The buzz on ‘SPINdustry’: an insider’s story

From within entertainment PR, a pro’s take on the ‘reality’ of the E! reality show

I finally got to watch “SPINdustry”—and frankly, I normally don’t write “hot topic” posts, but I’m a little irritated by some of my colleagues’ collective reaction to this show. Was it justified? Maybe. I’m not really sure.

A big chunk of my internships were spent in entertainment public relations, working for two major motion-picture studios. The reason I don’t tell people? Because the reactions are similar to what I’ve been reading all week. They make assumptions when I say I would fetch water/food, take press from place to place, sit in on interviews with my boss to make sure they went smoothly, and cold-call for event promotion.

That isn’t everything, and the entertainment publicists I know work their tails off daily—and on weekends. Many on the entertainment side have an advertising degree and background. The traditional public relations aspect of this industry is crafting media alerts and press releases, putting together clip books and pitching media to get them to events constantly. (Who wants to tune in to that?)