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July 08, 2009

Oscar Flackery Wheel Turns

Barry Dale Johnson, now formerly of ID/PR and currently of Fox Searchlight, is only the latest twist in how the upcoming awards season will be handled by studios under pressure.

A couple of years ago, the move to All Consultants, All The Time started, as Cynthia Swartz, Amanda Lundberg, Leslie Dart and the late, loved Robert Garlock launched 42 West out of the ashes of the Weinstein Miramax and the corporate frustrations of a corporately-minded PMK. The company immediately became the must-have consultants. Lisa Taback also became a consultant to more than one M&M eater. Terry Press shook loose of DreamWorks a couple of years ago. Michelle Robertson, who does a range of films, but is a one-studio-at-a-time kind of Oscar woman, continued her consulting success, moving on to WB, with Karen Fried's consultancy taking on the Focus gig. And MPRM continued on as an indie go-to for launches, in season and off.

The picture consultancy biz (consultants who specialized, like Ronni Chasen and Murray Wesiman, remained a thriving, but smaller business) seemed lucrative enough that both PMK and BWR launched their own divisions, grabbing Chris Libby from MPRM and Lee Ginsburg from Block-Korenbrot, each building their own teams.

Ahead of the next curve was Megan Colligan's Paramount Vantage, which had consultant relationships, but also brought Lea Yardum and Gena Wilder's Perception PR in-house, as well as bringing in Angellotti Co's Katie Martin Kelley in as well. (She's since become big Par's publicity topper.) Of course, the way things roll, the films they released meant they would work with 42, Press, and Taback as well as having a muscular staff on site. But the big studio now has that brain trust working their season.

Now, Searchlight, which hooked up with ID/PR when Colligan left for Paramount, has brought Barry Johnson in-house.

Disney still uses Tony Angellotti for animation, but is doing a lot of their Oscar work in-house, with Kira Feola (who used to do the same for Paramount) fronting the effort under Jasmine Madatian (who used to do the same for Paramount).

Fox has kept it in-house for years, occasionally reaching out for specific needs.

DreamWorks still has, I believe, veteran Terry Press consulting on an in-house contract.

Sony works with Taback, Press, and 42 West in specific cases, but plays it close to the vest.

Universal has the nearly-permanent Tony Angellotti, as WB has Michelle Robertson, and Focus has Karen Fried.

Miramax has had Cynthia Swartz leading their annual effort, though what their plan for this season is a bit unclear.

Sony Classics has been with Block-Korenbrot in LA for years, with Melody K seeming to have single-handedly pushed Alan Arkin to an Oscar win. (Don't tell Barry, who was on the film for ID/PR.)

I have no idea how exactly Summit is going to handle The Hurt Locker, though 42 West has been on board for the theatrical roll-out.

And we have the new Ginsburg/Libby, not quite fitting in the corporate tent, bringing their wealth of indie and awards experience to anyone who can afford them and their experience-heavy team.

But it does seem that the wave is going back to in-house after a few years of consultants every inch of the way. This surely has more to do with corporate thinking than skill. In a case like Barry Dale Johnson's, the math was probably simple... they could have him full time without paying the premium that paid for the overhead of ID/PR... and he gets a pay raise and it's still cheaper.

Thing is, ID/PR has really become masterful at handling individual clients, on camera and behind the camera, during the award season. So their business will change slightly, but as in all other things, quality will keep the money flowing. True for consultants as well. Belts will be tightened, but the strong will survive and thrive.

Posted by dpoland at July 8, 2009 10:36 AM

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