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Diana Parker: Doc Publicist Supreme by Don Schwartz
Documentary publicist and marketing manager Diana Iles Parker at her office in Sausalito. photo: D. Schwarz
DIANA ILES PARKER IS A SAUSALITO,
California-based publicist who specializes in representing documentary films via her company, Spoken Media. I met her through the chaos of showbiz.
I’d seen “The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia” and noticed scenes from the Bay Area. This was the first HBO documentary I had seen that seemed to be made by a local filmmaker; so, I innocently approached HBO with a request for a filmmaker interview.
As it happened, the guy’s name was James Redford. Within an hour I received three emails asking me who I was and what I want. That never happened before—it was a bit intimidating.
But one of the emails was from a Marin gal, a certain Diana Iles Parker, and she graciously set up the interview. Post facto, I learned that I was to interview Robert Redford’s son, certainly a pleasant surprise.
After that, Parker introduced me to filmmaking team Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine which led to another interview, and she continues to connect me to talented Bay Area documentarians.
But this month, I wanted to interview her. As a specialist on documentaries, Parker is one-of-a-kind or very close to it.
Of course, I am interested in Parker due to our mutual focus on documentaries, but, more importantly, I’ve a growing concern about what I see as a missing piece in the marketing of documentary films—publicity.
In addition to that noble intention, I must confess my curiosity about how one ends up being a publicist for documentary filmmakers. In the process of our interview, though, I learned that Diana is a publicist and more.
After years in this field, she can also run the film’s entire marketing and outreach campaign which includes publicity but so much more.
As always, I began at the beginning.
CineSource:Where were you born?
Diana Iles Parker: I was born and grew up in Des Moines, Iowa.
A scene from a film promoted by Parker: Jennifer Steinman's ‘Desert Runners’ which just premiered in Edinburgh. photo: courtesy J. Steinman
How did you end up in the Bay Area?
Circuitous. But I ended up going to a graduate school in Arizona, called Thunderbird, for short.
A graduate school. What about undergraduate?
I went to Iowa State University for my Bachelors. I majored in journalism. And then I put myself into an international business school. My passion really was within the world of internationalism. I’ve been an exchange student three times. [laughs] I was a perennial exchange student when I was young. I think it was because of growing up in Iowa, I felt a bit isolated at that time, in terms of the larger world around me.
Starting in high school, whenever I heard about a school-sponsored exchange program, I’d sign up. First it was two weeks living with a family in France. Next a summer ‘studying’ journalism. And finally, a junior year-abroad program to Glasgow University.
It was an ‘exchange.’ You simply exchanged places with another student. I somehow rationalized that this meant free and signed up before informing my parents. Luckily they were supportive.
How did this affect you?
So, I’ve always had this fascination with people from other cultures, other places, and other stories. And when I look back at my life and think about how I’ve arrived here, I see a lot of that informing my early years, those exchange experiences really informed my love for story, knowledge, thinking outside of my perspective—so that I could be enlightened in a new way.
Fast forward to graduate school, I went to an international M.B.A. program in Arizona, the American School of International Management—Thunderbird—and assumed I would have a career traveling the world. Fifty percent of the students were from abroad.
That, to me, was so compelling. Because, again, I think it’s about getting outside your own worldview, learning about how other people view the world.
By the time I graduated, as planned, I had the intended job offer following graduation, in an international marketing position at Nielsen, the rating company. You know, you go to school, and you’re supposed to take the job you trained for.
Diana with James Redford (lft) and the 'The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia' crew at Sundance, 2012. photo: courtesy KPJR Films
What had happened at that point is that having moved out west, and been exposed more culturally to the western US, I turned down the job back in the Midwest, and I just drove to San Francisco. I had visited once and I knew one person.
