The Amazing Spider-Man

In 2002, I started my job at an advertising agency where I was responsible for marketing movies. It was a cool gig.  I had to show the films to press so they could do their reviews.  The studios would send their stars and directors into town to participate in press tours and special events.  We even hosted the US premieres for some of the films.  I handled a bunch of A-listers including Nic Cage, John Travolta, Matt Damon, Matthew McConaughey, Mark Ruffalo, and Angelina Jolie.  I was their local publicist so I don’t have autographs or photos, but I have the memories.

My first memory is of my first week on the job.  I went to a screening and I was starting to meet all the press. It was important to know their names and their press outlets as soon as possible. I was new and I wanted to have a relationship with these people.  It would be crucial that they screened and reviewed my films and participated in any of my local press events.   Plus, the press people get around. They know the city.  They know everyone.  They were well connected and they needed to by my allies.

My main account was Sony Pictures and the press knew that the “new girl” had inherited that account.  How did I know?  Because almost every single one of them asked me about Spider-Man.  “Hi!  You’re Pam, the new publicist?  Spider-Man, right?” I was blessed with an awesome account with great films and EVERYONE was excited about the upcoming summer release of Spider-Man.  I was excited too. I grew up knowing about all the super heroes, but Spider-Man was the coolest.  It was a story I could understand.  It was about an ordinary boy who gets bitten by a radioactive spider and becomes Spider-Man.  (Well,that’s the simplest version.)

It was a JOY to work on the film.  It was exciting to put together fun promotions and special events to distribute hard-to-get tickets to the local premiere of the movie.  Everyone wanted to see it.  And it did not disappoint. It was an awesome film and it broke box office records.  It defined my career at the agency because it gave me an exciting jumping off point.  I was energized.

I also worked on Spider-Man 2.  I left the agency before Spider-Man 3 came out.  Then, everything turned around.  Tobey Maguire and the director Sam Raimi were out.  So was Kirsten Dunst.  Spider-Man was done.

But not so fast!  Sony Pictures is back with The Amazing Spider-Man.  They hired Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) as Peter Parker and Emma Stone (Easy A) as Gwen Stacy.  It won’t be the same, but it still looks exciting.  You gotta love Spider-man.

(Oh, another memory was that Spider-Man had that dash between “Spider” and “Man.”  It would drive me nuts.  I had to correct it all the time on my press releases and correspondence.  To this day I will point out to Hubbie if I see it spelled incorrectly.  Some things never leave you.)