest factors are your positioning and time. Do it right and you will have beautiful dramatic results. Do it wrong and you’ve wasted a lot of time and paid models for nothing.

Speaking of models…

Talent matters…

If you have a lousy model, you aren’t going to get what you want. Quite frankly, you are going to fail. Models mean a lot and this isn’t the time to give someone a shot. You have to believe in who you choose. If want a successful shoot, don’t go cheap on the model. Figure out a price point and agree to it. You don’t want to be called out for being cheap. Despite most not having extra pounds on their frame, models have to eat too!

Finding someone privately or direct is a good start. Try Model Mayhem. You can post casting calls and your inbox will fill up depending on the assignment and rate you post. If you go the agency route, it will cost more and it will come with a fair amount of restrictions. Think long and hard on that. If you go the private route, make sure to download a model release and make sure it is signed before the day of the shoot. Rights should revert to you or your client alone. Models should be compensated properly and up front.

If you are going with a larger commercial shoot, residuals might have to be worked out and you need to be transparent with everything when you are dealing with talent. Don’t be tricky.

Teamwork makes the dream work. When choosing the crew, make sure you build one that has a “can do, will do, want to” mentality. Teaming a crew is the hardest thing you’ll do when planning a photo shoot. Everyone needs to understand your objectives and bring their best to the set. This is easier if you are shooting a larger scale print ad and your agency will have built in resources. Even better is when your models come with their own hair and makeup. They have their own synergy and their price points are pre-negotiated. If you’re working solo then you need to be diligent to set budgets, gain commitments, and get your team motivated.

So, who do you need on your crew? Like I said, if you’re going big you will need a wardrobe stylist, a set decorator, a makeup artist, a hairstylists, and a right hard catch-all production assistant.

Now that you have these steps, all you have to do is let your imagination run wild and get a group of people to buy into your wacky creative. Don’t stop at speed bumps. Plow through them and seek out your country song that carves your place in the photography world.

When in doubt, call up the Media Guy.

I can walk you through it all.

The post Awards Season plus the Perfect Photo Shoot appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.

Okay, so where am I?

Most of my regular readers know I am always on the search for that Big Idea. It’s something I learned the importance of from a, intimate David Ogilvy talkback I scored tickets through a viscous corporate ladder climber I was dating at the time. Research and writing were the keys back then. Still are if you wan to know the truth. Today I am humbled by the announcement of my 12th and 13th lifetime Telly Awards. These are the super elite Gold Awards. I am honored to have such a great team around me to make this possible and elated those long hours looking for the “Big Idea” continue to pay off.

Here’s the official Gold Award Winners Reel:

Reveling in these awards, sent me down a rabbit hole remembering one of my first big award, a local Emmy Award for an infomercial of sorts for my work with the legendary Pat Summerall on a United Airlines partnership I dreamed up when I was back at Leslie’s Swimming Pool Supplies (laugh all you want about Leslie’s and their name, but they had almost 500 stores across the States and they were a monster). Surely I wish I had a copy of this spot, but like many things pre-digital age, it’s lost in the ether. My informercial was entirely different that the hallmarks of the informercial that aired late night before cable hit its stride.

Infomercials gained steam in the 1980s as a popular advertising medium after getting its start as a long-form 1940s Vitamix blender commercial. In the 1970s, the advertising format skyrocketed in San Diego (stay classy!) with a one-hour show running Sunday television. In 1982, the infomercials us older crown know and love aired, specifically for hair growth and restoration treatments. Then in 1984, the FCC regulations imposing time limits on advertising were lifted and they really soared. Couple that with the boon in self-help products and home cooking aids and it was game on.

Here’s a rundown of my top infomericals:

Suzanne Somers
“ThighMaster”

Suzanne Somers was the mostly dimwitted blonde on “Three’s Company.” We didn’t hear much from her after a holdout cost her the sweet gig on the popular sitcom and then all of the sudden she was back holding down court on late-night squeezing the odd-shaped ThighMaster between your legs. Women couldn’t get enough (they sold 1o million units) and adolescent boys were glued to their television screens.

The Clapper
“Clap On, Clap Off”

Before smartphones and the real Internet, The Clapper introduced millions to the concept of home automation which begs the question: would Alexa exist without it?

Life Call
“I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up!”

Back in the day, I was in the room and help conceptualize the iconic “I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up!” commercial spot for Life Call. Yes we were laughed at. Yes, they wanted to fire us. Yes, they sold millions of units. Yes, they still run the same concepts today. No, I didn’t get any royalties. Bugger!

Hair Club for Men
“I’m not only the Hair Club president, I’m also a client.”

