Mark My Words Blog
Welcome to ‘Mark My Words,’ the digital sanctuary where insight meets intrigue, and commentary sparks contemplation.
Delve into the dynamic world of PR maverick Mark Borkowski as he unravels the threads of media, culture, and communication. Mark’s blog is a treasure trove of industry wisdom, offering a backstage pass to the inner workings of publicity and the ever-evolving landscape of modern media.
Morgan Freeman: His darkest night
His darkest night: a divorce in Hollywood He is one of cinema’s most bankable and best-loved actors. Morgan Freeman also kept his private life away from public scrutiny – until a midnight car crash By Guy Adams Friday, 8 August 2008 There is, of course, one final thesis as to why major Hollywood stars might be succeeding in keeping their marriages out of the spotlight: a failure by the local media to do sufficient digging. “In America right now, the mainstream papers have a very high-church attitude to this kind of news,” says Mark Borkowski, author of The Fame Formula,…
John Park Borkowski profile on Fringe Report
Edinburgh // To many it’s just a flyover and a few thousand tons of tarmac, but Stratford’s one-way system owes its existence to a dead dog and a fresh-faced country meat-packer … The role of Mark Borkowski in the creation of Stratford town centre’s one-way traffic system // London, The World & Camden The role of Mark Borkowski in the creation of Stratford town centre’s one-way traffic system To many it’s just a flyover and a few thousand tons of tarmac, but Stratford’s one-way system owes its existence to a dead dog and a fresh-faced country meat-packer by John Park…
The Juggernaut Continues
The Fame Formula promotion juggernaut continues. We had a spectacular evening at the Riverside Studios where The Half Naked Truth was showing in conjunction with my book launch. It’s a film not seen in the Uk for over 60 years and is loosely based on the life of the great publicist Harry Reichenbach. The evening started with drinks and then the genius extraordinaire that is Ken Campbell introduced the film with me to a packed audience. The most surprising thing about the movie was the opening sequence – a film noir tracking shot of a man diving into a small…
New Statesman Review
The Fame Formula: How Hollywood’s Fixers, Fakers and Star Makers Created the Celebrity Industry Mark Borkowski Sidgwick & Jackson, 391pp, £16.99 I have no idea what publicists call journalists in private, but I can reveal that we hacks refer to our promotional colleagues as “PR scum”. Now that Nick Davies has exposed the gullible and corrupt nature of contemporary journalism in his scaremongering work Flat Earth News, we might need to adjust our address. http://www.newstatesman.com/film/2008/08/gerard-degroot-decade-history
Another Fame Formula review
Metro gives the book a good review “The Fame Formula spins a diverting yarn..” http://www.metro.co.uk/metrolife/books/article.html?in_article_id=250430&in_page_id=28&in_a_source=
Fame Formula week two
God must like the idea of the Fame Formula because he has blessed me with a gift – the birth of Brad and Angelina’s twins during the promotion of the book. I was recording Channel 5 News when the news broke that Hello! has rushed into print with its world exclusive pictures of Brad Pitt and Angeline Jolie’s newborn twins, Knox and Vivienne, boasting that the pictures are the “biggest exclusive of the year”. I broke off the promo tour to do noddys on CNN, ITN and Sky. The first reviews are out – Mail On Sunday, News of the…
Fame Formula the first few reviews
Two 4 star reviews for the Fame Formula this morning in the Mail On Sunday and the News of the World.
The Fame Formula juggernaut
Despite showing signs of suffering from autophobia my Fame Formula publicity bandwagon trundles on… Turning up at Sky News at the crack of dawn to review the papers was fun and so were my chats with Fred Macauley, George Lamb, Steve Wright and my wife’s favorite Tim Smith. The bad news is that the Sunday Times mag has dropped the feature on the book. God bless Emma at FT for plugging the book. Click here to read the article. Due to the volume of media my web pixie is struggling to load all the material. Hopefully by Monday all the…
Fame Formula
Tucked up in a tiny radio studio, I spent the morning doing a set of radio interviews – BBC Radio Oxford, BBC Radio Humberside, Northsound Aberdeen, BBC Radio Cumbria, BBC Radio York, BBC Radio Sheffield, BBC Radio Manchester, BBC Coventry & Warwicks, BBC Radio Kent, BBC Radio Nottingham, Radio Manx Isle of Man, Heat Radio, BBC Radio Ulster- to plug the Fame Formula. When Damien McCloud from Northsound came on line we reminisced about Paul Elliot. Evidently Paul had hired him to star in panto. Unfortunately Damien’s inability to dance, act and sing was a handicap that the great impresario…
Further forays for the Fame Formula
It’s been another busy morning. I read The Times feature (reproduced below) in the BBC reception before stepping into the studio to record Midweek. The news about the release of the book has stretched from Chengdu to Skegness. It’s still feels odd to be involved with the PR process from the other side of the proverbial fence. Tomorrow is a huge day – I’ll be spending it in hot radio studio doing a number of down the lines to radio stations around the country. The Sun have printed an article on the formula – click here to read the piece….
