Drones Coverage

Drones Coverage London Film Festival 2013

Compiled by tpr media consultants October 2013

Quotes "Both leads give excellent performances, with O’Leary showing potential to follow Ryan Gosling’s path from baby-faced child star to laconic, sardonic, leftfield sex symbol…The final scene should prove unsettling for liberals and conservatives alike." – The Hollywood Reporter (London) "Director Rick Rosenthal and actors Eloise Mumford and Matt O’Leary do outstanding work in bringing this highly relevant and realistic tale to life. This truly is an intense and harrowing film that will make audiences ponder the impact of advanced technology on our military’s decisions and how this will change our impact on the world at large. Witten’s script really gets into the morality and psyche of military personnel faced with these life and death decisions every day. If looking for a thought provoking and relevant movie, look no further. Drones is a must see." –True Reviews "…The characters never once become stale and the story only becomes increasingly compelling towards its conclusion. Inevitably, there can only be one outcome, but the journey that gets us there is certainly a riveting one." – Next Project.com "The film builds its argument carefull and subtly; although they're in the middle of the Nevada desert, in a trailer, they wear fight suits, as if they were real piolts; Jack is obviously playing Top Gun in his mind... Rosenthal builds his tension nicely...Matt Witten's script it taut. Director Rick Rosenthal was a cinematographer himself; his son Noah's camera on this film...does a nice jobwithin the confines of the cabin, and with the two screens: when they are dealing with Col. Wallace(the excellent Whip Hubley) there is more than a slight reminder of Dr. Strangelove. William Russ, as General Lawson, is also excellent in his small part...thought provoking and suspenseful."

MEDIA CAMPAIGN - OVERVIEW tpr media consultants launched a targeted PR campaign to promote screenings of Drones at the London Film Festival, as well build reputational PR for the film around the festival.

Different angles were explored extensively with a view to placing features – arts-based (father and son director/cameraman combination, Whitewater Films as an indie production company) as well as more issue-based pieces that would look at the ethical use of drones, tying in with recent media attention on drones in the UK (Waddington 6 trial). As well as this, we looked into possible interviews with Rick and Noah Rosenthal. tpr sent information on the screenings and the press pack out to over 550 contacts in national newspapers, broadcast, film and trade publications. We also created a bespoke press list of film critics, film trade, TV and radio, bloggers, columnists (e.g. defence specialists) which we targeted specifically. Both press and industry contacts were invited to the screenings.

Time Out previewed the film in the run-up to LFF, and there were reviews from The Hollywood Reporter, Next Projection, Empire Online and Irresistible Targets. Screen International was planning on running a review but unfortunately this didn’t materialise.

As well as this we liaised with Premier and the London Film Festival’s PR company, to tie-in with other festival themes. We arranged for Rick and Noah to attend a Filmmakers’ Afternoon Tea, organised by Premier, which was attended by numerous press, ahead of the screenings, resulting in an interview with Rick running in Female First.

The tight turnaround for the project – tpr media started working on Drones two weeks before the screenings took place – made it more challenging to place pieces. Despite a considerable amount of interest, national papers struggled to find space to run anything on the film, e.g. Vanessa Thorpe, media editor on the Observer, was very keen to run a piece but wasn’t able to find the space.

tpr also reached out to anti-drones campaigners and the drone networks in the UK, as well as establishing ties with Amnesty, who released a report on the use of drones that coincided with the screenings (22 October).

The screenings were attended by: - Namir Shabibi, a Reprieve caseworker in the Abuses in Counter terrorism team. His work focuses on Guantรกnamo, drones and secret prisons.

- Chris Woods, a journalist who started the Bureau of Investigative Journalism investigation into the use of drones, and is currently writing a book on drones.

- Genevie Gould, a Reprieve legal worker Amnesty has expressed an interest in being approached regarding possible screenings, to tie in with their campaigns, once a distribution deal has been arranged.

Rick Rosenthal and Bernard Rose also make the best of small casts in Drones and SX_tape, respectively. In the first, Matt O'Leary is joined in a bunker in the Nevada desert by general's daughter Eloise Mumford to manoeuvre unmanned drones across the plains of Afghanistan. However, when they are ordered to target an unarmed terrorist suspect, a difference of opinion arises. The second seeks to rejuvenate the found footage format by sending budding artist Caitlyn Folley and her voyeuristic boyfriend Ian Duncan into an abandoned hospital to find a suitable venue for a new exhibition. But, when they are joined by Daniel Faraldo and Diana GarcĂ­a, the intruders find themselves fighting for their lives as they realise they are not alone.

Useful Contacts

Damon Wise - Empire blogger yo_damo@hotmail.com Chris Woods - Drones activist, Independent investigative journalist freelance.woods@gmail.com Mobeen Azhar - The Secret Drone War, Director mobeen@mobeenazhar.co.uk Mustafa Qadri - Pakistan researcher, Amnesty International mustafa.qadri@amnesty.org Harriet Garland - UK Media, Amnesty International hariet.garland@amnesty.org.uk Olof Blomqvist - Press Officer Asia/Pacific, Amnesty International olof.blomqvist@amnesty.org Owen Bowcott - Legal Affairs Correspondent , Guardian owen.bowcott@guardian.co.uk Richard Norton-Taylor - Defence and Security, Guardian richard.norton-taylor@guardian.co.uk