ES: Hi
Breanne! Why don’t you start out telling
me your position and company and a little bit about what you do.
BH: Sure – my
title is Senior Editor at NextMovie.com and Film.com, and we are part of MTV
Networks. It is very confusing – I fully
understand that – because obviously there is MTV.com, and it covers a wide
range of pop culture including movies.
They have specific movie blogs on MTV.com. We do work with those guys. It is meant to be a complementary relationship. We try really hard not to tread on their
feet. And right now we’re in a really
happy place working with them, so it’s all hunky dory.
ES: Was NextMovie
its own thing before MTV bought it? Did
it predate MTV? Or is it something they
created as another site?
BH: Great
question. It’s actually something they
created. They were kind of looking at
the movie space. There’s certainly lots
of advertising to be done within movies.
I think there’s research that in all of pop culture, movie studios spend
the most on advertising. So they were
looking for more openings for that. I’m
sure that was part of it. Paramount put
out a movie called “Next” a couple years ago.
It starred Jessica Biel and Nicholas Cage. So, for that movie, Viacom owned the URL “NextMovie.com.”
ES: Oh, okay.
BH: So, I think
that it was a combination of, “we have this URL, it’s just sitting there, it
has some girth to it, so let’s make something of it.”
ES: Right, that
makes sense.
BH: So, my former
boss, Scott Robson, was kind of hired to turn it from nothing to
something. Then about 4-6 months ago, we
acquired Film.com, which was part of Real Networks– it was kind of lingering
and there was not a whole lot being updated on it. So we’re in the process of simultaneously revitalizing
Film.com.
ES: So you guys
have different content on Film.com vs. NextMovie vs. MTV, but you might be
promoting the same movie in different ways across the different properties…
BH: Exactly. So the way we kind of think of it is that
NextMovie is kind of the MTV audience – it’s a little younger, teens and
twenties. A little more “popcorn
movies”, more Twilight/Hunger Games stuff.
You’re going to find a lot more of that on NextMovie, whereas Film.com
is geared a little older, more towards your film snobs for lack of a better
term. But I think most film snobs
consider themselves film snobs.
ES: Right, it’s
not a derogatory term.
BH: So you’re
going to find a little more looking back on a wider array of movies, and a lot
more coverage of indie movies there.
ES: So, NextMovie
gets more of the blockbuster younger stars, and they get maybe the more mature
stars. Do they interview current
celebrities when they’re promoting their movies and do all the same things you
do, just with a different selection of films?
BH: Exactly. For example, for the movie “Won’t Back Down”,
which we won’t talk about whether that was any good or not, we had interviews
with Maggie Gyllenhall and Viola Davis. Maggie Gyllenhall went on NextMovie – she’s
younger, she’s hipper – and Viola Davis – older, Oscar winner – went on Film.
The beauty of doing both sites is that it’s a wider range of
ideas and possibility.
ES: Does your job
involve – I know you get to do some of the fun interviews – does it also
involve working with publicists to determine what interview will run where,
developing that whole side of it?
BH: Well, it’s
determining that within our team of three editors and then going to publicists
and saying, “we would like to do this for this site and this for that site. Is that all right?” And most of the time it is. The other beauty of running two sites is the
ease of cross-promoting is really nice.
And on the larger scale, being part of the MTV network certainly opens
big doors for cross-promotion.
ES: This is embarrassing
to admit to you, but I have not watched MTV for so long because I’m so far out
of the demographic that they’re targeting.
So how do they promote films? Is
it mainly online or do they have actual shows people would go on live? When we were younger, you’d go on TRL to do
live promotion. What do they have now?
BH: There is a
little but there’s not a whole lot, so really a lot of it lives online.
ES: So, talk a little bit about your career path, because I
remember when you were a reporter in New York doing some fun feature stories
but I don’t know the full story and what’s happened since then.
BH: Well, I
actually started in PR and was lucky enough to kind of do a little networking
through working with reporters on the other side, and also writing press
releases that got put into stories and run with other people’s bylines, which
was always a little interesting, because the line between a press release and
an article is not clear, and it’s really ridiculous that someone else is
getting to put their name on your work.
So I was lucky enough to turn some of that into a job at the NY Daily
News and stayed there on staff for three years and then freelancing for three
years. And that turned into a job as
senior writer for E!online. And I was
there for about a year and half when I got a call from Scott Robson, who was
looking to staff up NextMovie.com and the rest is history.
