What's Next: Junior Talent Publicist

On this week's episode, Lacey is joined by Becca, a Junior Talent publicist. Becca first started her career as an assistant to the Head of Theatre at a Talent Agency before heading to PR and climbing the ranks at her current firm. Becca and Lacey discuss assistant life, going the agency route in entertainment, the best ways to use LinkedIn to network, what talent PR is and what it takes to succeed in talent PR. She is a force to be reckoned with, so listen up to learn from one of the best in the business!

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Hosted, Edited and Produced by Lacey Dikkers.
Cover Art by Andrea Tamayo.

Transcript

Hello and welcome back to what's next. I am already at my third episode, which I think is very cool. I will say something that I have learned in doing this is that it is surprisingly hard to interview someone. So all my respect goes out to those late night hosts. I will say something I can do that that seems super easy, but put a mic and some headphones and a computer in front of someone and it suddenly becomes a pretty daunting task. So I'm definitely learning on this journey and I am excited to keep going and I hope that I just keep getting more confident and better at this. But you know that's kind of the process of this process and point of this podcast that we all all learning and developing ourselves to head into brighter futures. Gosh, how cheesy, but I love it. On today's episode I chat with my very, very good friend Becker. We met at our first adult job right out of college at United Talent Agency and since then we have struggled through the entertainment industry together. We talked today about her love for theatre, how she got into it, how she has brought that passion for theatre and put that into her professional life. She walked us through the nitty gritty of job hunting, of being an assistant, of being a celebrity publicist and her top tips on all of the above. She really does have some incredible insight for those who are just maybe considering the entertainment industry, those who are considering going the agency route to enter into the entertainment industry or maybe are interested in the world of PR and talent PR specifically. So listen up and enjoy.

Lacey, thank you so much for having me. No, thank you for coming on. I so appreciate you taking the time and talking to me all about your story. Well, thank you for taking time because I made you come to my apartment to record this and I appreciate that. Honestly, it's better your apartment is quiet and you have a cat. I do have a cat. She's very cute. She will be on next week's episode of What's Next everyone. Oh, a hundred percent. I need to hear her career story. We need advice from Cleo. How to be the cutest cat possible in the world, in the entire world. Yeah, she's getting her talking points together right now. Oh, amazing. Love it. And you'll do her publicity for it? I'll do her PR. I also do her grooming. Oh, amazing. Perfect. It's a one stop shop.  Exactly. Double whammy. Oh my gosh, I love it. 

We go back a long time. Now it's actually like four years. Well, yeah, that doesn't feel like that long. It does not feel like four years, that's a whole college education. It is. That's what really freaks me out when I measure it in that specific time frame. I like, yeah, don't like that at all. But let's go back even further than that. So you went to UCLA. Go Bruins. Go Bruins. Did you want to go into entertainment when and specifically theater when you were at UCLA? Was that a late decision? So I grew up in the Bay Area. I was always a theater kid. And I always was like president of the drama club and like doing all kinds of stuff on stage at my little public high school that didn't have a stage. It was a multi-purpose room. And I had a realization when it was like time to apply for college. I'm like, oh, I'm actually not really good at this. Like I like it. I'll put in the time, but like at a certain point, you can either sing or you can't. And I can't. So I was like, I still want to be creative though. And like my dad always worked in marketing and advertising. So I'm like, okay, like I'll do something like that instead of like working on like theater or like movies because that's Hollywood seemed scary to me. Like I'll do like commercials and ads and like I'll madmen it up and beat Don Draper and like make cool creative decisions that way. Yeah. So I applied to a bunch of schools on the West Coast because at the time I had been in New York maybe one time and I didn't realize how much I loved it. So I was like, I want to go to like a West Coast school. So I applied to some Cal states, some UCs and University of Oregon because my dad went there. Go Ducks. I ended up getting in to almost all the schools I applied to. UC San Diego randomly didn't want me. So I was like, okay, Hater. And then I remember UCSB was like my top. I never even toured UCLA because I was like, I'm not going to get in there. I don't want to get my hopes up. My parents told me check the box on the UC application. You're filling it out anyway. Just check the UCLA box. We'll pay the $60 or whatever. Yeah. And I did but I distinctly remember UCSB came out on a Monday and UCLA came out on a Friday of the same week, something like that. And I got into UC Santa Barbara. I'm like, that's it. I'm in. Go into college. UC Santa Barbara. Let's learn to surf. Let's go to the beach. So Cal. And then on Friday, like I didn't even really like care to check the UCLA portal. Like I remember I tried it at the time. And then everyone and their mom was trying it. So it didn't load and I had to go to work at a smoothie shop. So I went to work. It was actually my first day of work ever. We were opening a brand new smoothie shop. We all had to sit in a circle. And like most of us were in