Sy Sperling used the signature catch phrase, “I’m not only the Hair Club president, I’m also a client,” to sign off his Hair Club for Men infomercials. He was on television so much that I’m sure many college fraternities used his spots for drinking games. After an endorsement from Ron Blomberg of the New York Yankees his hair club was greeted with “instant success” raking in $100 million annual in its peak years.

The “Gazelle” with Tony Little

The ponytailed Little with the hugh thighs called himself “America’s Personal Trainer.” Actually he’s probably the “World’s Personal Trainer” as his infomercials have aired in 81 different countries, selling almost 50 million fitness-related products. This 48-minute informercial ran almost nightly at one point:

RONCO

Ron Pompeil was the man. Nothing was out of his seller’s hands: pasta machines, pocket fishing poles, smokeless ashtrays, pray-on hair, food dehydrators, BBQ machines, devices that scrambled eggs inside their shells. You name it, he sold it. Here’s a sweet thirty minute spot for his Showtime BBQ and Rotisserie:

“OxiClean” with Billy Mays

When the loud, bearded Billy Mays hit your screen hawking hawking the mysterious powdered substance OxiClean, you listened. I mean how can he get red wine out of anything when you cannot? And the ad copy? It’s amazing!:

Watch the wonders of Oxiclean:

The post Down the Rabbit Hole with Infomercials appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.

Okay, so where am I? 


I’m at the Microsoft Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles taking in the 69th Emmy Awards and trying to get one of those drinks loaded with bitters that Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel are sharing.

No luck.

Speaking of luck…last year I waxed poetic (very much tongue-in-cheek) about flirting with the Emmy statuette and her going with a hundred or so other writers, producers, actors, and actresses. This year was different. Sometimes you get lucky a second time.

Flirt no more…

This year also saw my return to the red carpet, and honestly the two best parts of my night was watching Lena Headey and Sophie Turner (both of Game of Thrones) scarf McDonald’s fries and milk shakes on their way to the red carpet. At the end of the entertainment debauchery, it was a fantastic night for Hulu, which proved to be a late bloomer to the original scripted series game. Sunday, it became the first streaming service to win an Emmy for Best Series for The Handmaid’s Tale, leapfrogging Netflix and Amazon.

Hat’s off to the marketing folks at Hulu. Seriously, how much of the public do you think has seen The Handmaid’s Tale? Certainly the voters have (again a credit to Hulu marketers), but it goes into the category of the things that make you go “hmmmmmmmm.” Does this show have 1/100th the audience penetration of This Is Us? At the end, it was a triumph for not-widely-viewed series, led by The Handmaid’s Tale and Black Mirror (Netflix). It was also a big night for Big Little Lies and Veep which held onto the best comedy series and best lead actress in a comedy series titles. Women broke that glass ceiling through with wins for Lena Waithe and Reed Morano (you’ll have to look them up to know more, sorry. I didn’t know who they were before last night). 


Back to the red carpet…whatever you think the carpet is like, think again. Here’s a taste:

During the show, I decided to troll celebrity and celebrity-ish Twitter accounts looking for behind the scenes tidbits. I mean celebrities are people too. Right? Let’s see:

Red Carpet Gallery

Maybe because there’s no McDonald’s north of the wall…

Nice that Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman stopped their PDAs long enough for a few pictures.

Anna Chlumsky, robbed again.

Poor Justin Timberlake…

Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys of The Americans. In my world, these two would win every year.

Yeah, I don’t get this guy either.

Alec Baldwin. Genius. Pure.

Another win for Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

The new Dream Team (if you don’t know who these ladies are, watch more movies)

Just some serious eye contact with Reese Witherspoon is all…

This streak you have going is pretty, pretty, good!

The post Getting Social at the Emmy Awards appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.

Okay, so where am I?

I’m preparing for an other trip…and another surgery…yeah, getting old sucks. I’m also prepping for the Emmys on Sunday. I got a new lens to break in. You know I’ll post pictures. Stephen Colbert is hosting…more political humor. Ugh! I’m thinking Louis Vuitton for the red carpet. Yeah, that’s the ticket…yet I digress.

I bring up the traveling because it’s a little known fact that I see a classical music performance or an opera in every country I visit that offers such a thing. In Europe, it seems every major city has a beautiful opera house. Ah, the Opera…a kid I remember it being something you were taught to avoid. It was a old school meant to be enjoyed by the stuffy, nose-up crowd in tuxedo tails and shiny shoes.  The opera was strictly for the high cultured. As I aged I learned to truly appreciate it because I get to use my slim knowledge of classical music and study up on the stories and the history of each type of performance.

Regardless of how well I’ve aged and how cultured I’ve become, the fact remains that it is still a difficult sell for younger audiences.


Swedish opera house Folkoperan knows this fact and decided to pick the easy path to try and reach Swedish millennials is to use the old advertising adage that “sex sells.”

