Shuffles in the Red Carpet Cartel: End-of-Year PR Moves
Mehta Opens "P.R. Dept."
Event specialist Chet Mehta has recently set up his own shop, "P.R. Dept.," and he hit the ground running: TV Guide's "Hotlist" party, an exhibition for awards contender "The Dark Knight Rises," and joining the team for Jessica Simpson's and Rihanna's fragrance launches (Rihanna, center, and Mehta, right).
After helping to create buzz for "The Twilight Saga" before the first film and working on "Stand Up to Cancer" during five years at ID-PR and a stint at Sunshine Sachs, Mehta moved quickly. He wrapped at Sunshine Sachs on a Friday and opened his own doors on Third Street the following Monday. In 2013, he'll be overseeing Variety's Studio at Sundance and Art of Elysium's Heaven Gala, one of young Hollywood's top lists on the night before the Golden Globes.
Mehta began his career as an assistant to the late Ronni Chasen.
Sundance Party List Creator Partially Snatched
Somebody was going to get him.
Christopher Ryan, curator of the legendary and elusive "Sundance Party List," has moved his entertainment marketing business in house to BMF Media as the New York-based company's lone person in L.A. "I'm already talking to brands about Comic-Con," Ryan tells TheWrap.
He'll retain his management business through Oceanside Entertainment, and he gets to keep the "Sundance Party List" as his own baby, so start asking your friends for the password protected PDF now. He's now in the process of closing a title sponsor for the list. The new frontier: branded information.
LAX to JFK
After seven years in L.A., Enjoli Duval (BNC, PMK*BNC, ID-PR) has switched coasts. Alison Brod PR has drawn Duval back to her native New York as an account supervisor. While in L.A., Duval led event activations for Target, Bacardi USA and Hollywood Domino during Oscars week.
Duval is the latest in a string of high-profile event publicists relocating to New York. BWR Vice President Steve Wilson (Palm Springs Film Festival, "Lincoln," Dell) switched time zones but not companies earlier this year and is now in BWR's New York office after more than a decade in L.A. "It's great to be back working in this amazing city where my career began," Wilson told TheWrap with holiday cheer.
(Right, Wilson with one of his frequent guests, Stacy Keibler.)
Alicia Mohr (previously on the Television Academy's year-round PR with Joanna Cichocki and Chris Dilorio and leading Women In Film from PMK*BNC's L.A. office) is now steering Fiji Water from Manhattan.
The Party's Over
A fixture under the stage during the Emmys telecast and in the hospitality tents surrounding the Independent Spirit Awards, LFB Media Group's Filippa Svensson is trading New York for her native Sweden next week. She is leaving the industry.
Wherever crowds gathered, Svensson popped up hospitality lounges, suites and concerts as shoulder programming around music and film festivals, such as Lollapalooza and SXSW. Alphabet soup confusion brewed as she frequently worked with her New York office-mates (BMF Media). Partner Ashley Berg is continuing on with her team with Sundance upcoming.
Recently engaged and a newly minted U.S. citizen, Svensson tells TheWrap: "It is now time for me to begin working with my true passion – health coaching." She's launching a six-month health-coaching program, Raw Clarity.
Also leaving events, Harrison & Shriftman's Jason Wanamaker is the latest in a long line of HSPR event staffers to roll up the carpet. He's moved to the HL Group. He'll be working on décor and design clients, like Kelly Wearstler and CB2.
Previously Wanamaker guided massive Grey Goose activations to the Toronto Film Festival, Sundance, and all of the academies' official governors' balls.
McGuiness and Bandler de-band FMPR for Genart
Mike McGuiness and Kari Feinstein (Feinstein/McGuiness PR) have severed ties, with McGuiness joining friend and longtime FMPR client Lara Bandler (Vitaminwater) in taking over Genart.
They join Marc Lotenberg, who formerly created 944 Magazine and is now CEO of Genart's parent company. This puts a lot of event muscle under one roof.
Genart is most visible when pushing unknown fashion designers and filmmakers to the front at "next generation"-type events, such as featuring Zac Posen, Vena Vaca, Rodarte, Jennifer Lawrence, Jason Ritter and Ari Graynor early in their careers.
Of late, McGuiness has been getting a lot of attention and acclaim as co-founder of "Sunday Movie Tweet Along," a weekly social media movie club. They've drawn big names from cult movies (Jon Heder from "Napoleon Dynamite," Chunk from "The Goonies") to a gathering of Hollywood localities in person and online for a weekly online movie screening that has seen the hashtag #SMTA, trending worldwide on Sunday nights.
Were it not for freakishly freezing temperatures on the Friday night of Coachella's first weekend, Genart's MUSE burning man village party at a ranch would have been one of the top events of the year.
(Left, Genart guests sought teepee refuge in 2012).
Reportedly, they'll take another swing in 2013.
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