Clients: Wildscreen

Project: press management for the 2024 festival

Wildscreen Festival is the largest global gathering of natural world storytellers: attracting hundreds of filmmakers, producers, distributors and buyers to Bristol for a packed week of panels, workshops and networking opportunities. I was contracted to manage the press strategy for the 2024 festival, from its Official Selection announcement in the summer, through to the week of the festival in October.

Pre-festival press engagement

I produced and disseminated press releases to industry trades to announce the festival’s Official Selection and Panda Awards nominees. I also managed relationships with Wildscreen Festival’s media partners – Broadcast, Televisual, and British Cinematographer – to strategise and maximise collaborative opportunities around the festival.

This included designing and writing an advertorial for publication in the print edition of Broadcast, which can also be read digitally by clicking below.

Festival press management

During the week of the festival, I transcribed sessions and produced fast-turnaround press releases to cover key announcements: including newsworthy insights from panels, the WildPitch winners, and the Panda Awards Ceremony. I also ensured press passes were issued to key publications, and managed enquiries from attendees, sponsors and journalists.

I coordinated logistics for a BBC Points West television news broadcast about the festival, which included interviews with key stakeholders and attending producers, plus a live segment at the Panda Awards Ceremony.

With a focus on key issues for trade press such as current buyers’ briefs and AI, I also worked closely with the festival’s media partners to ensure timely delivery of quotes, information, and press images. I also provided additional reporting assistance to the Televisual article below.

Tracking and monitoring coverage

I produced a detailed report for Wildscreen post-festival, which analysed overall coverage as well as pickups on specific key announcements. Overall, we secured around 50 articles before and during the festival, with pickups from leading industry trades including Variety, C21Media, Televisual and Digital Camera World; as well as BBC News and local news pieces.