To promote the premiere of Puccini’s Turandot, Folkoperan and its agency crafted a commercial called “The Opera of Orgasms” that is devoid of words, just moans and groans and, well, orgasms.

So much for high culture…

If you are new to opera, the connection to sexual situations isn’t a stretch by any means. Opera is peppered with fables spun from of unbridled yearning, retribution and heartrending losses. Elevating its more applicable qualities was invented yesterday either. Last year, the Paris Opera recruited Bret Easton Ellis to craft a modern version of “Figaro,” a story as contemporary and depraved as you can get without dolling our red-light district ticket prices.

Turandot is especially suitable for this kind of interpretation. First released in 1926, it narrates the tale of Prince Calaf who falls in love with the unemotional Princess Turandot. To gain permission to marry her, potential suitors have to solve three riddles; any wrong answer results in death. Yikes!

“We live in a society where we’re constantly encouraged to indulge life, but it’s often in very superficial ways,” says Mellika Melouani Melani, director and artistic director at Folkoperan. “In our interpretation of the opera, we want to pay tribute to the urge of desire and the total devotion that comes with it. In our film, the orgasm symbolizes this.”

In the commercial (the Folkoperan marketers call it a film), people in diverse—not necessarily glitzy—sexual circumstances express their apex to the tune of the Nessun Dorma aria. It’s a festival of unlimited longing, those moments when you’re so close to metaphorically falling off the cliff that things like environment, expectancy and social norms no longer carry any weight. And it exquisitely echoes the state Turandot’s admirers find themselves in, one in which the proximity of pleasure is so painful that nothing matters more than finding release, not even oblivion.

Now trust me, having an orgasm might actually be the closest you and I get to singing opera. Both are big physical experiences that release endorphins and oxytocin, but this piece just rings wrong with the current state of advertising. It’s over the top and getting ample amount of press but it’s done so well, it’s much too hard to be incredulous.

So what do I know?

I do know this—it’s becoming all too easy for brands to use sexism as low-hanging fruit to go viral. Time after time, we rise to the bait, giving the brands exactly what they set out to achieve: Internet Fame.

On an almost daily basis, sexism in headlines, adverts and newspaper front pages is getting taken to task on Twitter. But, by tweeting about those brands and making them go viral, are we giving them exactly what they want?

As Oscar Wilde said “the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about”. Brand managers are well aware of this,” says Anthony Patterson, professor of marketing at Liverpool University. A “response — whether outrage or support — demonstrates that consumers are engaging with their brand.”

Take the London’s Daily Mail. On eve of Britain triggering Article 50 and officially entering Brexit negotiations, it was #LegsIt (not #Brexit) that topped the UK’s Twitter trends. The newspaper’s headline declaring “Forget about Brexit, who won Legs-it!” alongside a photograph of Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and British Prime Minister Theresa May and a pain staking analysis of their legs, prompted the ire of thousands on social media.

A statement from a Daily Mail spokesperson (which began with “for goodness sake, get a life”) only added fuel to the fire. “Sarah Vine’s piece, which was flagged as light-hearted, was a side-bar alongside a serious political story.” The Daily Mail wasn’t sorry. And, why would they be? We, by venting our outrage on Twitter at their “light-hearted” sexism, made #LegsIt the most talked-about story of the day.

Long story short: Women shouldn’t be roadkill in a brand’s race to get viral fame. Brands, it’s time to get your act together and find another way to get internet fame.

The post The Opera of Orgasms appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.

The goal was to be talked about, from the playground to the bar. To be a cultural icon. Viral before viral was viral.

The goal now? I have no idea. We’re not talking about commercials, jingles, and magazine ads anymore. They aren’t about us.

A long time ago, the goal of advertising was to connect.

Now it’s numbers. Adtech. Data. Internet. Machines.

Why? Because ads are created and clicked on and measured by machines. Engagement is an algorithm, not a feeling.

Where did the message go?

When did the users become less important than the technology?

For all the clever metaphors you’ll ever come up with, for all the phrases and images, the formatting breakthroughs, the clever taglines, and everything else… nothing will pack more career-building punch for a copywriter… than mastering the art of coming up with “big ideas.”

By no coincidence, that alone could take you a lifetime of writing.

Great copywriter and originator of the “big idea” idea himself, David Ogilvy, once claimed that he came up with only about 20 so-called “big ideas” in his entire career. And yet, that was enough to more than create his fame and fortune.

So what does a “big idea” look like? I’ve seen many try to define it.

Here’s one more list of filters to add to your collection…

If you want to realize your dreams, you gotta believe.

Big Ideas Have Instant Appeal:

Have you ever had a ‘gut’ feeling about a person? Have you ever asked a long-married couple when they decided to get married, only to find out they ‘just knew’ after just meeting each other?

