![]() “Junket round tables are not intimate in real life,” Burrows added when the topic of repeated questions, outliers or overlapping comes up. “Instead, we can record the interviews in HD, full broadcast quality for the journalists and their outlets to use.” Plus, for anyone who’s been at a junket in Cannes, Berlinale or even at your local swanky hotel, real life round tables are not perfect. The actors will travel but not see journalists in person,” said Burrows. “Also, some actors like to travel,” Burrows suggested, “It’s a perk.”įor the future, it is possible that a hybrid model may be the sweet spot between time, cost and results. And yet, even as Zoom has been a boon to many, there is evidence that virtuality is less effective at establishing relationships and encouraging fruitful conversations. But the virtual junket has been proven to work, with the advantages of cost reduction and lessening the environmental impact – it isn’t always necessary to fly people in for an event, use a hotel, bring crew, etc. ![]() As Burrows said, “Disney have been leaders in security, back-office firewall kind of stuff, even clearance about what our editors took home.”Įmerging from a difficult and isolating time, there is a natural eagerness to get back to in-person promotion. Teaming up with Disney also ensures top notch data safety. We did our job: to make fabulous talent look fabulous.”Īlong with multi-country signal issues, administration, data management and security concerns, Special Treats must work to the highly scrutinized Motion Picture Association (MPA) standards. “We had editors working from home, using material from webcams, iPhone cameras and more. “We did single shots virtually – essentially headshots,” he explained. “One of the things we had to do was use a bonded router, just to get a decent stable signal.” Then came the artistry of filming, with Special Treats shooting Zoom sessions like multi-camera shows. “I assumed British WiFi was the worst in the world but it isn’t, it’s variable everywhere including in the US” said Burrows. Emma Thompson as the Baroness and Andrew Leung as Jeffrey in Disney’s live-action CRUELLA. With actors and other talent locked up at home, mics and hardware were sanitized and left on their doorstep. Then, amid debates about which communication platform was best, Burrows and company began to tinker around with Zoom’s dashboard to see how they could enhance the interview process. Like everyone else, to get journalists and talent together, Special Treats fell back on Zoom. Just before COVID struck, Special Treats had landed new accounts that were then immediately thrust into the pandemic marketing scene. But, to get films launched or celebrities interviewed during a pandemic, well, that took more than just installing Zoom. ![]() It’s a rare company that earns the trust of both Hollywood and new streaming upstarts. This is why major studios turn to Burrows’ company to handle the media junkets, which is where film stars and talent get interviewed by a barrage of journalists (one-on-one or in a big group), for all the big film releases, including the entire Bond franchise and, most recently, “ Cruella.” Special Treats is also the go-to company for Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and AppleTV+ in the United Kingdom and by extension often for much of Europe. Here, the red carpet is far from frivolous: one choice photo seen both in print and online can land a film smack into the public consciousness. From arranging interview round tables for talent and media to scoring photo ops for artists and filmmakers, Special Treats is well versed. We ask what sort of future the Red Carpet has around the world.ĭoes the fact that USD $100 million movies now debut on streaming services mean that star-studded red carpet premieres are dead? Someone who has seen all shades of red carpet events, Colin Burrows, the CEO of London-based Special Treats, who could be called the king of junkets, certainly doesn’t think so, “I have spent 30 plus years publicizing films and I’ve become more convinced of the value of what we do in the last year than in the last 25 years.”ĭuring the coronavirus lockdown, when travel was banned for many, Burrows’ media company managed to achieve measurable marketing results to a level previously thought only possible in person. There are several industries built around the premiere of films in cinemas and these all face questions after a year of virtual events and Zoom presence of celebrities and talent. As cinemas reopen Celluloid Junkie looks to the future of how big films are sold, promoted, reviewed, lauded and awarded.
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