ES: So, what is
the glamorous side of working with celebrity clients and what is the
not-so-glamorous side?
BH: Well,
certainly the glamorous side is meeting celebrities, and I’ve always said I’ll
only do this so long as it excites me and I’ve met far too many people who do
this job or something similar who don’t get excited about celebrities anymore,
who are completely jaded and have lost the sense of excitement about it. I still get nervous for every interview.
I’ve found that I can meet my favorite
celebrities and professional and whatever it is I need to be, and then when I
walk away, when I turn into the hallway, I am just as giddy and excited as
anyone else would be. And not
dissimilarly, if I see “celeb in the wild”, meaning just on the street or out
at a restaurant, I’m just as excited as the person next to me.
ES: How do you
find that they react? Do they play it
cool, or do they get excited that someone is excited to meet them? What’s your experience?
BH: I think it’s
an interesting mix. I find that the
celebrities that I end up getting most giddy and excited about and I actually
show it to them end up being the least A-list of the celebrities that I’m
talking to. For example, yesterday I
interviewed Britt Robertson. She’s in
this tiny little movie called “The First Time” which I really loved, but she’s
best known for being on the CW’s “The Secret Circle”.
So, I watched her in “The Secret Circle” and I watched her
on “Life Unexpected” which was her series before that, but I really liked her
in this movie and I think she’s a rising star and one to watch, which was the
point of my interview.
It was definitely one of those where I was really excited
going in and I was kind of gushing about how much I enjoyed this movie and how
excited I was to talk to her. And when
it’s stars like that, they’re just excited that you have any semblance of
knowing who they are.
ES: Right, they’re
not getting recognized all the time and like, hounded and followed around or
anything.
BH: I’ve had the
experience at fashion week where I’ve gone up to talk to a star who none of the
other reporters who were there watched the show, and so they didn’t know who
this guy was, and sometimes they get so excited that you know who they are.
ES: I can really
imagine being in their position and just being on the cusp of getting
recognized and how that would be really exciting, although I can see how, down
the road, it could just get overwhelming and annoying. But in the beginning, I’m sure it’s really
exciting.
It’s the benefit of watching The CW and ABC Family.
BH: I’m still
like a 16 year old at heart, and even that’s a push.
ES: I am when it
comes to ABC Family shows, like Make It or Break It.
BH: Oh, I love
the ABC Family shows, and that’s another one where sometimes I’m the only one
who recognizes the celebrities.
ES: Have you done
anyone from Make It or Break It? Or Bunheads?
BH: When I was at
E!, I was covering more TV stuff, so I did talk to Candice Cameron and I talked
to the woman who played Payson’s mom.
They were awesome, and they definitely told me stuff they weren’t
supposed to tell me, which was awesome!
But yeah, I love the TV stars.
It’s really fun to talk to them.
ES: Right, I
guess now you wouldn’t be talking to TV stars so I shouldn’t have even asked.
BH: No, I loved
the heck out of that show. There are so
many similarities between figure
skating, which I used to do, and gymnastics, so I really loved it.
ES: That’s right
– you used to teach figure skating too when I still lived in New York, but I
guess you don’t do that anymore.
BH: No, I don’t
have time. When you’re pulling days
where it’s after 9 and you’re still at the office…
ES: So is it
typical for you to be there so late?
BH: No, it’s not,
and also the beauty of working in a big company like Viacom is that there are
really nice benefits like twice a week boot camp and twice a week Zumba, so I
did Zumba from 7-8 and came back to my desk to finish something.
ES: Is it funny
working out with people you work with?
BH: It’s weirder
working out in a conference room. For
the Zumba class, there’s this whole window wall and it’s right near an elevator
bank, so as people are leaving, they’re watching you and that’s weird. The beauty is that it’s on a Nickelodeon
floor and I work with those guys so rarely that it’s really just my close
colleagues who are all doing it together, but beyond that I don’t know anyone
else.
ES: So, what do
you do when you’re interviewing a celebrity and they’re kind of dry, or they’re
exhausted and they’re answering the same questions for the billionth time?
BH: If it is over
the phone, I want to bang my head against the desk. But sometimes there’s just nothing you can
do. And by the way, often, those people
are the much more established stars who are doing it, and they know
better. So it’s annoying. But you know, what can you do? You’re going to have a shorter piece. The beauty of working on the web is that we’ll
give our writers a word count, but eh, they don’t have to follow it.
