So i ended off last week with a couple of meetings, one with a very nice from Paramount, his advice was useful and one with two producers from a good film company. That was a little weird, they were the typical creative guys donning expensive time pieces. It was kind of like trying to get blood out of a stone. They just weren’t saying much, so i did all of the talking, chitter chatter and for some reason i found them rather dashing! So we left on a good note and i actually bumped into one of them on tuesday at the screening of Cracks, the movie he produced and we had a little chit chat. Good end to the week.

So this week was the first week of my new role, things have drastically improved. My new boss is amazingly nice, she actually gives me work and encourages my development in learning about acquisitions. Monday she took me to lunch which was really nice and she set up several meetings with. Basically i am responsbile for putting together ‘THE BOOK’, this is used by the big bosses when they go to the festivals, consists of their schedules with meetings set up with other film companies, the HIT list (movies to watch out for), screenings and sales cards(what each agent is selling with details). So that’s pretty interesting because i get to see how it’s all done. I have also been reading lots of scripts, some avergage and some with real potential. She has a really great job, at the moment she is in Rome and next month she is going to Los Angeles.

I have to say the crowd is odd, it is mostly women and older women. Over the last year the company has risen to number two distributor in the UK, which is amazing and there is such a sense of excitement and energy in the office. It’s very youthful and progressive which is a good sign. At the moment there seems to be a frenzy in the office as we are releasing ‘New Moon’, part of the Twilight collections. So it’s pretty interesting and useful to sit so close to Publicity at this time, listening to them set up interviews/junkets for Robert Pattison etc. It’s actually really exciting.  It’s hard been new again…

Well things are relatively normal now, no more vexed Runb1tchrun, pulling her hair out from running around Soho every day. Will write more tom, tirrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeedddddddddddddd!

Yours,

Runb1tchrun

I received a very nice card with a 20 quid voucher in it. One must spend that wisely. Today i had an obvious spring in my step, something new and exciting is on the horizon. I can’t write too much today, i have meetings to prepare for tom.

Everybody have a good weekend. Wrap up warm.

Yours,

Runb1tchrun

Well the lady from the other company  asked me for a ref today, she didn’t end up calling him but spoke to somebody else here that well i’ve never really dealt with, but apparently he gave a me a glowing reference and subsequently she invited me to go work with her on monday. I have to say that i am really happy she saw other people, vetted us and picked me. That’s the professional way to do things. Looks like i was being paranoid… silly me. Seems that she is very pro-active in trying to accomodate me, ensuring that i get some good exposure, next week i will be helping to prepare for her to go to the American Film Market in L.A. and she is sending me a script already to look over and put some coverage notes together and my thoughts, which she will discuss with me on Monday. I like how she already tried to involve me. I really like the fact that she is taking me seriously. I think she will be a good mentor, i think she is very ambitious… she was listed as ‘HOT SHOTS, shooting stars- the ones to watch’ when she was 26.  Thank you!

I’m honestly beginning to feel a little run down, so much is going on right now. Work, running around soho, meetings, lining up opportunities, preparing in the evenings… definitely need a little break. So today somebody from Paramount acquisitions emailed me to meet me on friday… interesting, in addition i will be meeting 2 producers from production companies, see too much going on.  Now obviously i will have to go to see Paramount, because well Paramount are huge and i should at least see what they say… the company i am going to work for next week is larger than my current one with a nice mix of big commercial movies i.e. Twilight and arthouse, whilst Paramount is largely just a commercial movie making machine… hmm tough one, let’s see what they have to say.

I am really excited about next week, i am slowly getting to my goal… thank god i will no longer have to run around Soho, but at least i could use this experience as a stepping stone onto bigger and better opportunities. I will now get travel + lunch, it’s not cash but hey at least i won’t starve!

Yours,

Runb1tchrun

Today i had my meeting with the lady from the other company, i don’t think that went particularly well… i got the strange vibe that actually she didn’t like me since she kept looking at me weirdly and checking my accessories out(watch/ring etc). Then i asked her why she decided to change from kids to movies and let’s say she got a little defensive… pulling a strange face and asking me how did i know… well hmmm i checked on google, despite the fact that it’s obviously good to do research before these little meet ups… i definitely felt like some sort of weird stalker . She ended our conversation saying she had to see other people first although she pretty much gave me the role in her last email… c’est la vie! Perhaps i’m being paranoid, but does not seem like acquisition ladies seem to like me much

Managed to set up my meetings with the two producers at the end of the week, that should be interesting…

Well nothing much else to say really.