high school and said like where we're going to college. And I literally was like, yeah, I'm going to UC Santa Barbara. Like didn't even think about the fact that like I had maybe already gotten into UCLA. And I don't even think this was the question, but I like this story. No, I love this story. And then side note, my best friend, ride or die, Trace, neighbor since I was four. He always wanted to go to UCLA. And I remember I got out of work from my smoothie shop. It's probably like four hours later. And I checked my phone and I see a detection trace. It's like I got in. And I was like, oh,  I should probably check that. So I like I'm sitting in my car in a parking garage. And I checked and I got in. And I was in such shock. And I was like, I need to call my mom all this stuff. I just replied me too. And then I called my parents. They didn't answer. Oh my god. Both of them did not answer. I called my sister. She did not answer. I called my brother. He didn't answer. I'm like, wait, what do I do? I just got into like one of the best schools in the country. Absolutely. And then Trace kind of replied like LOL. And I was like, no, I actually like got in. Oh my god. He didn't believe you. And he didn't believe me. And he's like, no way. And I said, I'm on my way and Trace is then neighbor. So I was going home. Anyway, so I went to his house and knocked on the store and I had my phone up  And he was like, oh my god. And his parents had like sparkling apples cider for us because we were 17. And then I remember his parents took photos of us with apple cider and sent them to my parents. And we're like, at least one of us cares. Oh my god. My parents were mortified that they missed my calls. And they love me. I'm very supportive. They're the whole reason I applied UCLA. That is. But yeah. So that's how I wound up at UCLA. And I like toured it and stuff after I got in because I need to see the school for what school there went in undeclared because I wanted to be communications major, which I feel like is like the default kind of at a lot of schools is like one of the most popular. At UCLA, it's very competitive. And you have to apply to get in after your first year. And you can only apply twice. Oh wow. And you have to do a creative project and all this stuff. And so I went in undeclared playing to do calm after my first year. I got accepted in the major, which was great cause a lot of my friends didn't get accepted till after their second year. Oh wow. But I was able to start taking the classes. I declared a theater minor. So I'm like, oh like I love theater. I still love it. I started doing my thing. Yeah. Yeah. What kind of things that you do while you're at UCLA to harbor this interest in theater because you are in California. And as far as I'm aware, and again, I'm British, so I know nothing. But is there like a massive theater scene out in this area that's like so primarily focused on film and TV? Not entirely. There are some regional theaters out there like Center Theater Group has the Ahmanson and there's the Pantages. But it's kind of just a spot for regional tours to stop in as opposed to new works being developed and premiered. But I actually got involved with a student or a theater company on campus called Hooligan. Oh cool. That does a few shows a year. And I started out being in the ensemble and on like their marketing staff. And then the longer I was involved with the company, I ended up being the director of marketing. And on like the senior staff, I was in some shows. I directed some shows. Assistant directed, one directed another and just became really involved in like the leadership of the group. Yeah. And that was kind of all I did. Oh my god, I'm making myself sound like such a loser. Not at all! But I, yeah, I was like all in on this theater company. And that's actually kind of what made me realize what I wanted to do because I was doing all this marketing for theater while concurrently having internships in film and TV, which I can get into. And I realized I'm like, oh, this is like a job I can do. Like if I'm doing this right now in this small scale trying to get UCLA students to attend our student show, that's free. Like there must be a market for this on a larger level trying to get global audiences to attend a Broadway show and pay for it and vote for it at the Tony Awards. And it kind of really inspired me moving to New York and doing what I do now. So you did do film and TV internships, but still decided to go down this theater route. I did. So I, the classic issue when you're in college is you need an internship to get an internship. Yeah. Everyone wants you to have work experience, but no one wants to hire the unexperienced person. So I remember my freshman year, I actually had, there was an entertainment networking night put on at the school. And when I tell you, like I've never seen more of like a Hunger Games situation, like they open the gates of this ballroom with like some tables with industry professionals who are alumni at them. And the way these thirsty kids in business casual outfits were like sprinting in with their resumes, I was shook. And of course, the people who worked at the Disney's and the HBO's and the Warner Medias and the Netflix's their tables had like lines. Yeah. And I remember I sat at this one table next to this guy who like was like, he just said like writer. And I was like, Oh, okay, I'll sit next to, I'll chat with this guy. Like I'm a freshman. I didn't even have a resume with me. I was like, I'm just here to meet people and see what it's like. And we just kind of got to chatting and really hit it off. And he was like, look, like, I'm just a writer, like I don't really have like money to like pay an assistant or an intern, but like I really like you. And I would love to work with you if you're interested in like learning more about