I think there was an intuitive sense that there was something here in San Francisco that was going on, and that there was a freer way of thinking. This was in 1992. I just thought it would be a better fit for me, in the ways that I was approaching the world. So, I just moved to San Francisco with hopes I could figure it out. (laughs)
So you had all the experiences of a Bachelor’s degree, an M.B.A. and international and journalism experience, and... what happened?!
Well, I have a little bit of a technology background, having worked for the first ‘interactive ad agency’ in 1990. I used to travel around to the car companies in Michigan and market an interactive kiosk for their dealerships. It was all the rage back then: interacting with your content.
When I came to San Francisco at the end of ’92, I found work very quickly at one of the best tech PR agencies at the time, Cunningham Communications. Andrea Cunningham had worked with Steve Jobs while she was at Regis McKenna prior to founding her agency. It embodied that cool, cutting-edge culture that is so common today but at the time, it was an original.
My first project was to promote Atari’s new gaming console and I was put in charge of media relations—something I knew nothing about. It was definitely trial by fire, and thus began my professional PR career.
When I left Cunningham to move to New York City, I took with me a set of experiences that led me to PR work with many interesting, cutting-edge tech startups. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to actually work for any of these companies.
I’m confused, what do you mean?
I mean I didn’t actually think to go and work as a full-time employee with the client, which would have probably made me [laughing] a very wealthy person.
For example, an editor at ‘PC Magazine’ called me up one day and asked me to come down to an event quickly—they needed bodies—no one was there. I show up and was introduced to Jerry Yang of Yahoo!. I felt so sorry for this guy. [laughs] I didn’t realize at that point that Yahoo! would ever become so successful. [pauses]
You know, I was around a lot of people who went on to great success, and there was a part of me that found that very interesting, exciting, and fun; but I was beginning to grow weary.
Weary? Of?
My last client was a high-profile media company. I was sitting in their boardroom talking about how they could develop an internet-based business. It was 1999, and I already had the sense that my job had shifted from one that felt important and strategic to one that felt a bit more based on hype.
I remember sitting in that boardroom and having an epiphany that I just didn't want to continue. I flew home and found a high-profile PR company to take over the client.
Jennifer Steinman, director/producer of ‘Desert Runners’. photo: courtesy J. Steinman
When did you stop contracting for these companies?
1999. I went through the tech boom of the nineties, and the bust. I saw it coming. Rode it back down. [laughs] That was my initial, ground zero experience in how you develop campaigns.
And then what happened?
And then I started my family. I took time off—away from everything.
I still voluntarily worked for a youth board of the World Affairs Council, in San Francisco, for two years. I advised and helped develop programming.
For example, right after 9/11, I decided to develop a program around ‘How free is our press?’ And I invited Norman Solomon, some other Bay Area luminaries in media. Amy Goodman from KPFA came and moderated. It was a huge success, oversold, people really fascinated by that topic. I thought it was important to question and examine this issue.
After the World Affairs Council, I spent a few years totally focused on my kids—as I wanted to be, and still really am. It was 2008 that I woke up one day and said, ‘Okay, I’m ready to be back in a work capacity.’
Having taken that time away, reflecting on what I want to do with my life, it seemed clear that PR was my skill set. I was very good at it, I knew what to do. But I wanted to apply it for things that mattered versus selling products. And so, in 2008, I took on a non-profit as my first client.
Did you establish your business before taking on a non-profit?
Yeah. I decided one day—it was very clear to me—I came up with the name, ‘Spoken Media.’ I knew that it was going to always focus on things that mattered, I assumed it would be in the not-for-profit world, I hadn’t considered documentary films yet.
I hadn’t watched documentary films as a child, wasn’t really exposed to them; but in the nineties I spent a lot more time discovering them.
My husband and I would regularly attend the Mountain Film Festival in Telluride. As others do, I found the experience fascinating. I remember one of those years there was a rough cut of a film called ‘The Endurance’ about Shackleton’s voyage to Antarctica.
We were in a tiny, old theater. And in comes the last remaining survivor from Shackleton’s expedition!
