Wacky ideas and the money to make 'em happen

I have a dual role here; first and foremost I am responsible for marketing, publicity and promotion of all the films we distribute. Then approximately one week per month I work with our international team abroad on major press activities. This time of year I'm in Cannes; at the end of June I'll be in charge of Cuba Gooding Jr's media schedule in Paris. We'll fly hundreds of journalists in from around the world to do interviews.

My job is to help organise and run those sort of events - sorting out schedules for the likes of Harrison Ford and Sean Connery. While I'm in Ireland, I wouldn't really have a typical day. It could be anything from being in the office at meetings, setting up promos on something like Hercules with McDonald's, through to coming up with funky ideas on launching a film like Jackie Brown.

My job is to create awareness of a film for the audience it's aimed at. Ten Things I Hate About You is a new teen film coming out soon; it's the kind of film we'll promote through the Forbidden Planet and cool teen shows on telly and radio.

I have to come up with the right way to bridge the fact of the movie's existence with its audience - to create that "want to see" factor.

We created an education pack in conjunction with the Film Institute when we produced a media studies pack on A Bug's Life. We felt it was better to spend our money in a substantive way, to create something which gave the target audience a way of engaging with the film.

It's not just about selling tickets, it was an innovative way to launch a movie and it gave kids the opportunity to learn about something around them - and through a film which they could go and see without any hassle.

We vary what we do all the time, because each film is different. The variety is one of the best things about the job. Sometimes it's just straightforward advertising; other times I'm dealing with promoting a world premiere.

This month I was involved in promoting the world premier of A Love Divided. It's a real challenge, doing a world premiere - you get to do the entire campaign from scratch.

The bad thing about the job is that I'm a real perfectionist. If you've a few films happening together, you would be working non-stop on the lot. Each film deserves to be treated with a 100 per cent commitment.

But we release about 30 films a year, so you're always working on a few together - though they would all be at different stages of promotion.

For me it's hard not being able to concentrate totally on one thing at a time, so I often just wish I had more time.

I never get bored, you can be very creative in a job like this. I want to be challenged by what I do, and I want the energy I put into my work to make a difference to the end result.

In an area like this, you do see the effect you've had on the end result. You also have the advantage of having a lot of money at your disposal. You get to come up with a completely mad idea, and you get to do it.

Flubber was released around St Patrick's Day, and I came up with the idea of turning the Liffey green for the day. We had the money, so I could do it. There are not many jobs around which allow you to come up with wacky plans and give you the money to carry them through.

I think it's an awful shame there's no formal training in Ireland for a job like this. I'm lucky because I've worked in a number of relevant areas. I worked for a while as a journalist, so I understand what the media's needs are. I also worked as a counsellor at the Limerick Rape Crisis Centre, and counselling is all about communication skills.

When I moved into theatre, I looked around for some sort of training. Eventually I did an MA in cultural and communication studies. But this is an area with a lot of job opportunities, and it would make life easier for people if there was a course in Ireland specifically related to the job.

In an interview with Jackie Bourke

A new book edited by Tony Tracy, education officer with the Film Institute of Ireland, looks at careers in the film industry. Careers in Film and Television in Ireland is an overview of the industry which includes chapters on the various job titles and what they mean in practical terms, plus a comprehensive list of third-level courses. There are also case studies of people such as Sean Moncrieff and Ray D'Arcy, who describe how they got to be where they are today. The book costs £4 and will be available from June.