Weeks on location in New Zealand with Tom Cruise; the Transylvanian Alps with Nicole Kidman and Jude Law; Rome with Leonardo DiCaprio.
These are typical adventures for a unit publicist. Sound good? Get in line.
Landing a unit gig is more competitive than ever, partly because high-profile pics are often locked up in advance by vets who have cultivated relationships with filmmakers, stars, or studios.
"Often times the units come required contractually by the filmmakers or actors," says a studio publicist. "It makes sense to go with who you know and trust."
Also fueling the competish: "You have a lot of former studio publicists trying to break into the field," says another studio press agent.
One example is former Castle Rock praiser Paulette Osorio, currently at work on the L.A. set of "Constantine" for Warner Bros.
Osorio says many of her colleagues worked in PR at a studio, agency or network before entering unit publicity.
"Another way to break in is to work on low budget, non-union films to garner experience and contacts," she says.
What does the oddly named job entail? Per vet Larry Kaplan ("Cold Mountain," "Gangs of New York") and nominee this year for the guild's Les Mason Award, the job is "all- encompassing, yet not visible to the naked eye."
Typically, the unit publicist writes the press notes, supervises unit photography and electronic press kit crews, arranges set visits for media, hosts visitors such as marketing and licensing partners, runs damage control in a crisis, and depending on experience, helps develop and launch an overall PR strategy for the project.
What gives a prospective unit an edge?
"Solid writing and communication skills," says a New Line exec. Units must also be diplomats, handling the often conflicting agendas of filmmakers, studio backers, stars' personal publicists and the media.
"They are ground zero," says a publicity exec at New Line. "If they do their job right, and lay the foundation for a great campaign, we can reap the benefits of what they accomplish."
Besides being exempt from the crack-of-dawn call time suffered by most crew members, unit publicists enjoy starting scale pay of $1,761.48 weekly on a union production, with a guaranteed 56-hour workweek. Extra pay kicks in for location work outside a 60-mile radius of home. As independent contractors, units at the top of the craft like Spooky Stevens ("50 First Dates," "Ocean's Eleven"), Rachel Aberly ("The Last Samurai," "Chicago,") and David Link ("American Beauty and "A.I."), another Les Mason Award nominee, tend to earn much more. Weekly pay for experienced hands averages at least $2,000-$2,500 per week.
The downside? Trying to stay close to loved ones from afar, suffering through night shoots, and scouting that ever-elusive next job.
As entertainment news outlets proliferate, the unit's job grows more complex. Osorio cites Internet outlets as one example. "Live Internet feeds from movie sets and Internet press set visits are now a regular part of the job," she says.
At best, the job provides an "all-access pass" to some of the world's "coolest places and people," per John Pisani, now working on New Line's "Heart of Summer." He cites meeting presidents and dignitaries, and shooting on the field at Yankee Stadium, as examples.
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