the industry. Like I'd love to like have like coffees every now and then, tell you more and like have your eyes on my scripts because I'm always looking for like smart feedback. Yeah. So literally, it's kind of like doing that. And like I called it an internship for the purposes of my resume. There was no paperwork involved. But I would meet up with this guy like once a month. And we'd like have a coffee yet like the coffee bean and tea leaf. And I would give him some feedback on the scripts I read. And we would do that. And then it actually, it's crazy how it all snowballed because then the next summer, summer after like my sophomore year, I was like, Oh, I need a real internship. I need to pay for my car somehow. Yeah. So I applied for a summer internship at this company called Robert Half, which is a global staffing agency. Um, exclusively because my dad had a friend who worked there. And it was near my parents house where I was for the summer so I was like convenient and it's paid. So, and I remember in that interview, they really liked that I had done like proofreading in my last quote internship. Yeah. And then I ended up getting that internship. And it was more of a real internship where I got pay subs and whatnot. And I had an office and I had bosses and a little work. An office as an intern? I know. It's crazy. And I, and then I got actual experience like pitching like journalists and like reviewing internal memos. I was doing both internal corpcom and external PR, got great experience there. And then the following summer, that kind of snowballed and I realized that I want to like PR is interesting to me and I'm thinking I'm okay at it. But it'd be cool to do some kind of entertainment. And unfortunately in LA and in the industry, a lot of entertainment internships are unpaid. Yeah. And I just couldn't afford to do that. I'd car payment groceries books. You name it. Yeah. So I found some random internship for a PR agency that worked with influencers. And I thought that that would be another good step in the right direction. It was, I went from working being an intern in a structured intern program at a global staffing agency to being an intern at a company of like eight people. Yeah. Where I'd bring my own laptop and like they paid me in cash every day for my parking. I mean, but that is what entertainment internships are. It is. I was getting coffee. I was delivering. Yeah. I was delivering packages around LA. Did you having come from such a structured program? Did you question this route? Oh like every day. Yeah. I walked in and I'd be like, good morning and I don't really say anything. Yeah. And I would like sit down and pull up my own laptop and be like, oh, what can I help with? Some days there were just no jobs, but because it was my own laptop, I would just like do homework. Yeah. Because I was I was taking a summer course at the time. And that was interesting. Wow, I had no idea that you had already had experience in PR before. We'll get this. So that internship, I wasn't the biggest stand-up. I, I think I did it end of summer into the getting of like a fall quarter. Got it. And then didn't love it. I didn't think working with influencers was for me. Yeah. And I remember I really vibed with one girl who was an assistant there. And I had told her I'm interested in working in entertainment, but I'm not sure if I want to go down the influence  route. And she told me one of her best friends works at DreamWorks and hires their PR intern. So she referred me for that internship, which I did the following summer. And absolutely loved. I had the best time. I did it for a summer and then they extended me through the end of the year. So I did it for like half a year total. Yeah. Saw two different classes of interns come and go. And I had the best time. What was the best thing that you learned while doing any of your internships? Honestly, the best like thing that I learned is kind of just a general sense of how to like be professional and carry yourself in a work environment. I mean, none of the tasks they  gave me were like uber important or confidential. Like I was an intern and having managed interns at my current job, like I wouldn't give them something super important either. The point is to learn. So I really got to sit in on a lot of meetings listen to a lot of calls, mostly at DreamWorks. One of the biggest things I did was help with the award submissions for the Emmys. Oh wow. That's awesome. It was actually was crazy helpful because at the time I was like, oh my god, like there's so many things to submit. This is so much work. But then now I have to submit my clients  for the Emmys. And I know how to do it. You already knew how to do it. That's incredible exposure. Yeah. And by the end of all of those random internships, I was like, okay, I do enjoy PR, but I do think theater is my bread and butter. So I'm just kind of talking now. I know you didn't ask me this. No, but that was that was my next question. Having had all that experience in PR, why did you ultimately A) decide to go to theater and B) leave California and come to New York? So I remember during those DreamWorks days, I was like, yeah, I think PR is cool. I think I'd be good at PR. But imagine if it was PR for Broadway. So I did some homework and I found that there are several agencies in New York who specialize in PR for Broadway shows. So the fall of my senior year of college, I what came out here in New York and I'm going to trip with my mom. I got her to come with me. I kind of framed as a girl's trip. And then I called emailed and called LinkedIn message a ton of people who worked at these PR agencies. And I hit people up who worked for Broadway producers. I hit up people who worked for Broadway ad and marketing agencies, Broadway social media agencies, anything that was PR, marketing related and