Rules of Engagement To The Obtain Power

“Relationships are critical when it comes to getting good story and photo placement in Variety,” said Photo Editor Lisa Weinstein, Variety Magazine, Hollywood, CA, at an Entertainment Publicists Professional Society (EPPS) and publicists of the International Cinematographers Guild (ICG). “Variety did not run photos until 1988,” explained Weinstein and I started at an entry level when someone past away from the art department.” “We have an whole archive of mug files, and the most important thing publicists can do is update me with their client’s photos that the client likes as often as they can,” said Weinstein, who says often under tight deadlines the story editor or reporter needs a mug shot and they’ll pull from the archives, which may have photos more than a decade old. You can call and submit a new one for the website, but you’re out of luck on the East Coast if the publication goes to print. “I don’t want hats or sun glasses, but rather high resolution .jpegs,” Weinstein said. “When you send me an 8X10 inch photo it needs to be a minimum of 200 DPI or 5x7 inch image I want 300 DPI, because I’m going to crop it and sometimes it gets blown out. If you send me a picture that is an 8X10 and the guy’s head small on a lot of background, I need that picture to be really high resolution and it has to be color.” Weinstein spoke of a situation last week when Variety editors were going to run to photos side by side on the front cover, but when they received them one was a beautiful color shot, however the other was black and white. The publicists refused to send another color photo, and Weinstein couldn’t find which photographer took those pictures, anywhere, at the Getty, Wire Image or AP, so they were pulled. “It was unfortunate for the story, for the paper and the guy. And of course the next day we got a call asking why you didn’t run the photo?’ And within 24 hours we had a new color photo, but the story was gone,” explained Weinstein. “I don’t decide what stories get published,” she said. “Obviously the editors decide where the stories and the photos are going to be place. When an editor asks me to find a photo and I tell them it’s lousy then we’ll pull it. Occasionally, we’ll get one in that isn’t so great and that’s a real embarrassment, but if they’re desperate to fill the space and they really want the photo it does happen.” Variety doesn’t often use freelancers work, but Weinstein notes that the magazine will hire Getty photographers to cover events. She said if you have Wire Image exclusively covering your event, they do not allow Getty Photography, and Variety will not cover your story without a RSVP. “Often I get a phone call almost daily, from a publicists that says, ‘I sent over some photos from an event that we had last night or last weekend and we want to know if you guys can cover it. It’s too late if it happened last weekend, because it’s old news. We want to know at least a week in advance or at least a couple of days and we want to send our own photographer. “What we have found lately is that a lot of event publicists are hiring Wire Image to cover their events exclusively,” said Weinstein. “Wire Image is contracted with the Hollywood Reporter, and if we can not send over a photographer, we will not cover it. We use Getty photographers, and Getty gets on our “B” page. Jill Fiewell, is the editor of the “B” page for premieres and events on the back page. She is the point person, but I will forward her a press release that she might be interested. We have a relationship with the Getty, so we try to use them.” Weinstein says Variety will usually assign the stories to the Getty for a shoot. She said the publication has a handful of photographer it likes to work with at the Getty and they know what to look for. “If you’re handling an event, she recommends for publicists to have some control over the photos, they need images with action. We get a lot of two guys mugging for the camera. We really want people interacting in the photo.” Weinstein pointed to an event published in Variety, where the publisher of Variety was being honored and because the publicist had an exclusive Wire Image contract event, they shut Variety out. “So our own publisher was being honored and we couldn’t take pictures. The only way they were going to let us in is if we provided our own photographer. They were not going to let a Getty photographer in. So, Bruce Brogman, who is our art director just went and got it.” Don’t look for a photo credit unless it’s a news story. “We run photo credits with news stories only,” said Weinstein. “We don’t run them on reviews and we do not run them on the mug (shot). Any publicity photos from a show, film or business, those are handouts.” If it is a news story or photo always send it to Weinstein. “If it is a news photo and I’m going to run it larger than a mug shot, than it always helps to send it. When you send me art, I need to know what reporter or writer is writing your story, when you expect it to run, and what is the gist of the story and identify the photo left to right. Often times people fail to identify a brother or sister, I will assume it is a left to right and we can’tID them; we’re going to drop it. So if you’re going to email it to me, let me know when it is expected to run, because I get hundreds of images a day and there is no way to keep track of all of them. A lot of people send photos to “Photo bin” which is photos@variety.com. Weinstein highly recommends that publicists identify in the subject line what story the photo is for, and send three – five photos. In addition, she recommends you copy her, too at: Lisa.Weinstein@Variety.com. The reason is because, Weinstein is bouncing back and fourth between two accounts. George McQuade is a national writer on the media and can be reached at George@MayoCommunications.com or you may visit his company website for other free media articles at www.MayPR.com/id22.html. McQuade's articles can also be found at www.odwyerpr.com.
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