Malcolm Gladwell, in his book “Blink,” calls it ‘thin-slicing.’ And it’s what we do, naturally, whenever we encounter something new.

Your target audience will do it too. Which is why you have ZERO luxury for trying to convey a complex idea in that very first instant your copy flashes them in the face.

They’ll “thin-slice” you, as a reflex.

They’ll compress all their judgment about whether to read on into that moment. If you don’t manage to win them over, in milliseconds, say hello to the trashcan.

So, the Big Idea is an idea that can be sorted, absorbed, and understood instantaneously. Which is why cleverness and complexity in advertising can be so dangerous for even the most skilled of copy wordsmiths.

Big Ideas are Tightly Expressed:

Just because an idea has impact, doesn’t mean it has to be dense. In fact, the opposite is the idea. The more insightful the idea, the tighter you can usually sum it up.

And you should aim to do exactly that. Preferably in 8 words or less. And as early as possible, so that your reader knows as soon as possible what you’re getting at.

Big Ideas Have Momentum:

Gladwell has another more famous book that I’m sure you’ve read, “The Tipping Point.” He starts off talking about a suede shoe.

It was big in the ’70s, and then disappeared. Suddenly, over 20 years later, it came back with a vengeance. First, on the hip street corners of Manhattan’s East Village. Then across town… uptown… then to young and artsy areas in cities across the U.S. Why?

Nobody, even the shoemaker, could tell.

Only that an idea started to build. It spread. By the time everyone noticed, it suddenly petered out again. It was too late. The trend had come and gone, elusive to all who’d tried to do anything but hang on for the ride.

Ideas are like that.

They catch on, they build, and then, just when you least expect it, they can recede out of popularity again. The best marketer is plugged in enough to see the swell of the wave coming, before it crests.

Big Ideas Are Timely:

Related to the idea of momentum is the timeliness of an idea, especially when you’re selling information products. How so?

I write almost exclusively, these days, for financial products. My best promos tend to hinge on what’s happening in the markets.

For example, when oil sold at $147 per barrel, anything I wrote about oil and energy related investment products was almost a sure bet to do well.

In the mid 1990s, the market’s mind was elsewhere. You couldn’t say anything about investing without talking about the Internet, telecoms, or biotech.

When that market crashed in 2000, the tide of desire had shifted over night. Trying to write tech pitches suddenly became about as tough as talking a tabby into taking a dip in a hot tub.

Of course, the greatest asset you get by finding the timeliest ideas is that timeliness brings with a sense of urgency to your message. Maybe as a warning. Maybe as an unfolding opportunity.

But either way, you’re much better off when you’ve got that element to whatever you’re writing.

Big Ideas Are Original:

Ideas feel biggest when you’re among the first to deliver the message. When you’re playing catch up to everyone else, not so much.

Even an idea that’s already current, already popular, and already talked about… gains new life when you can make it even more ‘new,’ simply by finding the extra twist.

This is why headlines built on “secrets” are so effective. We naturally want to read the story nobody else is telling.

The new angle… the new information… the overlooked discovery… there are many ways to do this. All of them, almost always, are buried in the unique details of the story you’re telling.

Big Ideas Have Depth:

Yep, I said that ideas need to be simply and clearly expressed. But can you have clarity and substance, even in a short line?

Absolutely, you can.

When we say that Big Ideas need “depth” what we mean is richness and life-altering impact. Ask yourself; does the Idea suggest major change ahead? Is it something that will shock, awaken, or fascinate your reader?

If not, why would the reader want to read on? And why would you want to get the success of that letter… or your business… on something that thin?

Big Ideas Are Emotionally Stirring:

Too often, we mistake the preponderance of proof behind an Idea as all the “Bigness” we need for selling.

With smugness, we script any old headline, knowing it’s just a set up to hit the reader with blazing, double guns of the most rock-solid bullet points and factoids you’ve ever seen.

Sure, proofs matter in persuasion.

But, in the end, the one thing that makes one Big Idea compelling beyond any other, is it’s ability to sneak behind that locked door of the mind, where the emotional reasoning resides.

It must make a connection with that core, unspoken, and perhaps unrecognized place where the reader’s heart really resides.

Are there other ways to know if you’ve got your mitts on a “big idea” or not? Absolutely, there are. But this is a pretty good start. Try putting your next piece of copy through these paces and see for yourself.

The post The Idea appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.