Broadway, I found, I like did deep LinkedIn stalks and found a contact at each of those companies and asked if I could take them out for a coffee. Wow. And I ended up having like six informationals. So you would say those cold messages worked. For the most part, I mean, some people didn't reply. Yeah, some said appreciate you reaching out I'm under water at the moment, but like best of luck, which I get. Yeah, no, totally. Two people were like, at all time for a meeting, but happy to hop on the phone. Yeah. Both of which I have since worked with. And then I had coffee with like a handful of other people, some of which I've also worked with. Wow. And I insisted on like paying for everything with my little debit card or my college credit card I've ever had at the time. And I had some questions prepared. And I really was just like asking them questions about what they do and how they got into it. And then hoping that when I graduated, one of them might be able to put a good word in for me with a job. Yeah, which ultimately never happened because when you're graduating in June, everyone's graduating in June, looking for these jobs in these eight people offices that manage the Broadway press, yeah, they're going to hire from like their intern pool. Yeah. So, but I don't regret it. It taught me a lot. I whenever people reach out to me on LinkedIn or email asking for advice, I always hop on the film with them because like that was me not too long ago. Oh, 100%. I mean, the common theme that I have already seen from my my podcast so far is how important these informationals are. And that's just like there's no getting around, like you absolutely should do these coffee chats because you have no idea how they're going to turn out. No, literally one of the girls who I had breakfast with I ran into her at the Tonys in June. And I was like, sorry, I literally went up to her and I'm like, hi, this is so weird. But I took you out for coffee in 2018 when you worked at XYZ company and I was in college. And we had breakfast outside of Penn station. And she was like, oh my god, I totally remember you. So is that trip, what also made you want to move here? Yeah. You could see yourself here and you'd like just try what I mean. Yeah, I did a trip the year previously with a friend just like over spring break. And I remember like I was too nervous like walk a few blocks by myself. Like I didn't want to take the subway myself, even like the walk from like the Uber to like her friends apartment. We were  staying in I was like on high alert. I was like really nervous because I grew up in a suburb. I've never really like yeah, been in the city. But then that trip I really like grew into it. And now I live alone in New York and walked down the street by myself every day. So how did you get your first job? So my first job was posted on playbill.com. No way. I was scouring the playbill.com job board every day for any kind of theater thing, whether it be a front desk associate at Roundabout Theater Company or a part-time marketing apprentice at Atlantic. Yeah. Anything theater I was applying to. I actually applied for the me and the two girls I was moving out to New York with. We all applied for the Roundabout apprenticeship program all in different departments and they both got it and I didn't. No. So I was heartbroken for a little bit but I and I also was like wait, but I did all these internships. I don't like no offense but like what else can I do? Yeah exactly. And that's always such a bummer to and they were like in our like apartment group chat. They were like talking about work and I was like no. We haven't even moved to New York yet you guys. Stop. So I was applying to a bunch of stuff on playbill.com and I saw there was a theater assistant job at United Talent Agency. A job seeker just graduating college in LA you know about the agency. You know that everyone says start at the agency. Do one year at an agency you can work anywhere. You know the path is you start in the mailroom and then you get put on a desk. You know that you're going to be like Lloyd in Entourage. Yeah. It's you know that and my, ironically my roommate at the time his dream was to be his dream was to be an agent and he's having informationals at all the agencies: CAA WME UTA ICM APA A3, every agency you can think of he's applying to it. and he's interviewing to be in the mail room of UTA. I see this posting on playbill. I send in my resume, I get an email from an agent in the theater department. He says hey we're all interested in your resume. Are you open for it? Are you available for an interview? So I do several interviews and I get offered the job working as a second assistant to the head of the theater department. Meanwhile my roommate is still interviewing to be in the mailroom and he's like I don't understand you skip the mailroom. Yeah. You're on a desk and I can't even get like a call back from HR. Yeah. I mean I went through the mailroom process so indeed that is incredible. I didn't realize that A) Paybill posted jobs but B) that UTA posted on playbill. Yeah that head of theater he really wanted like a theater kid. Got it. So he didn't want someone who is gonna come into the department do their year and then go over to TV lit. That makes sense yeah. And he found me. I started working at UTA and I met you. You did meet me. So this is actually just our meet cute. Yeah exactly. This is the story of Becca and Lacey. So what did your job look like with the head of theater? So I was the second assistant. There was a first assistant and there was me and I know what you're thinking. The Devil Wears Prada. Yeah. And it wasn't that kind of situation but it was very much the first assistant did the phones, did the scheduling. I went and got coffee and I delivered the dry cleaning and I, whenever the first assistant would go to the