[Watch the video interview on YouTube here]
Film Courage: Why do you believe that a great movie trailer was more important to opening a movie than any other kind of publicity?
Jim Fredrick, Author/Editor/Professor At Chapman University Dodge College: I don’t want to discount the importance of publicity by any means. I think you need all the marketing disciplines going at once working together to build this excitement anticipation, like a volcano about to erupt leading up to Friday night, or these days Thursday night when movies open, to have just this incredible pent up excitement and anticipation in your consumers so it blasts off, it explodes right on that exact moment when the movie becomes available.
I believe part of it is absolute prejudice because I started as a trailer editor. That was my first real job in film marketing and I just love it so much. To this day I love it, 40 years later. I do think it’s still the most important tool. It has different platforms now. You see it differently…(Watch the video interview on YouTube here).
About:
After starting his career in 1983 as a trailer editor and producer at famed advertising boutique Intralink, Jim Fredrick went on to serve as president of marketing at Castle Rock Entertainment, senior vice president of creative advertising at Warner Bros. and executive vice president of marketing at Sony Screen Gems. In 2011, he founded his own company, Jim Fredrick Motion Picture Marketing.
Across a span of 35 years, Fredrick’s roles as a trailer maker and studio executive allowed him to craft advertising campaigns for a range of movies, from such iconic cinematic gems as The Shawshank Redemption to the widely beloved Harry Potter franchise. He has helped produce more than 196 film marketing campaigns.
His memoir, Opening Weekend, explores the intricacies of the lesser-known business of film distribution and marketing, unraveling the complex mechanisms through which movies are sold to discriminating audiences. Replete with triumphs, setbacks, and the relentless spirit that drives the creation and promotion of cinematic masterpieces, Opening Weekend promises an enthralling glimpse into the previously untold world of Hollywood movies.
BUY THE BOOK – OPENING WEEKEND:
An Insider’s Look at Marketing Hollywood’s Hits and Flops
CONNECT WITH JIM FREDRICK:
Chapman.edu/our-faculty/jim-fredrick
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