Oh my lovely giant Emmy statuette. I flirted with you all night and after all that you went home with a hundred or so other writers, producers, actors, and actresses. And this morning, there you are. Face down after a wild night of partying and rubbing elbows with the television elite. Most of us would take the long walk of shame home, heads bowed, shirts inside out, one sock or sticking missing. But here’s the thing…walk of shame is only shameful if you let it be. So here’s how to turn that walk of shame into a stride of pride…

1) Before you tuck yourself back in that box for 300 plus days of hibernation, remember how much fun the night before was. You wouldn’t have done it if you didn’t want to. And let’s be clear Ms. Emmy: YOU KNOW HOW TO PARTY!

2) Hold your head high, shoulders back, and strut your stuff. Yeah, you had fun. Yeah, the next door neighbor might already know that. But who cares? They know already. There’s nothing to be ashamed of because next year they will be fighting to take you home again.

3. Enjoy the morning breeze. If you’re in last night’s golden party dress and you’re holding your heels as you walk barefoot, don’t let it stop you from enjoying the refreshing morning breeze. Breathe it in, and let it clear away any potential hangover. Look around and enjoy the manufactured beauty of downtown LA and the LA Live complex. They’ll be talking about last night for the next year…….Hold your head high Ms. Emmy. You’re still my favorite lady.

So okay, you already know where I am…

A happy Game of Thrones cast as their 34 Emmy wins.

I’m at the Microsoft Theatre in Downtown LA taking in the 68th Emmy Awards and snacking on a PB&J sandwich presumably made by Jimmy Kimmel’s mom.

I was expecting more Beyoncé as was a disappointed John Oliver:

“I thought Beyoncé was gonna be here. I saw a seating chart and I was supposed to be sitting two rows behind her and I was going to stare at her head and experience happiness in a way I haven’t felt before … so this evening is a bit disappointing.”

Jerry Seinfeld spoke out—in true Seinfeld-esque wit—about the current state of television: “I don’t know why I’m here, I’m not on television. My show’s on the Internet, but now they consider that television.”

Meanwhile Bryan Cranston did his best to convince the TV bigwigs that he should take on the role of Donald Trump, “I think it’d be huuuuuuuge.”


James Corden shared his insider paparazzi tips to take the best photos “I try to suck in my cheekbones. If you ever see me and it looks like I’m in a mood, it’s not because I’m being moody.”

In the Emmy lobby, people moaned about the ‘dry’ Emmys. Every star under the sun was inside the Microsoft Theater, but the one thing all of that star power can’t get inside the room is booze. The Voice host Carson Daly walked out to the lobby, Emmy in hand, and yelled to the bartender, “You guys selling beer out here?” Daly turned, disappointed and walked away. Iwan Rheon (Ramsay Bolton on Game of Thrones) also lost his mind berating a would-be bartender—life immitates art. Sorry boys, those juice boxes are all you got.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Emmy win breaks the record. By winning the Emmy—her sixth for lead actress in a comedy, and her eighth Emmy overall—the Veep star broke the record for most lead actress wins, breaking the three-way tie she held with Candice Bergen and Mary Tyler Moore.

Well, that’s all I overheard. After all I was there to flirt with the Emmy statuette and take pictures…so without further ado, here are the pics…

Tori Kelly with my favorite picture of the night.

There was a lot of kissing – part one with Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Jimmy Kimmel’s mom must have had writer’s cramp after penning 7,000 letters.

Cranston as Trump?

Jimmy Fallon crashed Corden’s interview. Ham!

There was a lot of kissing- part two with Patton Oswald.

Priyanka Chopra knows how to work the photo pit.

Yes, Sarah Paulson did have her lady engraved with Marcia Clark’s name on it!

Tatiana Maslany all smiles with her Emmy!

There was a lot of kissing – part three with Key and Peele.

The Governors Ball transformeds the L.A. Convention Center with over 700 floral arrangements.

The post Ms. Emmy: YOU KNOW HOW TO PARTY! appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.

“Paint the wall red and I’ll see if I like it…” 

So starts the long journey of getting the Media Guy Struggles green lit as a pilot or even a bona fide television show.

Okay, so where am I?

The table reading is kind of like painting the wall red and seeing if the powers to be like it. The actors and actresses have to put on a fabulous show for my would-be Japanese producers. The producers were so enthusiastic about the prospects of a Media Guy Struggles television show that they financed a day-long event with out-of-work actors looking for pocket change and a shot to add a pilot to their IMDB profiles.

So what’s the Media Guy Struggles about, you ask? What was the tasty pitch that whetted the appetite of Far East producersenough to put together a full cast to hear a table read?

(Hmmmmmm…I hesitate to put this online for anyone to take as muse, but since it’s registered with the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA Registration Number: 1489628), I feel safe that there is a measure of recourse to force intellectual thieves to put me on a show as an Executive Producer at the very least.)