ES: When you say,
“we’ll give our writers a word count”, is that because you’re doing the
interviews but not writing the final piece, or what?
BH: No, we are
three people who are running two websites and we’re turning out 10-15 posts a
day on each site, as well as maintaining a lot of elements you kind of don’t
think about when you’re looking at a website.
ES: Right, I know
it’s a ton of work.
BH: So when you
look at something like a “coming soon” page that lists what movies are coming
out over the next two months, someone has to maintain that. So, a lot of our stories are written by
freelancers – they’re pitched, or a news story is just assigned on the
spot.
A lot of what my day to day is isn’t doing the
interviews. I really only do them when I
want to, because it’s not worth it. It’s
after 9 and I’m still at the office to finish up a story, but I’m here because
I wanted to do this story. Anyone else,
I’m happy to give it to our freelancers.
It’s not worth my quality of life.
So I pick and choose, and I often choose people that, like, no one else
knows who they are.
ES: Just your
personal favorites.
BH: Yeah, so a
lot of my day to day is conceptualizing stories, assigning them, getting them
back, and editing them and then building the story itself.
ES: What have
been some of your favorite stories that you’ve done recently?
BH: Well, I’ve
got to tell you, this article is really adorable. She’s really funny, and it was probably one
of my favorites of recent time. One of
the things that’s fun is to see someone turn your idea into a good story. Back in April, Titanic came out in 3D and I
went out with a camera crew to the Staten Island Ferry and tried to get people
to talk to me about Titanic, and ultimately it resulted in a lot of people
singing for me, which was really funny.
Getting strangers to sing for you is really awesome.
ES: So did you
put together a video piece from that?
BH: That is a
video piece. One of my favorite things
about this job, as opposed to my previous jobs, is that I get to do some
on-camera work, and I’ve never done that before and I’m not going to say I’m an
expert by any means. But I’m enjoying
it; I feel like I learn something from
every time, and hopefully improve.
ES: It’s amazing
that you’re developing a professional reel from it too because I’m sure you
have the technical expertise of Viacom with excellent production behind
you. Good Cameras, microphones, etc. vs.
what you might have if you worked at some random other website.
BH: Exactly, and
MTV.com produces a lot of video. They
have a huge video initiative. So a lot
of times, I’ll go on one of the videos they’re doing and be an “expert opinion”
talking.
ES: That’s so
great. I love that part of your job.
BH: It is
fun. It’s interesting when my parents
try to explain my job because it sounds so silly but they know that you have to
pay your dues, and they know that I love what I’m doing. So they’ll tell people, “watch my daughter in
this video where she’s talking about ‘Twilight’ and knows far too much about
it.”
ES: Do you get
screeners of the movies, or how do you get to see the movies before they come
out?
BH: For the most
part, there are press screenings, so it’s just a matter of going to an advance
screening, and often they are in a bunch of small screening rooms throughout
the city, and then sometimes it’s these big all-media screenings at the big
theaters. Very rarely is it a matter of
them sending me a screener.
The bigger the movie, the harder to get a screening unless
it’s a movie that the studio really feels they’ve got a hit on their hands, but
they know they need as much buzz as possible because it’s a hard sell. So, like, for “Looper”, they did so many
press screenings for that movie and I think it’s because they were worried that
people really had no concept of what this movie was or if it was going to be
any good, so they needed to have a lot of reporters going to see it and talking
about how good it was.
ES: I feel like
when I was younger, there were so many movies I wanted to see, but now the
marketplace is so crowded and they just don’t make many movies for adults
anymore. There’s hardly ever anything I
feel is made for me, not teenagers or kids.
Do you know what I mean?
BH: Absolutely. I think, interestingly, movies targeted at
teenagers are also targeted at adults.
But maybe that’s just me, a 33 year old adult who still likes the
teenager movies. I don’t disagree with
you, there is a void there. There aren’t
a lot of movies for adults that aren’t totally over-the-top Oscar bait.
ES: Right. I don’t know if it’s just that my perspective
has changed, or it’s just my stage of life.
They probably realize that families with young kids just don’t go to the
movies, so from the studios’ point of view, not worth it.
BH: No, when
they’re going, they’re going to see “Hotel Transylvania”.
ES: Which
actually looked really good, I thought.
BH: Go see
“Frankenweenie” instead.
