It was the publicists turn to be in the spotlight at the 44th International Cinematographers Guild/Publicists annual awards luncheon. Droll late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel presided over the festivities at the Beverly Hilton hotel.The top awards went to the publicists from Fox for guiding Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, featuring comedian Sacha Baron Cohen’s antic in-character publicity stunts; and the Touchstone Television publicists for gilding Ugly Betty, ABC’s breakout hit of the television season.”Pushing the envelope has really been the edict,” said Breena Camden who accepted for the Fox team along with Hillary Clark. Ellen Gonzalez and Jaime Fischer Factor received what’s known as the Maxwell Weinberg Publicists Showmanship Award honors for Ugly Betty.Alan Nierob, co-chairman of Rogers & Cowan, the public relations powerhouse, got the Les Mason Award, the top kudos given out each year by the union publicists’ organization to one of its members. “If it doesn’t work we get shit on, if it does they [the studio] say they did a helluva job,” said Nierob describing the lot of professional praisers.In other awards, Zade Rosenthal got the award for Excellence in Unit Still Photography. Entertainment Tonight’s Bonnie Teagle was honored for excellence in journalism. And British journalist Mike Goodridge was the recipient of the international media honor.There were a number of flattering (what do you expect?) tributes to top Hollywood honchos: Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman and chief exec Michael Lynton and co-chair Amy Pascal got the Motion Picture Showmanship Award presented by Will Ferrell, star of Talladega Nights, one of Sony’s biggest box office hits last year. “Their recognition of marketing as a key element in the distribution of motion pictures has led to their company’s record results for 2006,” he said, noting that under the duo’s aegis, Sony Entertainment last year led all studios, notching over $3 billion in worldwide ticket sales for the first time in its history.CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler received the 2007 Television Showmanship award presented by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who has a new hit sitcom on CBS. Tassler in turn paid tribute to her boss, Les Moonves.George Lucas presented the group’s Lifetime Achievement Award to Sid Ganis, who worked on the marketing and publicity for many of the producer-director’s Star Wars films and is presently the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.And to warm applause, a dapper Bob Barker, 83, the perennial game show host, stopped by to receive the ICG President’s Award from Steven Poster, head of Local 600, before rushing off to tape yet another episode of The Price Is Right. With over 6,550 hosted game shows under his belt, Barker noted he will soon be retiring.Venue: Beverly Hilton HotelEase of Parking: Handy hotel garage, $10Open Bar?: YesQuality of Drinks: Top pours Quality of Wine: PotableFood: Usual good BevHilton catered fareAttire: Daytime dressy-casualShow Length: 2 hoursHost: Jimmy KimmelSwag: Lotsa DVDs and CDsHigh Point: Star’s gag reel for Pascal and LyntonLow Point: Nothing qualifiesBest Quote of the Day: George Lucas, handing award to his former publicist Sid Ganis: “Sid is the reason why The Empire Strikes Back is always written about as the best of the films, when it actually it was the worst one.” (Sci fi bloggers are still parsing this one.)
Written by Jack Egan