Well…

The Media Guy Struggles can best be described as Mad Men meets The Office with a touch of Ballers mixed in. Being the Media Guy isn’t easy for (loosely) fictional Alex Logan, aged 42, Vice President of Media (aka The Media Guy) at the (loosely) fictional Larger Than Life advertising agency. As the Media Guy struggles to balance office politics and the new conflicts of social media vs. traditional media, he’s haunted that after 25 years of traveling the globe as a premium ad man, the landscape is changing. 

With a skeptical eye and a 10,000-foot perspective on the world, Logan believes he has all of the answers for all things media and advertising related—and he usually does with the help of his faithful associates and his best friend. With the respect of the office and their off-beat client base, what could possibly go sideways for the Media Guy? Things get nervous, and hilarious, when hits the road in this unfiltered, self-analyzing look at advertising along with the media and the madcap workforce that drives it. 

With three degrees, 20 years on the job and witty personality, the Media Guy has life at the agency wired. That is until life’s minutiae gets in the way. Things like Arrogant Bob from accounting’s per diem denial, the dreaded networking event, running into old crushes, contemplating new secret identities, channeling Jane Goodall’s Tanzanian monkeys, the battle to compartmentalize life’s segments, the socialistic traumas of the group brainstorming session…and above all his search for great stories to tell.

The scene than got the biggest boost went something like this:

INT. LARGER THAN LIFE – RECEPTION
The curvaceous MORGAN sachets down the hallway, leading clients to their respective account executives. Along the way, MIYA can be seen wiggling into a designer dress flaunting her obvious assets in the wardrobe room and the MEDIA GUY is polishing a flamethrower in his adjacent office.

There were tears, laughter, and heated moments emitting from the words on my pilot script. At the conclusion of the table read there was a energetic applause from the seated cast. The applause seemed to come not from a place of “Yeah!” but “Wow, this Media Guy stuff might actually have some legs.”

Now the hard part: the waiting game.

Here’s to hoping for that green light, whether it be tomorrow, next week, or next year.

—–

Want to see what a table read is like? Watch the Family Guy table read from the “Jedi” episode:

The post The Table Read appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.

Not everyone can look like this in a rented Vera Wang tux. #LifeGoals

Now that the Emmy Award nominations have been announced I’ve gone underground for a few days, escaping Los Angeles, ever so briefly. I mean, really, how many Emmy consideration billboards for obscure shows on networks I’ve never even heard of can I handle in one drive down Sunset Boulevard? I have a sneaking suspicion that more people will see the billboards than the actual shows.

I’m sure you’re sitting there saying, “Surely you exaggerate. How many billboards could drive you from the palm tree lined greatness that only Hollywood can deliver?” Let me tell you, there are a ton. I counted 37 on my 5.9 mile drive from one part of the city to another. Thirty-seven! 

(See them all in the For Your Consideration gallery below!)

I used to buy billboards and outdoor media every summer when I worked for the giant swimming pool supplies conglomerate. Gotta sell those outdoor pools, right? I poured over thick stacks of data to buy just the right billboard, at just the right stretch of land, at just the right point near each store. I had to stretch every dollar because there isn’t much margin on a bucket of chlorine tablets. I found myself growing more and more jealous of those media buyers at AMC, Hulu, Netflix and F/X with their seemingly endless budgets, clawing over each other to grab as many billboards as possible. No strategy, just spend, spend, spend.

With an average per billboard cost around $11,000 a month in Hollywood and Los Angeles’ Westside, that’s over $800,000 spent on outdoor advertising in May and June. Factor in printing costs (upwards of $2,500 per) and we are closing in on some serious cabbage spent on just the advertising I saw on my short drive that took well over an hour to cover.

Sheesh! An hour to go six miles. What a life! Yet I digress…

The $4 Million Emmy Care Package

Emmy campaigning has become a cottage industry. Once the Oscars are handed out, publicists kick into high gear, vying for key roundtables, spurring ad buys and getting screeners in the right hands. The competition is fierce with more than 400 scripted series on the air and over 100 programmers across cable, broadcast TV, and streaming services. That’s a lot and remember there are just seven comedy and drama series slots. And that’s not even counting the acting, reality, movie and limited series races.

What’s the cost for a campaign? A small Emmy push will cost you upwards of one million dollars and big campaigns can easily cost over ten times that. But buying billboards won’t do the trick. Insiders will tell you that you have to do something disruptive. And huge.

Weighing in over 20 pounds with more than 25 original series included!

Netflix took that disruptive advice to heart. The mail-order/streaming service sent out their pre-Emmy care packages to film and TV critics. This isn’t your average package. The care package includes physical copies of every episode comprising the over 25 original series and features eligible for this year’s Emmy Awards. It’s a humongous, 20-pound, four-box set. The cost? $4 million dollars.

Holy geez! But well worth it. The company amassed a record 54 nominations. That’s only $74,074 per nom. That’s not too bad, is it?

