Wesley’s Week: Press Kits Are Fascinating

by Wesley

Now that the fall TV schedule is underway, all the major (and most of the minor) networks have sent out to the media press kits, also known as press books, on each of the series, as well as their overall campaigns in many cases. Today many of them come on DVDs or CDs to reporters, or even via Web sites to download, as what has been called electronic press kits, or EPKs. No matter how you format them or refer to them, however, they are essential tools for TV historians such as myself in recording how TV industry leaders attempted – and often failed – to promote new series. In some sad cases, they are the only remaining record of what the series looked like too.

Press kits from TV shows grew out of a long-established practice by the movie industry to send out artwork and ready-made press copy to accompany the release of a new film. Typically these provided interesting facts and figures about the making of the picture, short bios of the cast and crew, and still photos of major scenes, with the latter of course being ready for papers to use as artwork on any story concerning the film. These efforts could be challenging for some of the PR people at the movie studios when there was considerable notoriety about the production in advance, and usually the effort was to avoid mentioning it at all in favor of more pleasing details. For example, I have the press book of the soggy 1962 remake of Mutiny on the Bounty, and it conveniently omits the huge cost overruns caused by the erratic behavior of star Marlon Brando on the production, as well as the accidental death of one of the actors during filming for the movie. Instead, it tells plenty about the massive effort put into shooting on location for the beautiful outdoor scenery and includes several shots as well. It is almost more fun reading it than watching the bloated movie itself, which ran around three hours.

Anyway, the TV versions of press kits generally have been less elaborate than those of the motion picture industry – for example, that Mutiny on the Bounty press book really was a bound hardcover book, while the networks have preferred to hand out folders with press releases, artwork and photos instead. At the same time, they have been somewhat harder to find, as they go out to fewer outlets than movie ones (mostly just local TV stations and newspapers) and thus are more treasured by collectors in some aspects. I remember once bidding several times into the three-figure range on eBay for an ABC fall 1966 press kit until it appeared it was going to be heading towards the $1,000 level if the trend continued, so I wisely backed out of the competition.

The appeal of the TV press kits is that since most shows go off the air quickly, they are a convenient way to remind you know details about what the series offered when it did air on the network, as well as cast photos and sometimes the show’s logo. Depending on what you know about the series and/or its personnel, memories evoked from seeing them in a press kit can range from humorous to sad to angry to indifferent. Even better than that, sometimes due to publication deadlines, the press kits includes shows that do not get on the air as the networks decide to cancel them before they appear. It is almost like having an exclusive report on something that never happened!

For examples of what does exist out there, visit eBay or Google “press kits” for a look. You will be amazed at how much promotion of TV series has been occurring in written form that you never knew existed beyond TV Guide. And you may even wonder why the clever wordsmiths who came up with the text did not write the scripts for some of the flops included in them too …

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