Press materials and PR work — stills, interviews, press kits. Free editorial coverage versus paid advertising. Launch strategy before release.
The publicity department of a film production handles the editorial visibility of the project — this is the crucial difference from advertising. While you spend money on advertising, publicity generates free media coverage through press releases, set photos, interviews with the director and cast, and complete press kits. The goal: the film appears in newspapers, blogs, podcasts, and on social media channels without any advertising budget being spent. In practice, this means that as a producer or producer's representative, you are constantly communicating with journalists, providing exclusive visual material, and developing story angles that interest editorial departments.
Classic publicity material consists of behind-the-scenes photos (high-resolution, press-ready), taken by a dedicated photographer during filming — not the set photographer for the director, but specifically for media use. In addition, there are press kits (8–16 pages): brief information about the film, synopsis, crew profiles, production notes, technical data. You distribute these kits to journalists, film festivals, and cinema associations. Interviews are central — the director speaks with industry media, the lead actor with lifestyle magazines. Publicity professionals coordinate these appointments, prepare talking points, and ensure that the right person speaks with the right medium.
On set, you work closely with the director and the unit production manager to ensure that shooting breaks are scheduled for photo opportunities. An externally controlled photographer on set can be disruptive, but professional publicity photographers know how to work discreetly. In post-production, publicity intensifies: trailer imagery must be selected, first-look photos are sent to magazines, interviews are edited and distributed as video clips. Big-budget productions have their own publicity manager or press spokesperson; smaller films handle this through external agencies.
The difference from marketing lies in control: advertising directly addresses your target audience and is paid. Publicity relies on the credibility of journalists and reaches readers indirectly — the message is often more effective because it is conveyed editorially. A good publicity strategy begins six months before the theatrical release, not three weeks before.