bathroom, I would cover the phones and be terrified and ask someone can you please spell Gabana and they'd hang up on me. What's the theater version of Gabana? What was the thing that you answered on the phone that really freaked you out? Do you remember? I remember the first call I ever answered for the client. Not going to say who it was but I remember I was like I repeated the name like yeah it's so and so and I'm like all right yeah one moment please hold and then the first assistant came back and I was like okay so it's so and so on the phone he wants to talk to so and so and like I think he said this and the first assistant literally could not have been more Emily in Devil wears Prada was like no worries I got it and like casually picked up the phone and was like hey how are you and I'm like about to like pee my pants. Oh totally I remember that as well. Answering the phones for some reason was the most terrifying thing in the entire world. As time went on I got better at it and when the first assistant would be sick or off for a day, I managed and I figured it out and I would listen in all the calls too. I wouldn't be the one connecting them or answering it but I would listen because I wanted to learn. I wanted to learn more about what was going on. I did a lot of house seat requests so basically whenever a client or a manager or someone important cousin wanted to see a Broadway show I would handle getting them tickets in a prime location and working with the company manager and the house seat team to facilitate those requests. So then how did you go about A) switching desks and what was the difference between the two jobs? There was a girl working on the double desk and she got another job and she was leaving and I went to my boss and I said hey I really enjoy working for you. This I really want to stay in this department how do you feel about me chatting with the team about taking this other desk that just opened and he my boss was really great about it. He said yes he really wanted to see me grow in the department and succeed and I personally being the first assistant was a lot of work and it's a very high volume desk because he was the department head and that was something I didn't necessarily see for myself so I was nervous that's what he wanted me to do by being the second assistant ultimately you move into the first but he was super supportive he had me go I talked to the agents I'd be working for we did a little interview but they already knew me and I was good at the job I was passionate and I wound up switching desks and it was great it was a lot of, for the talent desk, it was a lot of submitting clients for auditions and callbacks and readings it was a lot of reading incoming material because we would get a lot of scripts with audition appointments or offers and we would be I would read them before my boss because sometimes I'd say oh this is great and something they should do or I'd say you know what like this material doesn't really feel like a good fit for them and he would usually read it as well but he liked having me as a sounding board to chat about or if they were doing a concert performance of a show he did who do you think would be good for this on our roster and that's nice that he like came to you for opinions and that he valued your opinion. Totally. And then on the lit desk it was a similar thing of reading a lot of work of the writer clients and see if we have any director clients might be a good match, it was doing a lot of regional licensing  to make sure that let's say a college wants to do a client's play we would draft up an agreement so that way they paid for it and it was all kosher and they had the terms it was a lot of like money tracking on both desks making sure that clients got paid for what they did and that the agency got their commission it was a lot of answering phones rolling calls calling casting directors, company managers producers you name it so you happy that you went to agency root I am I really learned how to be an assistant in a nutshell and I learned a lot about the industry both TV and film and theater because when you're on the client teams you see their TV and film stuff come across your desk too so it really was an excellent crash course and it also, being able to work in talent and lit, I got to kind of see both sides of it and coming out of it I realized that I really veered more towards talent I really  enjoyed the lit side of it but I found that I'm I like to think that I'm really good with talent and good at working with them managing their expectations not over promising or anything  but also delivering what needs to be delivered and that is kind of what prompted me  to go into talent representation when the time came for me to figure out my next move. Well right so how did you end up at Lede so this little thing called the COVID 19 pandemic happened. What I don't know it. UTA furloughed of bunch of employees and I was one of them and at first I I really wanted to go back I was like hitting up the people often being okay I'm here ready to go back. Because you wanted to be an agent or just because you liked it? I just felt my work there wasn't done. I wasn't sure if I wanted to be an agent but I felt that I had more to learn got it and then nothing was happening on that front so I'm like you know what it's time to pursue other avenues and it was probably the worst time in history to be looking for a job yeah but I saw  that the Lede company was hiring. I was like what do I like and I was Googling like entertainment positions. I had a year of assistant experience. So I'm like okay I have my agency year like what can I do with that. I was like you know what I do like PR still. Broadways notably not happening so I'm not gonna go down that avenue again but like TV and film is still happening from what I understand Were you