Adding to the cost is that every mailer has to be sent through the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’s internal shipping service. The cost there is around $1,750 per episode.

All this adds up to some serious dough. However, I’m worries about the $275 Vera Wang tux and shoe rentals for the red carpet photo shoot on September 16th. I’ll be there but still waiting for a chance to earn a Primetime Award to go with my Daytime win.

The post For Your Consideration… appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.

There’s been some rumor about a trip to Hungary to see the amazing architecture and take in the opera at the Hungarian State Opera House (amazing!). And, I may have needed to be in Hollywood to accept my Emmy (yeah, that’s a thing, woo hoo!). And, I may or may not be stalking mirroring following uhhhhhhhhh, reporting on the global premieres of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 and the fashion of Jennifer Lawrence.

The London Premiere

For this column, let’s go with The Hunger Games. By now, most of you know of my affinity for Ms Lawrence (read: Straight Out of Encino and Dreaming on the Oscars Red Carpet for a better taste of that), so this plum assignment was too good to pass up.

London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Berlin with a side trip to Hungary? Who am I to say no? All the big designers has showed up in style for the Oscar goddess: Burberry, Christian Dior, Dion Lee, Mugler, Thakoon, Schiaparelli, and Ralph Lauren,

The Los Angeles Premiere

So just when I was soaking in Jlaw’s Jimmy Choo gold Dory sandals and her gorgeous, goofy command of the red carpet, I ran into Gaby Lorenzo, a Bay Area marketing genius and she shared why it’s nearly impossible not to draw parallels from the Hunger Games into your life and society.

But allow me to digress a moment with this JLaw tidbit from the world premiere roadie as she admitted on the Conan Show that she made a horrible mistake with her first tattoo. “I feel I have ‘I’m stupid’ tattooed on my hand permanently,” she said. She added to is by telling us that she made a pact with her Hunger Games co-stars to all get tattoos when filming finally wrapped on the series of movies. She decided to get ‘H2O’ to “remind me to drink more water.” But she admitted that she got the ‘2’ in the wrong spot – superscript above the other characters, rather than below. “It’s now H-squared!”

“I didn’t go to school…I’m an uneducated idiot.”

Yet, I digress; back to The Hunger Games and its unique life lessons. Whether it’s politics, romance, business, or even pop culture, there are lessons we can draw from the trilogy and apply to our daily routines. Here key takeaways and lessons learned from the Suzanne Collins’s fictional characters:

The New York Premiere

Develop relationships and network.

With 24 tributes participating in the games, it’s important that you make connections (think about your colleagues and business partners). Your friends and allies are your key assets. Whether you need food, medicine or weapons, all of the tributes must rely on the help of others. The Hunger Games are not something that you can participate in alone. Ask for help when you need it. Seek and create resources for yourself and your team. Everything we do is based on relationships and experiences we encounter with media, colleagues and prospects. The relationships we develop over time help us to produce good work and to continue to advance to new adventures, and ultimately grow. Like the arena in The Hunger Games, the world is smaller than you think, and every day I continue to remain surprised at how often paths will cross.

Your work ethic matters.

The Paris Premiere

At the end of the day, there is no shortcut to getting ahead. The shortcut is working hard. Determination is the key to success in all future endeavors. It’s the work, planning and preparation you put in along the way that gets you to the finish line. Like the tributes, PR professionals must remain committed and strategic in everything that they do to produce stellar results. Hard work rarely goes unnoticed in our industry, and the leaders in the arena like Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark exemplify these traits. They also showcase their many values: dedicated, smart, honorable and ballsy to name a few!

Showcase your skills and value.

The Berlin Premiere

Tributes in The Hunger Games must rely on their special skills. This will help them differentiate themselves from the other tributes. The core competencies that they possess cannot only help them win, but also to get sponsorships from the districts (think investors). This is the value-add, and the players in the arena must leverage their special skills – from hunting, to camouflage, to building a fire and even gathering food. In communications, it’s just as important to highlight your special skills. Are you a good writer? Do you know all of social media’s secrets? Familiar with analyst relations? Are you an expert in Adobe Illustrator? Flaunt those skills! Bring something to the table that no one else can offer. For our clients, they find our special skills to be most beneficial.

Just keep swimming.

The Madrid Premiere

While we are not fighting for our lives day-in and day-out, we need to remember to keep breathing. Naturally, the PR and marketing industry is not as hectic as the arena that the characters face. It’s important to look ahead and focus on the big picture – keep trekking through the workday. Whatever you do, just don’t give up. Finnick, a tribute in Mockingjay once said, “It’s better to not give in. It takes ten times as long to put your self back together as it does to fall apart.” Mind over matter in the games is key, and in real life, it absolutely holds meaning. Remember to stay motivated even when the days can get stressful. At the same time, remember that we aren’t saving lives.

