Why are some
films well-known
and others not?
Ask Ken Droz,
whose full-time
profession is
promoting the
movies.

Ken Droz:
Staging a
wedding to
promote a
movie.

KEN JONES

SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

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undreds of times each
year, Detroit area
moviegoers holding
special invitations file
into exclusive sneak
preview screenings of Holly-
wood's latest thriller, comedy or
love story.
Unlike the nationwide
"sneaks" that are advertised
and open to paying customers
a week or so before the release
of a film, these complimentary-
by-invite only events generally
happen within days of a movie's
Friday opening, and most of the
guests in attendance won their
tickets through a radio station
giveaway.
This happy, sometimes rau-
cous ritual is part of a larger
marketing, promotion and pub-
lic relations scheme to sell Hol-
lywood's product — treasure or

turkey — to the 4 million po-
tential ticket buyers in metro
Detroit.
Although Detroit box office
grosses are not collected by the
show business trade publication
Variety, Phil Garfinkle of Los
Angeles-based Entertainment
Data, Inc., says Detroit ranks
about ninth in the country for
the number of active TV watch-
ers and moviegoers.
Mr. Garfinkle could not say
what percentage of the total na-
tional box office comes from De-
troit, but he says Detroit, as a
Top 10 market, is important to
the national picture. In 1992,
the nation's box office grossed
$4.9 billion, up two percent from
1991's $4.8 billion, but a slight
dip from 1989's and 1990's $5
billion domestic grosses.
The emphasis is to open big,

to hit hard opening week be-
cause if you don't get them then
it's almost impossible to get
them," says Ken Droz, a Detroit
advertising and public relations
field representative for sever-
al major studios.
The sneak preview screen-
ings are just one part of the
high-stakes Big Picture.
The idea is utterly simple: A
local advertising agency is hired
by a studio to generate press
coverage and buy print and
broadcast advertising space and
time for a given film.
The agency buys radio ad-
vertising time on stations that
appeal to a specific demographic
— perhaps rock stations if the
picture appeals to young males
— and in the deal arranges a
special screening to which the
stations can invite loyal listen-

ers. The stations also provide a
service to their listeners re-
warding them and encouraging
them to keep tuning in.
At the sneak preview, radio
personalities show up to pro-
mote their stations, make open-
ing comments and often whip
the crowd into a frenzy by hurl-
ing movie-related products —
T-shirts, posters, cassette tapes,
keychains — into the hungry
crowd.
Good or bad, the movie is
screened and 300 people are
sent into the night to spread
good or bad word of mouth
about Searching for Bobby Fis-
cher, Robin Hood: Men in
Tights or even Aladdin.
More important than the
screening itself is the on-air pro-
motion of the film. Disc jockeys

HOLLYWOOD page 34