sad about that? Were you like worried that you wouldn't make it back into theater or were you just like this is what I need to do right now and I'm just gonna take a little bit of a turn and then come back? Definitely the latter and also being in New York I was seeing so much theater and I was like you know what even if I'm not working in theater I can still finish work and go to a show yeah I can still be in the world without having it be my nine to five yeah nine to nine yeah yeah. So I ended up seeing a job posted at The Lede Company and I knew that everyone and their mom was applying so I went and LinkedIn stalked all of the employees and I saw that one of the employees and I had a shared connection our good friend Mason. Mason was connected to someone who worked there so  I literally was like Mason this might be weird but I see you know this girl who works here I don't see if there's a job opening I want to work there do you guys have the kind of relationship where you'd be comfortable connecting us. Yeah. And god bless Mason he reached out to the girl and she was happy to hop on the phone with me. We had a little a little phone call which ended up being like an hour long just talking about what it's like to work at Lede and the experience I had and the girl was just an assistant she wasn't HR anything but she was like look this job isn't easy  it's not easy to be an assistant to a senior publicist but based on your experience it sounds like you've got the stuff so I'm gonna like flag your resume to HR because I feel like you would be a good fit here. yeah absolutely and I got a call the next day from HR and I interviewed with who would be my boss the following Monday and I got the call that I got the job that afternoon and I started the next day. I was unemployed for so long I was like oh I need to like some time I need to do laundry. I need to like go grocery shopping like I'm not ready so I was like I got the offer on Monday and I was like oh is there any chance I could do like like next Monday? You know kind of start a clean week? and they were like okay so the person you're replacing is actually the her last day is next Monday so like you would need you start as soon as possible so you could learn from the current assistant. yeah But it also goes to show how important LinkedIn stalking is, I feel like your story has that.. that's all literally all I've done is. yeah. But that's like a top tip to listeners is to really take advantage of LinkedIn and see who your connections are. Yeah I always tell people when they have informationals  with me I always say look if there's someone I'm connected with that their path is appealing to you or you want to ask them for advice if it's someone that I have a good relationship with usually I do but if I'm close enough with them where I feel comfortable asking yeah I'm always happy to make the connection. So then was Lede and your assistant position as intense as it had been described to you yes and no it was less intense than UTA because part of it I think was the COVID of it all we were working from home right there were no office phones it wasn't like if I step away from my desk my boss's phone is gonna go to voicemail and she's gonna miss an important call we were all working on our cell phones yeah so that aspect was like removed from it. But at the same time I was sitting in my tiny apartment trying to figure out how to do this job yeah and it was very different like the work itself is just different at UTA, your money tracking, your red lighting contracts, your sending audition submissions. At Lede you're like setting up talk show appearances, and photo shoots and travel schedules and things that. I just like could figure out but there's a specific way you do things when you're working with a certain caliber of talent right so there's just a lot of little nuances I had to pick up on but my assistant experience from UTA definitely set me up for success because like there were basic things like adequate when you're speaking with managers or talent yeah like how to kind of write a professional email but I just kind of had ingrained in me yeah and it was crazy because then after I'd been there for a while and was a more senior assistant I would train new assistants and I was like oh wow like without having that baseline UTA or any agency assistant training like it really is starting from scratch like I remember when we were in our like classes at UTA-U I was like this is so silly but it really did teach me everything and yeah this episode has been sponsored by UTA university. no but that's really that's really good to know. So let's also tell our listeners what is PR?  you mentioned talk shows and things like what are you actually trying to achieve for your clients? so I like to describe PR as offense and defense okay that's how that's kind of like my PR for dummies way explaining it. So on the offensive front your client has a movie coming out you are gonna want to secure them some magazine covers, you're gonna want to book some talk show appearances, some fast-breaking media like digital pieces with a New York mag or an Elle.com or Hot Ones you know but it's all a campaign so long lead print magazines which are sadly dying they book up months and months in advance. yeah. Talk shows book up months in advance. but then there's some faster breaking stuff like Buzzfeed can turn around a video pretty quickly yeah so you really want to craft the campaign and in terms of talk shows like okay there's a bunch of rules about who follows who yeah so I'm like okay well they did Colbert last time let's do Fallon this time or we did GMA for their last project so let's do the Today Show now. So how do you come up with that and how early does a client come to you if it's months and months in advance that you're booking on a on a late night show