The Glamorous Portrayal Of Public Relations in Hollywood

September 29, 2020 | By Carlo Lupercio

Hollywood has fluffed up the career of characters in movies and tv shows for quite some time now. With shows like How to Get Away with Murder, Drop Dead Diva, Law & Order and much more it is easy to be persuaded that a career in certain industries looks really fun. As an adult consumer an exciting, fun, and fluffed up career is enjoyable to watch but as a younger consumer who may be easily impressionable, those careers can seem like the real thing.

“Why do you want to do PR?” is the one interview question most people applying to public relations jobs get asked. However the answer is always quite different. Back in 2007, before influencers and TikTok houses we had The Hills. A seemingly real reality tv show shot in LA that followed main characters Lauren Conrad and Heidi Montag. Heidi, a young twenty something year old trying to figure out her life goes to interview for a PR firm. Her answer to the question “Why do you want to do PR” is one that many will answer and that is “I want to be the fun party PR girl in LA.”

The misconceptions most people looking to break into the industry have of what someone in PR does could be in part to the way the careers are portrayed in Hollywood.

Back in the 90s to mid 2000s PR professionals from Bridget Jones in ​Bridget Jones’s Diary​ and Ollie Trinket in ​Jersey Girl ​were portrayed as fun, glamorous, and amazing jobs. Samantha Jones, known as the poster child for everything that public relations isn’t is the glamorous, fearless, and one of the main characters of the iconic TV Show “Sex and The City”. Samantha played by Kim Catrell, is introduced to us as a Public Relations Executive. Though she is an executive in the show, most of the work she doesn’t seem to uphold an executive status or PR career in the industry. Samantha spends her working days taking phone calls, party planning (which we rarely see), becoming friends with celebrities and sometimes having affairs with clients or using a clients privilege to get a hold of a godly expensive Birkin bag.

While phone calls, party planning, and communicating are forms of tactics used in some public relations positions, the beauty and glamorous layer it’s buried under isn’t there in real life.

It wasn't until last year in 2019, that we were introduced to a show that revolves around a London based public relations firm spearheaded by a woman in POP TV’s Flack. We are introduced to Robyn, a take-no-prisoner public-relations professional who is an American working for the London based firm. While the show depicts her as an excellent crisis management strategist we soon find out her life is not all put together. In one of the scenes we see her rushing to meet a client, wearing the same clothes from the day before. Though the show is dramatized for a Hollywood feel the show does depict the unglamorous and gritty moments of public relations. We finally see a character who is not all so glamorous, does not have a handle on work/life balance and is still navigating a career in PR, even as an executive. It is no question that Hollywood spices things up for entertainment purposes but the portrayal of the PR professional has changed from the late 90s to now for the better.

If you know anything about working in entertainment PR is that it is far from glamorous, except maybe that final hour or so you get to almost enjoy the event before something comes up. As with most things in life, it is always best to put your best foot forward and use good judgement when thinking about pursuing a career in a certain industry and not doing it for the sake of it looking glamorous on TV.

Carlo Lupercio is a Senior at California State University, Northridge majoring in Journalism with an emphasis in Public Relations. His interest in storytelling and creative writing led him to pursue a degree and career within PR. He has learned various public relations strategies, tactics, and writing materials in and out of the classroom. His internship experience includes working with Valerie Allen PR, B/H Impact, and most recently Electronic Arts. Carlo aspires to pursue a career in corporate public relations upon graduating. Along with his academic and professional career he serves on the CSUN Public Relations Student Society of America Executive Board as the President for Fall 2020. During his free time he enjoys writing, soaking up the sun by the beach or playing video games.