Yours

Runb1tchrun

So the aquisitions and development lady is still busy, unbelievable and keeps putting off our meeting. She keeps telling me, that she doesn’t know how helpful she will be able to be. I have come to the conclusion that actually perhaps she is a bit uncomfortable to have this one on one with me and maybe she doesn’t really know as much as i thought since she is the most junior person up there. Anyhow one of the other interns asks me when the meeting is, hmmm…. how does he know? Apparently he has been invited to my meeting, which leads me further to believe that this person is not comfortable with me for some reason, i definitely feel some frosty exterior there when i say hello to her or ask her how she is… never asked back. Anyhow no bother. Or perhaps she thinks i’m trying to tread on her toes, i’m really not, i just want to ask her some questions.

So yesterday i had some brilliant news, i sent my CV and covering letter to a bunch of production companies on Wed night, as i am most keen to get some producing experience from the top guys. That is the aim of the game. Two got back to me from the same company and would like to meet me together next week… first fear that pops to mind, i don’t know what i’m talking about and really i’m such an amateur…

More good news this morning, the aquisitions lady from another company that is currently working on some good movies i.e. Love Happens with Jennifer Anniston/Aaron Eckhart dropped me an email saying she needs help leading up to the American Film Market, i have been stalking this woman for a short while now… everybody persistence well and truly pays off! I obviously said yes and we will be meeting on monday to discuss in more detail. 

Today i got a really good task… the inner Hyena was well and truly happy. Suprisingly this task came from the woman who made me clear her storage cupboard up. I had to read a script developed by film 4, that we are involved in and come up with some ideas to present to the UK film council on digital innovation in Distibution. Basically marketing digitally before the real advertising campaign. The Uk film council have a new fund for pioneers in this area. The script was absolutely sensational, i might read it again this weekend, just so i’ve fully absorbed it… it’s a very comical script. A coming of age tale, told from a very perculiar teenagers point of view. Therefore i had to come up with relevant way of marketing this online/viral marketing, things like that. Very interesting.

So next week will be my last week here, i won’t technically be a runner anymore but i’ll still keep my blog updated when i arrive in my next role.

Yours,

Runb1tchrun

Sometimes i feel like i joined the circus, who’s the best clown of them all?Some times i feel i’m pimping myself out! Sometimes i feel like i joined a pack of verocious hyenas, who are infact ready to eat one of their fellow laughing hyenas should he turn his back for  too long. The pack of hyenas that i refer to is the group of interns i have become a member of. We all wait in the distance, circling our prey, one, two, three times too many. Lurking in the darkness of the corner desk, the damn storage cupboard or the dvd library. Yes i guarantee you, with all certainty, you will find an intern there, smiling (possibly laughing) like a hyena… except the laugh is not of happiness…but that of insanity! Waiting for prey can slowly make you insane! The prey comes in the form of a verbal instruction to complete a task… as all fellow hyenas know, the waiting game is well and truly part of our lives and survival!

As runb1tchrun has already mentioned there are a few interns in the building. There are an additional two who come and help when they can. One in dvd publicity and one in theatrical marketing. One of them looks like a constipated tomatoe about to explode, never happy, i can only assume he hates his intern! The other had a right wingeing session to me yesterday at lunch, did make me feel better knowing everybody is going through the same emotional highs and lows as me. Did feel sorry for them… 

So i finished off my very important task and he was happy with it. The annoying lady who asked me to organise her storage room, says she has some things for me to do if i’m not busy…. hmmm i think i’ll continue to be busy in that case, since the work she gives me is completely irrelevant to why i’m here! Thanks but no thanks! I’ve been up to my usual runs, picking up and delivering stuff around Soho. Fortunately managed to escape the post run over the last couple of days. Had to go to M&S on monday to buy loads of fruit, juice, cakes, biscuits… not happy about that, the bags were really heavy! Yesterday i did some work for servicing, so watching over extras for our films which will soon be out on DVD… so Whiteout (lots of red carpet footage and interviews) & Go-betweeners (lots of old people droning on and on and on).

