The 100 Best Movies - Squish Edition

Just had to take a little peek at the ones that are special to me

The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century?! What a daunting task but, wait…I’ve been part of 7% of them. In case you haven’t seen it, the New York Times did a 100 Best Movies. Stop by and see which ones you’ve seen and want to see. Unfortunately, there are no women filmmakers on my crossover list, but I will keep working for it. Be assured, there were plenty of women repping on the marketing and publicity teams on these films. Additionally, I’m incredibly proud that I’ve worked on some films helmed by women recently - AMERICAN SWEATSHOP by Uta Briesewitz, LAS TRES SISTERS (just nominated for an Imagen award) directed by Mar Novo and written and produced by stars Marta Mendéz Cross, Valeria Maldonado, and Virginia Novello, and BOB TREVINO LIKES IT (another Imagen nominee!) directed by Tracie Laymon. I have no doubt that some of these filmmakers will be in the next 100 Best.

So, back to this magnificent list - here is a little bit of behind the scenes from my perspective:

97 on their list, 7 on mine…

GRAVITY (2013)

ALFONSO CUARÓN

Mr. Cuarón and his team were so kind. I worked on the Golden Globe team of the awards campaign (we made an amazing package for the mailer - it lit up, in all the white spaces, when you took the screener out) and I’ll never forget that they took the time to send us all thank you gifts. We had 4 nominations and one win, for Best Director. It grossed $723,753,370, worldwide.

93 on NYT and 6 on the Squish List:

MICHAEL CLAYTON (2007)

TONY GILROY

This was an incredible learning opportunity for me during my time with the International sales agency. I was reaching in my professional capacities and there were some very veteran, high stakes players on the field. I didn’t stick the landing, but I will always remember, that Mr. Clooney was kind. We had 8 nominations and a worldwide gross of $92,991,835.

89 and 5 on my list:

INTERSTELLAR (2014)

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN

This is my favorite movie on the list, and maybe, of all time - a turning point in my love of sci-fi. Also, a lesson on why we do not need to go to Mars. This was another Globe campaign. We were nominated for Best Original Score - Motion Picture (Hans Zimmer). Worldwide gross was $758,690,230.

87 on the list and 4 on mine:

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (2001)

PETER JACKSON

After my work on this one, I had a marketing & distribution PhD. It was beautiful and exhausting. By the time FELLOWSHIP released we had been together from the production and through an unprecedented launch…best of all, I made some amazing friends and grew up along the way - holding out through the release of the final film RETURN OF THE KING in 2003. FELLOWSHIP won 4 Oscar Awards, another 121 wins & 126 nominations, including Golden Globe’s Best Original Song (Enya’s “May it Be”), Score, Best Director, and Best - Drama.

79 on their list, 3 on mine:

THE TREE OF LIFE (2011)

TERRENCE MALICK

I was involved with this for a very short time. I was handling sales marketing and PR and it was at the early sales stage. I wouldn’t be long until my role went down in flames - a time in my life that changed my trajectory for the better, though it didn’t always feel that way in the moment.

24 on the list, 2nd on my list:

HER (2013)

SPIKE JONZE

This was one of the best mailers I produced because it was simple and clean but did the work to inspire chatter and raise the profile. The “OS device” inside was queued to play the trailer and SJ himself picked the cover for the printed script. A throwback to the awards campaigns that continue to evolve as the indie film industry changes, too. There was always a box office bump from awards recognition, but things have been changing and there is an opportunity to adapt. Our Globe tally was 2 nominations and 1 win for…Best Screenplay. It was the cover, of course. The film grossed $48,274,727, worldwide.

11 is the highest ranking film on my list

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015)

GEORGE MILLER

This was a favorite right from the start of the season. The Globes are just one part of the pie, just try to imagine the stable of influencers, publicists, specialists, organizers, and cheerleaders - not to mention the cottage industry that is the production, stylists, transportation, and catering (to name a few) - on a tentpole push like MAX. There are many people, in many places, at the same time. This was a bigger budget campaign and the results included 6 Oscar wins, another 239 wins, & 234 nominations. Globes included 2 nominations. They were way off.

As I reflected on this short list of Best Movies of the 21st Century, I can whole-heartedly say that it has been an immense joy to experience each film, working with every unique grouping of filmmakers and cast, while building connections with hundreds of people around the world that have been part of marketing, strategizing, campaigning, and hanging out in hotel lobbies with me.