‘Opening Weekend’ Master Class opens film marketing doors to curious students

Photo by Emeraude Westlake

It’s not often you see one of your own professors presenting on the Folino stage. That was the experience, though, for junior public relations, advertising and entertainment marketing major Madi Hartzell, who watched her professor discuss his career, new book and an industry she sees herself embarking into.

“I was taking notes because it felt like a class to me, but it really was more than a class. It was an opportunity to see my professor in his element.”

Jim Fredrick, a public relations, advertising and entertainment marketing professor at the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, recently published his book “Opening Weekend: An Insider’s Look at Marketing Hollywood’s Hits and Flops” and hosted a Master Class and book signing event on March 13. In his Master Class, Fredrick discussed topics his new publication tackles. “Opening Weekend” covers marketing strategies and personal case studies Fredrick encountered in his 40-year film marketing career.

Fredrick first entered the film marketing industry as a trailer editor, and has worked as a studio executive at Warner Bros. and Sony Screen Gems. He marketed a range of different movies, from “Happy Feet” to the “Harry Potter” movie series. For each unique case, he designed a fitting campaign to compel an audience to see it in theaters. 

“(My job) was no more complicated than: How can I convince you to leave home, to get in your car or to get taken there by your parents,
and go to a movie theater, and have this communal experience with groups of people and pay money for a ticket and money for popcorn?” Fredrick said. “It's asking a lot, and it was a hard job, but it was a really fun job.”

Certain movies are harder to market than others, and Fredrick distinguishes between a movie’s playability and marketability. Some movies that are adored when they’re seen in theaters have themes that make them hard to market in a trailer. 

Fredrick gave “The Shawshank Redemption” as one such example; getting audiences into movie theaters for opening weekend is an especially difficult challenge with that kind of film. He shared that the movie didn’t open satisfactorily because of its tricky marketability — even though the film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and is the top rated movie on IMDb. 

However, there are other cases where a film marketer is assigned to a film with great marketing potential. For Fredrick, this situation occurred when he was assigned to market the movie adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” the first novel in a seven-book franchise.

“Sometimes you get lucky and you get assigned a movie that’s based on arguably the most popular set of books in the history of publications,” Fredrick said. 

Despite the “Harry Potter” franchise’s fame, Fredrick needed to be careful with the marketing of the first movie.

“In a franchise — which is what Hollywood runs on these days — if that first (movie) isn’t a hit, there is no second one,” he said.

In his Master Class, Fredrick emphasized that no two movies are the same. He described each movie as having a unique thumbprint, and each one requires a different approach to their marketing campaign.

Seeing her professor present his film marketing experience gave Hartzell a memorable perspective on his expertise. 

“It just inspired me to know that film marketing can be out of the box, and not just a one linear path,” Hartzell told The Panther. 

Fredrick addresses how film marketing isn’t a one-size-fits-all business in “Opening Weekend,” with the book primarily focusing on marketing case studies of individual films. In the piece, he also shares career advice and discusses the entertainment business. 

“You've gotta figure out a way to appeal and persuade, and that was a job that I had for a long time,” Fredrick said. “That's what the book is about, among many other things.” 

“Opening Night” is a required text for Fredrick’s entertainment marketing campaigns class, but Hartzell would’ve purchased it regardless.

“As somebody who wants to be a film marketer, (‘Opening Night’) shows his experience through his personal lens, but also the experience that you would get anywhere, rather than just his experience,” she told The Panther. “So I probably would have bought it anyway. It's a required text, but it's a fun required text.”

It isn’t typical for Chapman professors to host Master Classes — the program is renowned for its celebrity guest interviews. However, senior film production major Ron Shelef feels as though more professors should present in the Master Class format.

“I'm a cinematography major, so we don't get the opportunity to take (film marketing),” Shelef told The Panther. “I wouldn't shy away from more professors being involved (in Master Classes) because that's why they're here. I would love to see more professors coming in and teaching (Master Classes) for sure.”

Hartzell also appreciated that the Master Class allowed her to share her major with interested attendees from other fields of study. 

“Having that opportunity to share film marketing with others, rather than just somebody who's in my distinct major, was really cool,” she said.

Fredrick’s Master Class broke down the borders separating Dodge College majors, allowing students to expand their learning to new disciplines. Master Classes usually cover the pre-production and production processes of the film industry by hosting interviews with actors, directors and producers, but Shelef suggested an expansion of Master Class topics to focus on other aspects of the industry.

“I would love to see a lot more of this insight into not just post-production, but marketing and delivery,” Shelef said. “It's an untouched subject.” 

Students interested in purchasing “Opening Weekend” can do so here.