So the competition is fierce, the interns are all relatively nice, but still we all want to get ahead and make a good impression. Our worst nightmare is having nothing to do! Yesterday i pimped myself our several times, sending emails around to individual people, going to see people requesting, begging, pleading for some god damn work… and still nothing!…

 Finally this morning something came through for me from the nice guy in Theatrical marketing. In Dec we will be releasing a movie called Cracks with Eva Green in it directed by Jordan Scott the daughter of the famous and talented Mr Ridley Scott. So far good reviews at Toronto film festival and from UK critics. Since i have not watched it and need to really to complete this task i will be going to a pre-screening next week. We hold weeks of pre-screenings so press/journalists can go check it out before it is released  to the public. So i have been briefed to research ways to market this movie on a low budget, given the target audience 25-44 female, arthouse upmarket flick, stylish. So basically today i have been googling my ass off, checking for upcoming women only events in the city, female blog sites, fashion/lifestyle online magazines,  checking for area specific magazines etc. Very interesting actually.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yxE130-uNE

This project should tie me over for a while. Hopefully i can keep the hyenas at bay!

I have been very busy working on my other project, the commercial. This week i have been very involved, i started the week attempting to write letters to Big actor 1, Big actor 2 and Big actress 1, i had to tailor each letter to fit their personality. It’s sounds simple but believe me it wasn’t. It was somewhat surreal that i was writing to these iconic British actors and megastars.  The head of the school(NFTS) i am working with apparently knows these people, fingers crossed we can get this sort of talent! I also spent alot of time calling around agents requesting agent details for the backup list. Arranging location visits, the commercial will be set in various different cinemas. This sunday we will be doing test shoots and location visits. This is all relative and fantastic! Such fun too to be involved in this creative process.

Yours,

Runb1tchrun

Today i only had to do two runs and i managed to escape the post office, the brother of one of the directors is now chipping in. One run involved picking up Terminator heads from our sales guys and one run involved going to vodafone to sort a directors blackberry out. It was Mr Skinny pants day off, thankfully not too many runs.

The lady who asked to tidy the storage cupboard asked me to clear and tidy two new starter desks, right ok… normally this would annoy me but since i’m doing all this junk in between my cool work, that’s fine! Tip… don’t get her talking… because she won’t be stopping anytime soon!

Publicity Manager asks me to mount spray Jack Said poster onto a Rudo y Cursi board which is somewhat fun, except for the bit where i somehow get dirt on my lovely polo shirt!

So back to my cool work, hopefully i can do a good job and more work will follow. The last two days have been brilliant! I hope this continues into next week, then i can consider staying for a little longer if i’m learning this sort of stuff. Today i received the schedule and budget for the commercial i’m working on, so last night went through everything, noting things that need attention and potential test shoot lined up for next weekend. This change is all very exciting for me, i have a lot on but no rest for the wicked.

Yours,

Runb1tchrun

Finally the head of Theatrical was free today, i spent some time with him this morning going over the work he had given me the other day. It was a great learning exercise. Today i got a deep satisfaction out of Emily asking me to put a spreadsheet together for her, i was strangely overjoyed to see my old friend Mr Excel, very comforting, wizzing from cell to cell! You see these people are not too advanced when it comes to excel, that’s alright… runb1tchrun is here to meet all of your excel needs. Emily was very impressed with my formulas… then asked if i want her to ask finance if they need a hand… uuummm thanks for asking but no!…shock horror,  that’s what i’m trying to escape! She’s very sweet though! Today i called Uniqlo to find out who was responsible for their ’500 Days of Summer-Win a trip to New York’ promotion…

There’s a new intern working in Publicity, he’s a very nice guy and asked me to see if i want to help him with an interesting task. This interesting task came from the lady i am supposed to be having a meeting with, the very lady i told to give the work to me if it arises, so i was a little baffled as to why it was given to the new Publicity intern, since he is supposed to be Publicity and not general.  This did baffle me a little… but i was more than overjoyed to help with this task. Basically there is a film & tv market in Cannes called Mipcom in October, people buy TV ideas/straight to DVD movies etc, so our guys will be going. We had to compile a list of all 2010/2011 big studio releases, what the movie was about and the talent involved. In the hope that we can find other products along these lines or relating to the talent and ride off the back of the big release marketing, for example Mr Swayze’s death has brought up a huge demand for all of his movies again. Perhaps somebody will watch one of these new movies and suddenly develop an obsession with Angelina Jolie and go out and buy anything that she was ever in… yeh think you got the message! So that was all rather interesting. Thank you mr nice intern.

