Junket Whore III: Return of the Over-Reacting Studio
When we last left the saga of Eric D. Snider, former Provo Daily Herald movie critic now free-lancing in Portland, Ore., he had reported that he had been barred from all Paramount Pictures movie pre-screenings in retaliation for this article about the press junket he attended (on Paramount's dime) for "World Trade Center."
Not only did Paramount ban him from its screenings, it coaxed its regional publicists to bar him from other studios' screenings.
Now, in an update on his blog, Snider reports that Paramount has demanded he remove the article from his Web site. They still will bar him from screenings, but that doesn't stop them from trying to bully Snider into censoring himself.
What was Eric's crime? Reporting the insanely ostentatious nature of studio press junkets, of the vast amounts of money that movie studios spend to put entertainment "journalists" up in swank hotels and stuff them full of buffet-table food - all to get said "journalists" to write glowing articles about hobnobbing with movie stars.
And it works. Take this example, from a Web site writer's blog: "I had a chance to sit down with Oliver Stone to talk about 'World Trade Center' this afternoon...". A reader might believe the writer and Stone were the only people in the room. In fact, it was a "roundtable" interview, in which Stone took a barrage of questions from seven or eight reporters (including me and Snider), and if a reporter gets more than two of his own questions out he's darn lucky.
Yes, I attended the same junket Snider did (I earned three paragraphs in his article), though I was there on the Tribune's dime and I didn't stay overnight in the ritzy hotel. (My article ran in Sunday's Tribune, and can be found here. For the record, I was in a roundtable with Stone and had one-on-one interviews with actors Michael Pena and Maggie Gyllenhaal and the people they portrayed, Will and Allison Jimeno.)
The reasons I don't do many junkets can be found in Snider's article. I don't need the glitz, I don't need to be schmoozed, and while I appreciate publicists for being professional and courteous, there are some publicists who think of all reporters as pampered poodles.
Unfortunately - and this is what I really hate about junkets - some of my fellow "journalists," are pampered poodles who regard this kind of star treatment as not just a routine but a birthright. When I attended the "Cars" junket in Charlotte, N.C., in May, I listened queasily to other writers making small talk by comparing the amenities at this junket - the hotel, the food, the goody bag - to those of other junkets.
The problem in Snider's case is that Paramount thinks it can get away with its bullying because Snider's a small-fry - a lowly free-lancer writing for a Portland alt-weekly. But Snider has friends who are trying to get the word out, and maybe expose this silly system for what it is.
Not only did Paramount ban him from its screenings, it coaxed its regional publicists to bar him from other studios' screenings.
Now, in an update on his blog, Snider reports that Paramount has demanded he remove the article from his Web site. They still will bar him from screenings, but that doesn't stop them from trying to bully Snider into censoring himself.
What was Eric's crime? Reporting the insanely ostentatious nature of studio press junkets, of the vast amounts of money that movie studios spend to put entertainment "journalists" up in swank hotels and stuff them full of buffet-table food - all to get said "journalists" to write glowing articles about hobnobbing with movie stars.
And it works. Take this example, from a Web site writer's blog: "I had a chance to sit down with Oliver Stone to talk about 'World Trade Center' this afternoon...". A reader might believe the writer and Stone were the only people in the room. In fact, it was a "roundtable" interview, in which Stone took a barrage of questions from seven or eight reporters (including me and Snider), and if a reporter gets more than two of his own questions out he's darn lucky.
Yes, I attended the same junket Snider did (I earned three paragraphs in his article), though I was there on the Tribune's dime and I didn't stay overnight in the ritzy hotel. (My article ran in Sunday's Tribune, and can be found here. For the record, I was in a roundtable with Stone and had one-on-one interviews with actors Michael Pena and Maggie Gyllenhaal and the people they portrayed, Will and Allison Jimeno.)
The reasons I don't do many junkets can be found in Snider's article. I don't need the glitz, I don't need to be schmoozed, and while I appreciate publicists for being professional and courteous, there are some publicists who think of all reporters as pampered poodles.
Unfortunately - and this is what I really hate about junkets - some of my fellow "journalists," are pampered poodles who regard this kind of star treatment as not just a routine but a birthright. When I attended the "Cars" junket in Charlotte, N.C., in May, I listened queasily to other writers making small talk by comparing the amenities at this junket - the hotel, the food, the goody bag - to those of other junkets.
The problem in Snider's case is that Paramount thinks it can get away with its bullying because Snider's a small-fry - a lowly free-lancer writing for a Portland alt-weekly. But Snider has friends who are trying to get the word out, and maybe expose this silly system for what it is.
9:30 AM
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