Lenny Beige gives me a hard time..
Not all clients are happy clients… Lenny gives me a lesson in celebrity management
The truth about film publicists
The Times has a story on the Christian Bale incidents and the influence of publicists, quoting me and The Fame Formula, as well as a number of other publicists. Here’s the excerpt featuring me – click on the link at the bottom of the page to read the full article. From The Times, July 30th 2008 The truth about film publicists Last week’s Christian Bale incident shines light on the dark arts of the movie PR by Kevin Maher It should have been the best weekend of his career. Christian Bale, the British-born Hollywood megastar, was on home turf to…
The Fame Formula spreads ever further
Another eventful day began with BBC Radio Scotland dissecting The Fame Formula. The web still aggregates links to the Fame Formula hook and I was overjoyed to see it made the front page of The Telegraph on line. It’s even gone as far as being translated into Turkish, now! Tomorrow, the new edition of Time Out hits the streets and has a fabulous write up about the movie and launch night at the Riverside Studios. Ken Campbell has agreed to take part and will interview me before the screening of The Half Naked Truth. The Farmers Weekly diary story has…
The Fame Formula goes viral
News of The Fame Formula is spreading like wildfire today – I’ve posted a selection of links below to some of the newspaper reports and blogs that have mentioned it. It all bodes well for the publication of the book this Friday, with any luck. Yahoo, The Telegraph, ITN, The Express, Channel 4, MSN, The Ellesmere Port Standard, The Daily Star, OK magazine, the Open blog, New magazine, The Coventry Telegraph, the PR Studies blog and The Register are just some of the sites reporting the Formula’s arrival. Should be an exciting week!
The Fame Formula
With a profile piece in The Independent and an extract from book in The Guardian today, the promotion for my book has really started. I have already done a number of interviews and have some more lined up, but what I notice most is that it’s very odd being on the other side of the promotion process. It’s me who is usually creating a publicity platform, so standing on this side of the fence I get a rush of emotions which confuse my natural inclinations to be a publicist rather than the centre of attention. Confessions of a stuntman. Mark Borkowski…
Max Mosely bends over the bench for the last time
So, Max Moseley has won his privacy case against the News Of The world which heralds major implications for the way newspapers go about their business. The ruling offers a huge opportunity for clever personal publicists who live in fear of the Friday “phone call”. Never before has there been a time when the flaks might enjoy a sense of holding the high ground. The down side is that there will be a slew of arrogant celebrity wranglers who think they can treat the media with disrespect and make mischief for the honest brokers.
Whatever It Takes
When Shane Richie popped in to see me three or four months ago to talk about an idea for his forthcoming drama called Whatever It Takes, I was intrigued to know more. His visit to my office was to research the modus operandi of a celebrity publicist. Although I thought the script was more Max Clifford than me, I was happy to help him develop the character of JJ Merrick, a ruthless star maker. Shane spent an afternoon in my office and even he was surprised at some of the things I told him. Let’s face it, Shane has had…
Has the age of the gods of the silver screen passed…
Up above the world so high The age of gods and princes on the silver screen has passed, as we turn instead to fleeting celebrity and digital thrills. Phil Hoad tells of how we conspired to kill the stars The internet has accelerated the process of turning actors into so much meat for the celebrity mincer, intensifying the volume of gossip to the point where the gentlemanly consensual fantasy that underpinned studio stardom – that the persona an actor showed on screen was somehow “the truth” – has been yanked inside out. The real-life gonzo narratives created by the media…
Edinburgh Festival calling..
Not as interesting as Rob Deering’s Boobs 2008, but more compelling than Karita Mattila, the star soprano, and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, I am listed as the 83rd hottest event in the Edinburgh Festival. 83: Mark Borkowski One of showbiz’s more charming public relations men explores the ancestry of his questionable trade. Long fascinated by the likes of Barnum, Ripley, and the old-time Hollywood hucksters, Borkowski has produced a book, The Fame Formula: How Hollywood’s Fixers, Fakers and Star Makers Created the Celebrity Industry. He probably shouldn’t be allowed – but he is. Forewarned is forearmed. Charlotte Square Gardens…