I ended the day on a high by meeting with head of Theatrical who is a very nice guy, despite the fact he is a big deal he always finds time to say hello to all of the interns and found time to meet me. That is because he started off by working in a cinema and he hasn’t forgotton his roots, down to earth, human, approachable and well just nice. He brought all of his files to show me, we went through how he puts together estimates for investment appraisals etc, what thought goes behind when the company decides to release their movies and other factors to consider. Really really interesting. His work he provided and our meet up today, have been the most useful/helpful. He is relatively new there, but what a top guy!

Obviously i have had my frustrations but actually it’s worth it if i get the opportunity to learn like i intended.

Today Runb1tchrun went for a walk and discovered the new Central Perk coffee shop around the corner, it is open for 2 weeks and 2 weeks only, the place was brimming with over enthusiastic friendsters hoping to see one of their favourite chums, instead what did they see? No other than Gunther at the counter… the place is the spitting image of the actual friends Central Perk, they were also auctioning off bits and bobs from the actual Central Perk. Don’t forget it’s only there for two weeks! It’s an advertising ploy for HMV who are trying to shift 15 year special anniversary box sets… i think their plan may just work! But go check it out and get your pic taken.

Yours,

Runb1tchrun

So my days have been filled with the same old running errands around Soho, runs to HMV to pick out CD’s & DVD’s, runs to the post office, runs to BAFTA, runs to pick up coffee, runs to the fruit market, runs to here there and everywhere. Strong advice to anybody that ever wants to get into this sort of industry… sit yourself down, be honest with yourself and ask yourself… do you mind being treated like a skivy beyond all limits of skivy? Do you mind being invisible? Do you mind being treated like an inferior being with a brain the size of a pea? Think long and hard about it… you’re not going to see the glamour for years to come and the chances are they’re just using you to save on courier costs not to find the next best thing. Because jobs don’t grow on trees in this industry and you got to fight hard and put up with a lot of sh*t to get what you want.

So one of the directors brothers arrived this week for a two week placement, he’s just graduated from university and i have to say i’m happy to have an extra pair of hands to help with the daily grind. Being royalty he was immediately placed into a team and instantly got to work on some of the more interesting work, this did annoy me but since he is related to the founder it’s all relative. Plus he seems pretty willing to help do runs. Today i heard my colleagues moaning about Mr Skinny pants, how lazy he is… yeh no sh*t sherlock… i knnnnooowww! Mr Skinny pants has decided to cut his intern to 3 days a week, in the hope that they will employ him here one day… slightly disillusioned. After speaking to an intern that has been there for 5 months covering both intern & full time role of another employee, finally she is leaving because no opportunities exist. Since i want to work in development & acquisitions (that’s a pretty closed area here) i would be a raving lunatic to extend my intern out, simply put, a waste of time especially if i have to continue doing this non film-related garbage.

So today i got a right eye full, i was in the kitchen and somebody left their porn magazine open centre fold, jeeez Louise, i almost choked! I don’t know if it was somebodies idea of a joke, but it was kinda gross! I resumed my photocopying of a script called ‘Psycho killer’ that infact looked like it had been ravaged by a pack of bears or perhaps ‘Psycho killer’ himself. I read the first few pages of ‘Psycho killer’ with great interest, it was actually scary… ”A dark silohuette can be seen  on the table, we hear him breathing with intent… the camera shoots from over his shoulder, we do not see his face or know his name because he is PSYCHO KILLER”.

Today was a relatively okish day, i had a meeting with a guy about my commercial and it’s official now i will be production managing in October. The commercial has been commissioned by Digital Cinema Media and will be shown in all cinemas nationwide and will have a famous british actor in it. Watch this space. The guy is very nice to let me get involved… one of his shorts has won an award at Bafta, so a good contact! Also on the up, i will be attending a meeting next week with head of aquisitions from another film company to discuss potential opportunities, she is a very busy lady but has agreed to meet me for coffee. Generally it’s difficult to get peoples time, but if you can find that one person who is willing to hear you out then that makes the world of difference. Afterall they were probably in the same position x years ago. Oh and for all of you who moan about your jobs, over the last 3 weeks i have met so many people that can’t even get a job, we should all be grateful for what we have.

