Let me start by saying that I’ve never been to a press junket and I probably never will. I’m not a film critic by trade, and from what I know about the job, it doesn’t sound like my cup of tea. However, I found this story about Eric Snider quite intriguing. He’s a freelance writer who recently got invited to a press junket for World Trade Center to interview Oliver Stone and Maggie Gyllenhaal. He then proceeded to put up a post on his blog about the ridiculousness of the inner workings of these things, which angered Paramount to the point where they banned him from any future press screenings. The interesting thing about the article is that he doesn’t really bad mouth the studio or the movie, he mainly just pokes fun at other veteran junket goers, and calls into question the value of press junkets in general.

“Paramount spent close to $1,100 on me, not including things like the breakfast and lunch that were produced… Multiply that $1,100 by the 20 or so junket whores at the Seattle event, then by however many stops there were on this tour, then factor in all the additional expenses — Stone’s hotel room, the interview suites, the publicist’s suite, black SUVs to take the talent to and from the airport, etc., etc. — repeating that for every city — and you start to get an idea of how expensive it is to promote a film.”

Of course, the result of these junkets are the generic interviews you see on Entertainment Tonight and other such shows, and Snider questions whether or not these fluff pieces will actually influence people to go see the movie. He has a point. Either way, he certainly pulls no punches and it makes for an amusing read. Check out the full article at the link below.