ES: I don’t know
if I’ll be seeing either of them, but I guess that’s my point. Why bother making something for people like
me? Actually, I love when they release
things On Demand now. I saw “Arbitrage”
– did you see that one?
BH: Yes – I
watched it On Demand, actually. That’s a
really nice technological change.
ES: Do you find
that more and more movies are doing that?
I actually don’t know how common that is.
BH: Yes – I think
more and more movies are doing it, especially smaller movies like that. “Arbitrage” hit On Demand right around when
the movie came out in theaters, and part of the beauty of that too is that,
when you’ve got a movie like “Arbitrage” and it’s only being released in a
handful of theaters, in a handful of cities, On Demand is throughout the whole
country. So if it’s not out in Abilene,
TX, they might be able to watch it On Demand.
ES: And maybe
it’s the kind of movie that people aren’t likely to buy later on DVD, so they
can at least capture people’s interest while the promotional marketing is fresh
rather than doing a later wave of marketing later for the DVD release.
BH: Right, and
hopefully it’ll stay there as Richard Gere garners more and more critical
praise and we move towards awards season.
ES: Is there
anything else you want to share before we wrap things up?
BH: I think one
of the things, when I look at my career, that I think is really cool, is that
when I graduated college, in college I was the editor in chief of our
entertainment magazine. I got to fly to
L.A. and to New York for press junkets because they did college junkets back
then, and I graduated and thought, I’m never going to get to do these things
again because there are so many people who want these jobs and I’m not that
great, and whatever.
I got a degree in
Public Relations, I got the job in Public Relations, not because that was
easier necessarily but there were a lot more of those jobs. And I couldn’t be happier that I proved
myself wrong.
ES: So who paid
for those junkets to L.A. and New York
for that college magazine?
BH: Studios.
ES: So they don’t
do that anymore?
BH: I have no
idea – I think because the internet and blogs are such a bigger deal and so
much different than when I was in college, they’re spending the money more on
bloggers than on college students. There
are just so many more outlets than there were.
ES: Right – and
just to follow up on that, how do you feel like you break through the
clutter? The internet is so cluttered in
any field, let alone entertainment, which is huge… How do you get to your audience and get them
interested? I guess the affiliation with
MTV is important, and getting referrals from their site.
BH: Absolutely,
and I think we pride ourselves on having a good sense of humor, and that really
inspires us and moves us forward. We do
feel that the work that is on NextMovie is very different than what’s on other
sites. And if you’re a big movie fan, or
you’re only a mild movie fan, but you’re interested in a movie, you’re going to
find something on NextMovie.com that’s going to tickle your funny bone. Or there’s going to be really sexy pictures,
because who doesn’t like sexy pictures?
ES: Right, one or
the other – funny or sexy.
BH: To give you
an example, in honor of the movie “The First Time” that comes out this week, or
“The Sessions” , we are doing the twelve most awkward sex scenes in
movies. Most other places wouldn’t
really go there. So we’re always doing
fun lists, trying to take it to that next ridiculous level.
We asked fifty celebrities what their porn
names were and turned that into a feature.
And we’re talking major A-listers – Katie Holmes – telling us what their
porn names are. We’re using “first pet”
and “street you grew up on.”
ES: I’ll have to
check that one out. This has been
wonderful.
BH: Well, if you
have any more questions, don’t hesitate to call.
ES: I’m sure you
have those moments sometimes as a reporter, that you wish you could call back
to ask something you forgot or thought of later.
BH: That’s the
worst. Most of the time, you have to
just suck it up. More often than not,
there’s the reverse. The, “I have to
ask this question or I’m not doing my job, but I know you’re not going to
answer it.”
I interviewed Leighton Meester for her movie, “The Oranges”,
like three days after Blake Lively got married.
And often the publicist will tell you, “Don’t ask her this question,”
because they know you’re going to, but oddly they didn’t and then had three
publicists still sitting in the room, which was annoying. Because everyone’s asking [about the
wedding.]
So, I’m sitting there – you save the hard questions for the
end – and I say, “I’m not doing my job if I don’t ask you – what are you
sending Blake as a wedding gift?” And
immediately the publicists are all, “Aah, don’t ask her that question!” All right, no problem, but it makes for an
awkward moment that could be avoided. I
find asking the question you know you shouldn’t ask but you kind of have to
much more troubling than going to write it and going, “oh, shoot, I didn’t ask
that question.”
ES: Well, thank
you so much Breanne. Get home soon –
don’t work too late!
BH: Thanks!