I potatoe peeled my fingers last night, i know, silly! I can’t type anymore.

Yours,

Runb1tchrun

Yesterday my fellow skivy, my mr rocking tight skinny jeans decided to be ill again!  My day started with the usual runs around Soho… a drop off of a huge(i mean enormous) bag of books and t-shirts to a charity of my choice. She enhusiatically said “You can take it to a charity of your choice”, like it’s going to be a special treat for me! On my way to the Charity shop, whilst struggling with my charitable donations i saw Jenson Button and his girlfriend eating breakfast outside a cafe, looking very normal… in actual reality this was the most exciting part of my day. Surely they could see the bag was too big for me! Later came back to review the final part of the movie i was watching the day before.

After lunch i was summoned to the 3rd floor where i spent the whole afternoon sending out thank you dvd box set’s to people who helped with this specific movie (Ricky Gervais, Kings of Leon etc) and putting together goodie bags for competition winners (i hope they appreciate the amount of actual slave labour that goes into putting those goodie bags together). That’s a tonne of parcels… involving manual labour of carrying huge boxes up and down 3 flights of stairs, then to make things even more interesting i had to take this huge amount of post to the post office, imagine me dragging 3 huge santa post bags through the shopping mall, red faced, p*ssed, verge of crying… thinking why o why am i doing this sh*t? Not that i’m one to play on the sexes, i’m a girl people and well this amount of manual labour is ridiculous. Still i obediantly return to the office and grin and bare it just like i promised myself. I finish the day digging out a huge list of dvd’s from our library and labelling them and filing them in another library.

Today i started my day by finishing off another batch of competition winner parcels including shipping 4 guitars, must admit they were pretty groovy guitars! A run to the art shop to buy photo mount for the only remotely cute guy in the office… let’s call him E. He’s the artwork guy!… more runs to various magazine companies & technicolor. Today i bump into the head of publicity who informs me they have a publicity intern, so i guess that means i’m not helping with the pre-screenings, it was the only thing i had on that i was excited about, liar! He informs me i can help them with something next week, damn publicity people, bullsh*tting is part of their jobs! Mr rocker skinny pants is in today, though he surfs the web all day!

The lady who agreed to meet with me from Acquisitions & Production has a somewhat selective memory and looked very confused and dazed when i pulled her up on our meeting (definitely needed shaking a little), she will try to meet me tom, i have to remind her tom in case she forgets. She also protectively asked what i needed to talk to her about despite the fact i’ve already told her.  I’m sorry how does one forget…probably more like she doesn’t want to help… Hopefully i will be able to get some useful information still but i get the feeling it’s going to be like trying to hack into the KGB (Russian CIA)!!

PM i send an email out, sucker for my own punishment obviously offering my services if anybody needs help. Annoying “Re-organise and clean out storage cupboard” lady is straight on it, asking what the status of her cupboard is? She comes and checks herself… i didn’t come here to tidy the storage cupboard, i come to learn about the business. I summon Mr skinny pants to help me, hell no, if i’m feeling the pain then you’re gonna too. Mr skinny pants is actually a nice guy…

End PM looks a little bit more optimistic, the head of theatrical distribution summons me to do some work for him, and wow i actually get to use my brain on this one and he has given me the capacity to improve the process and he said it will be perfect preparation for our meeting now rescheduled to Monday. I see people around me give me the funny eyes as he passes me his card and tells me to call him if i have problems, they later say that do i know he is very important? Hell yes, i know, that’s why i asked for a meeting! This is the first non sh*tty, really interesting task i have been given. Looking at preview, opening weekend sales figures for theatrical releases and competing movies/distributors. Will have to ensure i do a great job for him!

Today i manage to escape the humiliating post task, i ask Mr skinny pants to do it and he agrees, he informs me today there is 3 huge bags… i laugh/smile in an evil manner as he walks off(mwuh mwuh mwah)… until tom that is!

This project is supposed to last one month minimum, i did not embark on this project to do such idiotic, non film related tasks. My arms/legs ache, my nails are chipped and my energy is physically drained. I believe in trying things and assessing the situation, if things do not improve then i will not be dedicating myself to this for longer than a month. I will focus on trying to get into a more specific area next time.

Yours,

Runb1tchrun