As Effie Trinket would say, “May the odds be ever in your favor.”

AD OF THE WEEK/MONTH/WHATEVER

What else could it be than the epic final trailer for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 and  its $40 plus marketing budget:

The post The Hunger Games World Tour and the Fashion of Jennifer Lawrence appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.

Yes, indeed I am at the newly named Microsoft Theatre (formerly the Nokia Theatre) in Downtown Los Angeles at the Primetime Emmy Awards. Before I talk about the triple digit heat on the red carpet, I must declare that I really want to party with three women:

Click here to watch the commercial.

While I was backstage eyeing up one of those golden statues, the biggest highlight came Apple Music as they premiered they new spot featuring Taraji P. Henson and Kerry Washington hanging with Mary J. Blige at her crib fantasizing about mix tapes and doing air drums to Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight”. I mean, really! This is everyman’s dream, isn’t it? (Incidentally, this also counts as the winner of my regular feature, “AD OF THE WEEK/MONTH/WHATEVER“.)

Back to the heat…the way you heard celebrities talking about the scorching City of Angels heat, you might have thought they were preparing to join Lawrence of Arabia in the Arab Revolt. There was a lot of moaning about the heat and, I think, Mario Lopez lost 42 ounces of water surrounding all those muscles:

I wasn’t too far from E! News’s Giuliana Rancic and every time she stopped one of the nominees they moaned about how they were making the intolerable expedition from their air-conditioned limousines to the air-conditioned Microsoft Theater without needing an IV for their dehydration. I bet most were secretly wishing they were in Celine Dion’s old Caesars Palace digs with her special climate control system while their tuxedos and Haute Couture melted on the red carpet. Ah, the struggle!

Amish Kitteridge starrring Frances McDormand

The fashion was interesting to say the least. Leading the best dressed were Taraji P. Henson from Empire, Jaimie Alexander from NBC’s Blindspot (see gallery below), and me! There was the Heidi Klum yellow canary disaster too. But my pick for the “I Didn’t Think the Emmys Were This Weekend So I Didn’t Shop for a Dress” goes to Academy Award- (and now) Emmy Award-winning actress Frances McDormand who showed up looking like she rode all week from the Amish farm in preparation. Yikes!

Viola preached! But not everyone was screaming “TELL IT” Meryl Streep-style over Viola’s powerful speech.

Nancy Lee Grahn, known as Alexis Davis to people who watch General Hospital and known as “WHO?!” to people who don’t, was not into what Viola said. Nancy Lee basically screamed “ALLACTRESSLIVESMATTER” on Twitter and went on and on and on.

Mikkos Cassadine needs to come and get his daughter, because Nancy Lee said that Viola is a member of the TV elite who has never faced discrimination and that the Emmy stage wasn’t the place to bring up racial issues in Hollywood. Nancy Lee deleted a few of her tweets, but something called “shift + command + 4″ exists and so Buzzfeed and others screen shot her “greatest hits.”

I don’t know why everyone hated on Nancy Lee. I mean, I, for one, learned something from her rant. The African American history professor tweeted (and deleted) this:

“Heard it and went oh lord ur a great actress just accept it and I heard Harriet Tubman and I thought Its a fucking emmy for gods sake. She wasn’t digging thru a tunnel.”

Nancy Lee is educating us all, because I did not know that the Underground Railroad was an actual tunnel dug by Harriet Tubman.

After Nancy Lee got dragged back and forth and continued to defend herself by saying that she can’t believe she’s getting so much hate, she took back everything she said and farted up this apology:

“I apologize for my earlier tweets and now realize I need to check my own privilege. My intention was not to take this historic and important moment from Viola Davis or other women of color but I realize that my intention doesn’t matter here because that is what I ended up doing. I learned a lot tonight and I admit that there are still some things I don’t understand but I am trying to and will let this be a learning experience for me.”

Translation: “My agent and the executives at ABC made me type this.”


My reaction: Let people have their time and speak with the people they want to speak about. Maybe Nancy Lee needs to read The Secret and gain the power of being positive!

January Jones is no Better Draper…wowza!

The Media Guy’s Instagram Feed!

The Most Beautiful Couple Award: Sophia Vergara and What’s-His-Name

Congrats! That was an amazing speech.

First Coca-Cola and now an Emmy…what an exit for Don Draper.

Matt LeBlanc is still one cool cat.

Maybe it was Jaimie Alexander who brought the heat to the red carpet.

Heidi…Versace…Really?!

Taraji…I’ll make you a mixtape any day!

Julia Louis-Dreyfus: The most successful comedienne of all time.

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