My main role in the production of the And Scene Festival was publicity, where I was presented with various new and exciting tasks, such as creating the And Scene Press Release and obtaining media coverage for our festival. Including a press release and any additional media coverage was crucial to ensuring our festival reached its full potential in terms of audience attendance and engagement. This was essential not only for our success as the team working behind the festival but also for those who invested time and effort into creating the work we showcased.
One of the first tasks I undertook after identifying my main responsibility was researching film festivals around Melbourne and identifying their media partners, typically listed at the bottom of their websites or on sponsorship pages. By doing this, I not only expanded our media contacts for the press release mailing list but also reached out to some of them to see if they would support our festival. In exchange, we would include their brand in our social media posts and other communication channels such as press releases, our website, and festival programs. Fortunately, Plakkit, an advertising agency, agreed to support our festival with in-kind street posters. This was an incredibly exciting achievement, as we had 50 large A0 posters displayed in various parts of Melbourne. Our design team created a stunning poster, and seeing our festival name publicly displayed throughout Melbourne was a great motivation to ensure our festival’s success.
To better understand what to include in our festival’s first press release, I referred to well-established festivals’ press releases, like those of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Their press releases were extensive, including information on VIP guests, venues, programming, sponsors, catering, etc. This provided a good template for our press release as we were still finalising details, such as whether we would have a closing night or a third day. Initially, I felt hesitant about sending out a press release without a firm grasp of the smaller details, such as whether we would offer free drinks and food or have a band play our opening night —elements that I thought would make our festival sound more appealing and developed, encouraging journalists to share our festival with their audiences. However, I learned that we could send multiple press releases as our festival’s production progressed, mentioning any key or exciting developments. I created our press release on Canva, ensuring it matched our festival’s visual identity curated by the design team. I included key information for media professionals, such as And Scene’s purpose, dates, times, location, how to stay updated through our social media channels, and a partners/supporters page that acknowledged the organisations supporting us, like Plakkit and the Capitol.