And he brings out a pair of Shakleton’s boots, and he sets them on the stage, and then he sits down, and he’s got a long, grey beard, he’s shaking with his cane, he was just the real deal. That’s a touchstone for me.
So, after founding Spoken Media, it didn’t take me long to figure out I wanted to focus my efforts on elevating important documentary films. I just didn’t know how to act on it.
Coincidently, my first client—Project Grace, a non-profit organization inspired by Jennifer Steinman’s film ‘Motherland,’—introduced me to Jennifer after hearing ‘Motherland’ would be premiering at South by Southwest. I knew she would need a publicist and quickly pitched her to use me. She lived in New York at the time. She had no idea who I was. (laughs)
Jennifer was gracious. We had several phone conversations about how I could help her. But it came down to a letter I wrote her—I honestly can’t remember what I wrote—but she has always said it was the letter that convinced her to hire me.
She also asked me to publicize her good friend Geralyn Pezanoski’s film ‘Mine’ at the same festival. I was thrilled..., and then scared. Nothing like fear to set a person in motion. We landed a great deal of press, but also worked hard at attracting our core audience to the screenings.
In fact, for ‘Mine’, [an exploration of the human/animal bond set against the Katrina disaster], we partnered with two animal adoption agencies in Austin, and showed up at adoption events with posters and postcards. This not only helped us with audience development, but it attracted media attention.
Screenings were sold out. Both ‘Motherland’ and ‘Mine’ won the Audience Award in their categories. Both signed distribution deals shortly thereafter. It was a success.
What happened next?
What happened next was a lot of great word-of-mouth. We live in this rich community of documentary filmmakers, and Geralyn and Jen told others about me. So, suddenly now I have people calling me to be their publicist at film festivals. Of course, I wondered if I was having Beginner’s Luck and was really an imposter.
The next year I was hired to publicize Dan and Dayna’s film, ‘Something Ventured’ at SXSW. ‘Something Ventured’ captures the story of how a group of investors mingle with Silicon Valley innovators to fuel technological change, business and culture forever. I love this film because of my technology roots and felt it had captured an important story that could be inspiring for generations to come.
To successfully publicize a film, you have to find the ‘hook’. At that time, in 2010, there was much disdain for big business. ‘Inside Job’ had just won an Oscar. So, I pitched a ‘positive business story’ to Michael Cieply at the New York Times.
He liked it and we ended up with a half-page business story that cascaded into numerous live interviews for Dayna and Dan on many of the major networks. So, I realized at that point ‘I’m good. I’m good at this! [laughs] I now know I’m not an imposter.’
About a year into my being fully devoted to documentary films, the whole upheaval of distribution was now in full swing. And there’s suddenly these opportunities for filmmakers to distribute their films in new and interesting ways—the hybrid model that Peter Broderick first talked about.
The complexity of thinking through distribution options interested me enormously. It involved much more of the strategic marketing education I had received at Thunderbird. But again, I didn’t have the experience.
So, I approached Peter Sorcher who had just premiered a film about the growing practice of ‘sungazing’ called ‘Eat the Sun’. He’s a Mill Valley filmmaker. And like most filmmakers, he didn’t know much about how to distribute his film, and was more interested in making films.
‘Why don’t I come on as co-producer with you,' I suggested to him, 'and I’ll distribute it, figure out that piece of it?’ And it was through this experience that I was able to expand Spoken Media beyond publicity services.
I continue to wear many hats in documentary film so I can be a great collaborator with filmmakers.
Most recently, I helped Jennifer Steinman produce her new film ‘Desert Runners’. We had our World Premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in June, leaving with a Best of the Fest designation, and we’re going to have our U.S. premier at the Mill Valley Film Festival on October 6th and 12th.
So yes. I’m still a publicist, but I would say my core business has shifted to developing broad marketing outreach programs. It’s an honor to work with people who trust me to help them get their films out there, into the world.
