contributed by George McQuade

If you?re a PR Pro and believe everything you hear at winter mixers, you might want to stock up on office supplies, because it is predicted to be a banner year.

Entertainment Pros gathered recently at the Entertainment Publicists Professional Society (EPPS) winter mixer at the Courtyard, West Hollywood, CA, are predicting a banner year in 2006. The event was also sponsored by Jack O?Dwyer Publications.

?My observation is that independent publicity, being agency publicity and the like, is doing better than it has done in years,? said Henry Bollinger of Henry Bollinger Associates, who is also an EPPS board member. ?Interestingly enough, although unemployed people will argue with me, there are more employed publicists right now, than I can ever remember. And companies are continuing to hire, not only agencies, but big companies.?

Bollinger had just returned from meeting at a union that represents publicists of the Cinematographers Guild- Local 600 of The International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees (IATSE).

?We were going over the statistics, not just employment of publicists, but the industry in general. In certain sectors they are suffering, but generally the film and Television industry is doing pretty well. But percentage wise, the employment amongst publicists is considerbly higher than any other sector. The union represents publicist of major networks and studios. The union was even surprised when they looked at the stats, because we?re such a small number in the overall union, they don?t often look at us.

Bollinger noted that truth is employment is up, and agencies are busier and fees are higher than they have been in a long time. ?Business is booming and you can tell that by the agencies large and small,? said Bollinger.

?I?m totally optimistic about 2006 for publicity, because we?re coming out of a really slow year, so it is all up from here,? said Michelle Caprario, a freelance writer, of Los Angeles. ?I have a geographical change, since I?m a new kid on the block, but things are really popping and people have really welcomed me here, so I?m looking forward to doing your interview next year so I can tell you what happened.?

?I?m very optimistic about publicity in 2006 and I?m hoping it will not be as much backstabbing type press we had last year,? said Angel Price, The health Group, a nonprofit, that provides special education for children with learning disabilities such as dyslexia and autism at the largest school in the U.S.

?Business is booming, it?s going to be a success in ?06, and we?re very optimistic for 2006, because everyone with be just swimming with business,? said Shayla Rivera and Neil Cierano with The Media Shop, a production house that assists publicists with satellite tours and other technical needs.

?I?m pretty sure 2006 is going to be the best year ever,? said Regan Holmes, MGS Entertainment, Los Angeles. ?We?re busier than we?ve ever been and we?re planning on having a successful and fortunate year.?

And Dave Malacrida, VP, public and media relations, also of MGA Entertainment said, ?We just looking to create a big buzz right now for the first quarter of 2006, so by the time we get to the fourth quarter we?ll be going like gangbusters, and we?ll be ready for vacation.?

?We actually had a great year (2005), and this year we?re putting $6 million into renovations of the club so we have a lot of great things going on in PR,? Megan Homchick, of Sportsclub.com, (Sports Club LA) which is an LA sports company that offers five-star spa, dining, conference areas and service where everyone is known by name.

George McQuade is vice president of new business and new media, MAYO Communications & MAYO PR, and contributes articles to Bacon's New Navigator Newsletter and O'Dwyer Publications in NY as the
West Coast Correspondent. Entertainment and PR tips
from previous media workshops are posted at http://www.MayoPR.com