There are awards for the people who write movies, for the people who handle makeup for movies, who sew costumes for movies, and who sit in dark rooms for countless hours snipping out scenes for movies.
So maybe it’s about time there were awards for those who make the previews of coming attractions that people have to sit through before they watch the movies.
Actually, the business of making trailers has had its own awards for some time namely, the Key Art Awards sponsored by The Hollywood Reporter. But Hollywood isn’t content to have just one awards ceremony for any aspect of the filmmaking business, no matter how obscure. So suddenly there are two other award events the Golden Hitches and Golden Trailers for what long has been the advertising industry’s most unsung niche.
“We used to just toil in obscurity, and I don’t think anybody even knew what we did. Now there’s all these awards,” said Tim Nett, president of Hollywood-based Trailer Park Inc.
Hitch for trailers
Nett’s company won the Golden Hitch award earlier this month for Funniest trailer. It produced the previews for “Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me.”
The Golden Hitch is a trophy shaped like one of those steel balls placed on a truck’s rear bumper that are used for towing a trailer. (Get it?). It is the brainchild of Hollywood.com Inc., which has been the subject of a dizzying series of investments and joint-venture deals. It started as a local company called Hollywood Online, which was later bought out by Times Mirror Co., which then sold it to Boca Raton, Fla.-based Big Entertainment Inc., which sold a 30 percent stake to CBS Corp. in exchange for $105 million in free advertising last September. Big Entertainment has now changed its name to Hollywood.com.
Hollywood.com provides online listings of movie times and theaters, in addition to gossip, news and other movie-related information (including online trailers). Because it also has a deal with the National Association of Theater Owners, a trailer advertising Hollywood.com runs before movies on about 70 percent of the screens in the United States so perhaps it’s appropriate that the company would formally recognize the trailer-producing industry.
But Hollywood.com isn’t the only organization that has recently latched onto the trailer business. In September, the Golden Trailer Awards made its debut in New York handing out awards in 19 categories, from Best Drama to Trashiest at the Directors Guild Theater.
The location for the Golden Trailer Awards was a little odd considering that nearly all the major players in the trailer trade are in Los Angeles with the notable exception of New York-based Giaronomo Productions, which swept up a satchel full of Golden Trailers and also dominated the Golden Hitches, picking up Best Overall trailer at the latter ceremony for its preview of “The Matrix.”
But the Golden Trailers have some impressive credentials. Started by a trio of commercial producers in Putnam County, N.Y., the organization has managed to attract of host of legitimate industry pros to serve as judges, including director Quentin Tarantino. What it doesn’t have is a lot of funding.
Big plans at Hollywood.com
Because the founders only charged an entry fee of $25, they ended up with a budget that was too small to pay for trophies. So they just handed out certificates at the awards ceremony.
Considerably better funded are the Golden Hitches, which have the backing of not only Hollywood.com, but sponsor Toyota. Officials at Hollywood.com have big plans for the awards show, which was held Feb. 2 at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills. Company President Laurie Silvers, one of the creators of the Sci-Fi Channel, says the next step is to try to find a cable network or other TV outlet to broadcast the awards in future years.
“One of the reasons we’re so interested in this is that we think trailers are a pretty important part of the whole motion-picture experience,” Silvers said.
But does the trailer business really need three awards shows? Nett admits the variety of new players does get a little confusing.
“When they interviewed me on camera (for a Webcast on Hollywood.com following the Golden Hitch Awards), I said, ‘I love the Golden Trailers I mean, the Golden Hitches,'” Nett said.
But Nett and others say they certainly enjoy winning awards, and the more the better.
“I’m happy for trailers to get more notice, because we have been behind-the-scenes guys for so many years,” said Creative Director Scott Bramlett with Beverly Hills-based Seiniger Advertising, which picked up a Golden Hitch for Most Romantic trailer for the film “Notting Hill.”
Assistant Managing Editor Dan Turner writes a weekly column on marketing for the Los Angeles Business Journal.