whatever how early did they come to you in terms of like oh well I'm promoting this project? Usually we have a pretty good idea of what our clients are doing just because like if we're working with them we oh they're in production on this time for this project so we'll stay in touch with the studio for release dates and things change a lot and sometimes we have a cover come out at a completely wrong time because it was shot and went to print before a date changed but I mean sometimes clients come to us and they say hey I have a show coming out next month and I need PR like and we have a meeting and try to sign them but we make it clear like so we have miss the window for print opportunities but there's some cool digital stuff we can do and then you work with the studio and the studio secures like cast features and cast pieces the studio sets up press junkets which are basically like days and days of like interviews where you sit in a room in the press filter in and out either in person or virtually yeah. There's premieres, yeah, There's events. So you working as the Talent PR, are you working with like the studio PR? We are yes and the studio has the money yeah so every time a client's on camera hair make up, styling, car, flights, everything. But one thing that separates what PR does from like agents and managers is PR does earned media. Anything unpaid. So if a client is paid for an ad campaign that's not something we do if there's a PR aspect of the campaign where they have a dealwith Gucci and they do a bunch of campaign shoots and they also need to complete two interviews we help for the interviews. Agents and Managers who get commission on deal on the deal do the paid stuff and then the other side of PR is the defense where sometimes someone says something unperforable and they get themselves what the kids are calling cancelled and you've got to combatthat or sometimes a pull quote from an interview that was meant with all the best intentions it's taking out a context yeah and twisted by the daily mail and we're having to correct the narrative and where a client gets photographed in somewhere they shouldn't be you name it. So that's why high powered talent really keep PR people on on the books. So we have a, most PR companies operate on a monthly retainer fee got a clients pick if they want to pay or not pay every month but when you're at a certain level you just keep your PR on more up and coming talent they know they have a big thing coming out so they're gonna splurge for four months and then stop yeah got it. So getting back to you, you have obviously you are obviously still with Lede, how did you position yourself as an assistant to be promoted and was the next step immediately junior publicist? yes so Lede is still a newer company we just hit five years so there's not really a big you work this long and then you get promoted this step. It's kind of still fluid and very much based on need and like each individual person. So I really just was I was covering a lot as an assistant, I was pitching, I was doing things that junior publicist do and I really just was really open and honest with my boss and I was like look I was an assistant for a year before this I really like working with you and here at lead but I don't know how much assistant I have left in me yeah and I want to take that next step and learn and grow and show you what I can do yeah and it wasn't an overnight thing I probably was saying things along those lines for like six months yeah I got promoted after two years at lead so three years of assistant and so after like two and a half years I was like okay I want to answer the phone and have it be for me yeah not for my boss, love my boss yeah, I was really vocal about just advocating for myself and stepping up on clients that were more up and coming and showing what I can do and taking initiative and just showing that I was ready for the next step and wanted the next step and then I was promoted a little over a year ago and have really been focused on growing my business and signing a lot of new up and coming talent expanding my roster specifically into Broadway and that space. You've been really amazing at that. How did you, was it a challenge to convince people above you to go into the theater space which is like not really I mean is it a traditional space? I mean a lot of publicists, at least at Lede, have one or two clients who have done theater. We don't want to be a theater person. But my boss right after I got promoted brought me onto a client who had a show in Broadway and was doing a Tony campaign and I really stepped up and worked with the rest of the team but really showed like I am passionate about this and this is my thing  and I think honestly I just need a really good impression on my boss and other people in the company and then another publicist got a call about a Broadway person and she asked if I wanted to join the team our work on that client did really was really well regarded by the clients agent who sent another client our way. wow. So it's just kind of been slowly building. I reached out to an agent and manager with a client going to Broadway this spring just today and they asked if I could meet with him tomorrow. wow. So really just hustling and trying to get my name out there whenever I'm at and about my client I'm introducing myself to everyone and just trying to like be more in the theater space but I'm also so working with my film and TV talent and I really enjoy doing both. What's like a day, so you're going with your client to an event, what do you actively do with them? So before an event,  I will, me and the other team members will make a schedule for the client that has hair and makeup, timing styling, car details, arrival, details, what outlets are on the red carpet, what photographers are going to be there, who the onsite contact