the position
For 6 months starting in Fall 2018, I was the Marketing & Publicity Intern at independent film distributor Magnolia Pictures in New York City. I would spend 3 days a week at Magnolia (the other 2 were spent supporting the design & social media teams at Delphi), and I had a variety of responsibilities. First and foremost, I was the first point of contact for guests in Magnolia’s NYC offices, as well as direct support for the office manager. I would complete typical internship duties such as making the coffee and handling the mail while I was also completing specialized tasks for my department. I would perform tasks such as conducting marketing research, brainstorming grassroots marketing events, attending the weekly department meetings, and assist in the planning and execution of publicity events. Our department was mainly PR, and we would only handle grassroots marketing in NYC- the rest was taken on by outside marketing firms.
rbg & nycc 2018
I began working at Magnolia Pictures while we were in promotion for the video and on demand release of the Oscar nominated documentary RBG. My responsibilities for this film included being onsite publicity staff for a private screening of the film at the MoMa and reception after the film for our guests and employees. In October 2018, I attended New York Comic Con as a representative for Magnolia Pictures and Magnet Releasing- Magnolia’s horror and genre arm. On the busiest day of the Con, we cosplayed as Ruth Bader Ginsburg and provided a standee for people to take pictures with as we chatted with attendees about their favorite Magnolia & Magnet films. Since I finishing my internship, I have returned to NYCC as a representative for Magnolia & Magnet, and I look forward to continuing to represent them whenever they need me in the future.
the 92nd academy awards
One of the larger projects I took on at Magnolia Pictures was packaging and mailing screeners of every movie we submitted to be nominated for the 2019 Oscars to the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This project took a few weeks and required a significant amount of organization and administrative acumen. Of the films we submitted, the following were nominated for Academy Awards while I was at Magnolia:
Minding the Gap - Bing Liu
Best Documentary Feature
RBG - Betsy West and Julie Cohen
Best Documentary Feature
Original Song
Shoplifters - Kore-eda Hirokazu
Best Foreign Language Film
Minding the Gap, dir. Bing Liu (2018)
divide and conquer: the story of roger ailes
Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes (dir. Alexis Bloom) premiered in December 2018- a little over a year and a half after his death. This film explores the personal, political and just plain surreal story of Fox News Chairman and CEO who was often considered a kingmaker before he was forced out of his position in 2016 due to multiple accusations of sexual harassment. Because Roger Ailes and his sins are part of the bedrock of Fox News, we planned a grassroots publicity stunt for the film’s release. A former intern and I volunteered to wear sandwich boards outside of the Fox News headquarters advertising a special screening of the film happening that night. We advertised the film for a few hours despite the frigid temperatures and distinct security panic that was caused by our presence. Though I did have to field questions from the building’s security officers, I never felt as if I were in any danger because my team of supervisors at Magnolia were constantly checking in with me to see how things were going and make sure I didn’t need them to come help me out. It’s rare to trust people the way I trust those at Magnolia, and that’s why this day was not only successful but downright fun.