Filmmakers spend such a long time crafting these important stories, they’re passionate, they’re often times working fulltime because there’s no money in the documentary film industry. And, suddenly, they get their finished product, and they haven’t planned or thought through how to launch it.
So many films just disappear. And from that point of view I realized, ‘This is where I can offer service and help for filmmakers. I can meet them at that rough-cut stage and become a collaborator.’
I see and hear that your focus is on documentaries, but I wonder if someone approached you with a narrative, would you take that one?
You know, I think it would be fun to move into a narrative. It would have to have some compelling element around furthering good, in my point of view.
When a filmmaker calls you asking about your service, what do you tell her or him?
I always start out by asking, ‘Where are you at in the process of filmmaking? Are you at final cut, are you finished? Premiered?’
I have picture locked.
Have you thought through what your intention is for your film? Who is your audience?
I’d love for The Weinstein Company to distribute it. Magnolia. I want a big distributor to pick it up.
[laughs] Well, that’s a common reaction that I get. And that’s all good. I think that then there are two tracks you need to take, and you need to be planning concurrently.
Plan A is to get into a major film festival where these distributors are attending and purchasing doc films. Concurrent to that, you need to have your Plan B which focuses on a more realistic, achievable strategy that targets your core audience.
Sometimes a film that’s got a built-in audience doesn’t necessarily need to premier at a festival. Or, perhaps it should premiere internationally first. Perhaps there is an organization which you can partner with to distribute educationally. The semi-theatrical market is an excellent way to reach a specific audience.
But, Diana, what will YOU do for me to make that happen?
I offer a range of services—from festival publicity, to consulting on your marketing and distribution plans, to creating full-blown marketing outreach campaigns.
We would start by talking through your goals. I will take on a project if I feel I can deliver on your goals. Otherwise, I might recommend others you can call. As time permits, I’m generally good about scheduling 30-minute introductory calls with filmmakers
How much do your services cost?
Well, this is the tough question. I hate to address it directly without knowing a specific situation. I don’t want to scare filmmakers away from the notion that they can afford somebody to help them with marketing outreach. Yet, I also want to make sure that they have enough funding to do the right amount of marketing outreach.
But, ideally, as a filmmaker, what you need to be thinking about is building a marketing budget before you finish the film. You will need money for your premiere—at minimum you’ll need a basic website, some collateral (postcards and small posters), and, ideally, some sort of social media strategy.
The reality is that people spend all of their money making a film, and they have nothing left for PR and marketing. They then have to scramble to get funds together. I just think if a filmmaker can think ahead, and at least budget for something very basic, and have that money in the bank, ready to go—that can remove some of tension.
But if you don’t?
Well. You might have the great fortune of getting noticed at a prestigious festival premiere and get picked up by Magnolia. Or you might have worked for years on your film only to have it go unnoticed and fade away. The latter is more common, but it doesn’t have to be this way with a bit of marketing ingenuity.
For example, there is now a viable way to bring your film to theaters via a crowd-sourcing platform called TUGG. Relatively speaking, there is little up-front cost, but you will need some developed marketing materials and a good sense of how to reach an audience and drive ticket sales.
So, is this a resource you’d refer a filmmaker to?
Definitely, but you still need to do the marketing outreach piece. So, what I would suggest to filmmakers is get somebody to fund your marketing campaign—whether you get grants, or you find private donors.
I’d also encourage anyone making a social advocacy doc to check out leading educational distribution companies like ro*co films educational. The founder, Annie Roney, and her team are outstanding at creating markets for films.
I’ve been working on James Redford’s film ‘The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia’ and via ro*co we’ve had great success reaching and bringing together parents, students and teachers to discuss ways to better meet the needs of those afflicted by dyslexia.
Is there anything you want to share about publicity or your approach?
I will be a champion of your film as much as you would be.
Don Schwartz is an actor, writer and critic living in Marin County who can be reached . Posted on Sep 10, 2013 - 11:52 PM