is, is the event a seated dinner, is it more of a mingling cocktail, is there a screening or seats assigned, is there an after party, are there press in the room, is  there a roaming photographer, ironing out all those details for every single thing and if I'm going with the client I'll go ahead of them and check out the scene make sure I know where I'm going make sure I direct them to the right way when they arrive if there's a red carpet I'll suss it out before see who's on the carpet note kind of chat with the journalist if I'm there before the carpet opens which I usually try to be and say hey I'm going to have so and so coming would you want to chat with them because you never want to bring your client over to a journalist and have them say no thank you and just kind of scope out the scene stand with them for the press and make sure they're standing in the right place for photos make sure the hair is not in the face no no nips are slipping and see through it and normally if it is like a dinner I'll be there for the carpet and then I'll leave space is limited then a bunch of publicists mowing around yeah yeah but yeah that's kind of that's what you do it's what I do and if it's a photo shoot I'll go early and I'll meet the team yeah and I'll take a look at the looks and if there's any looks that are not great I'll be like hey I don't know if so and so it's going to be super comfortable in this one maybe we could prioritize this other look instead and when at them when the client comes when we try on the looks I'll kind of look I know my clients pretty well and if they're not in love with something all be the bad guy and overlay that yeah yeah I'll make sure we're keeping on time I'll make sure the photographer isn't having them pose in an unflattering way or in a way that I that they don't seem comfortable and really just and make sure that like there's no BTS video while they're changing or while they're not in glam yet make check in with them make sure they have food water yeah really just like be the liaison between the client and the press, the photographer, the teams. So we're almost ready to wrap up, oh man oh no this has been so fun this feels like therapy. I know honestly for me too! but it's also it's just absolutely fascinating because this is part of the industry that I think despite us being friends and like me hearing about your your life I feel like I know so little about. But I can't let you go without getting some advice so I think the first thing I want to ask is what advice would you have for someone who just wants to go into straight theater? My advice would be see as much theater as you can, inform opinions and be ready to talk about them yeah be able to say I saw X and I really like this but didn't love this, I caught blah blah blah last week and I thought this was super smart and I thought this casting was excellent and I thought the design was blah blah blah and just have kind of theater talking points like I always say that you can teach someone a job yeah you can teach someone how to be how to write a press release you can teach someone how to send an email you can't teach someone to be interested in something yeah show your passion show your interest and just like a read plays, like listen to soundtracks, if it's theater you want like make sure you know a lot about theater because the one thing theater kids are crazy and I'm one of them and they will like go to bat to show they're the most theater kid of all the theater kids so do you have homework. yeah that makes sense. And then what would do your advice be for someone who wants to go into PR? Kind of similar make sure that your finger is on the pulse make sure you are staying up to date with the current awards contenders from movies and TV to even like theater and music but make sure that you are reading the trades; Variety, Deadline, Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, Indie Wire, check out Vanity Fair and Vogue, who's been on the recent covers, be able to speak smartly about the industry you want to go into and be able to show that you like follow different kinds of media's from podcasts to the latest TV and movies, music, have you read, anything great lately yeah just make sure that you're aware your fingers on the pulse because that's one of the biggest things like you need to be up on the trends you need to be knowing I love Cleo. This sound you're hearing everyone is my cat in my recycling. Okay and now finally as per the title of this podcast What is Next? I wish I knew immediately I think we're probably gonna open a bottle of wine here yeah um honestly for now I'm really excited for the rest of this Tony season because I have a few contenders in the race I'm excited to do do campaigning again and really just keep vibing I mean the economy is not great right now not that I'm looking to leave my job but it's not the best time making a switch yeah I think I'm doing good work at lead I like working at lead and for now just going with this vibe in yeah I love that I I don't know if necessarily being a publicist is my end all be all but for now I'm learning a lot I like what I do so I'm gonna keep doing it and y'all your bloody good at it, awww Lacey. 100% well thank you so much back for coming on this. It's really incredible thank you for having me should we do I want to do like a sign off what do you want to sign off to me I'm looking at the cat to see if it sees any ideas but she's playing with a feather I guess Ciao until next time, Ciao until next time! I mean we're definitely gonna have you back so oh my god if I'm not the first return guest I'm not representing the podcast. I will put it in your contract right now - you are the first return guest. I'm gonna have to have my agent red line that oh for sure 100% well thank you so much and Ciao until next time! Thanks Lacey.