Edmund Perou

Can you tell our members what inspired you to enter the industry?

A long lasting love for cinema.  A desire to be involved in one way or another to bring films to the big screen.

What career path did you take to get the position you currently hold, and what was your first ‘break’?

My first real ‘break’ was via MyFirstJob in film.  After a few Runner jobs in distribution and production offices by picking up the phone and asking for work I picked up a 6 month Runner job via the free listings part of the website, got myself an interview and have progressed up the ladder at eOne over the past 4 years.  The second real break was being offered a permanent role within the marketing team 10 months after I joined the company.

Can you tell us about the section of the industry you work in and the job you do? 

As a Theatrical Marketing Manager at eOne you are responsible for looking after around 5-6 theatrical film campaigns for UK and Ireland.  It’s my job to work with our media agency and ensure that we are spending our money with great care in the right environments after we have settled on who we believe are the core audience for each film.  The real pleasure comes from developing a clear identify for a film – creating a trailer and a poster.  It’s likely that more people will see the poster and trailer than the film itself so there’s a great responsibility in being at the latter part of the food chain and delivering a campaign that best suits the film and the cinema going public.

What one thing has surprised you most about working in the industry, and what have you found the most difficult to learn?

When people say ‘it’s who you know’ make sure you don’t use that as an excuse if you aren’t in a position where you know someone who can help you with your first break.  If you are lucky enough to know the right people in the right places there is no shame at all in using these contacts.  It you don’t have the contacts though, make them!  It’s a sociable and overall quite a young industry.  We all got our break somehow.  In terms of most difficult to learn, it would be the ever changing media landscape and finding the most effective ways to find and reach your audience.

What has been the most memorable moment of your career to date and how did it come about?

The most memorable film campaign I have been involved in was 12 Years A Slave, seeing the film for the first time leading up to the UK release, the BAFTA wins then the Oscar wins.  It was a huge moment for myself professionally working on an Oscar winning film after just 18 months in the film industry.  I got to work on parts of the campaign and take a lot of learnings and insight of when a film reaches a tipping point and becomes a cultural event.  These moments are enthralling to be a part of in one way or another.

What advice would you give to the school leavers, graduates, career changers who want to get into the industry?

Be persistent, be bold, be confident, be yourself but be polite and make yourself indispensable once you get that ‘in’.  Get some internships under your belt, two weeks here and there and make an impact while you are there! Develop contacts from these placements.  Soak it all up and ask questions!