In amongst the hoo-ha surrounding the publicity for The Fame Formula, including reviews in The Guardian, the Sunday Times and numerous other organs, plus a host of radio show appearances, I had let the Fame Formula competition nag at me a little because it is even more impossible to predict who or what may turn up to such an event than it is to know who will write a good review for a book. We’ve all seen the eclectic, to put it politely, selection of chancers and hopefuls they choose to film in the early weeks of the X Factor;…

Spinmeisters of the Universe Colin Byrne is dazzled by the cynical skills used to promote politicians and Hollywood stars alike Colin Byrne The Guardian, Saturday August 9 2008 Alpha Dogs: How Spin Became a Global Business  by James Harding The Fame Formula: How Hollywood’s Fixers, Fakers and Star Makers Created the Celebrity Industry  by Mark Borkowski In June 1997, some of us PR consultants who had volunteered to work on New Labour’s election campaign staggered out of the victory party at the South Bank centre and blinked in Tony Blair’s new dawn. We sniffed the excitement of change. We also…

A cracking review by Colin Byrne in today’s Guardian, also covering Alpha Dogs: How Spin Became a Global Business by James Harding. “The Fame Formula is a terrific, witty romp through the – often dirty – undies of the Hollywood fame factory and draws some interesting conclusions about modern-day celebrity culture.” says Byrne. To read the full article, click here. Reproduced below is an interview from the London Paper on August 6th. More will be posted as it comes in.

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 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…

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

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=

Two 4 star reviews for the Fame Formula this morning in the Mail On Sunday and the News of the World.

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….

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…

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!

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…

Spin when you’re winning It could perhaps best be called The X Factor for spin doctors. To celebrate the launch of The Fame Formula, a rollicking history of the Hollywood PR machine by spinmeister Mark Borkowski, booksellers Borders has joined forces with the book’s publisher, Pan Macmillan, to launch a competition to win 15 months worth of representation by the Borkster’s PR agency. From Monday August 4, www.borders.co.uk will be inviting hopefuls to send in their video entries showing off the talent they think deserves recognition. Borders will also be running a series of events with Borkowski, featuring video booths…

One of Maynard Nottage’s early clients was the Indian snake charmer and dancer, Arimand Banu.  With her erotic and exotic dancing partnered by a cobra, audiences naturally took offence.    Everywhere she went she exposed her breasts and let everyone see that she was not wearing any underwear.  She proved too hot, even for Nottage to handle.  Today we see the various “celebrity sex tapes” as being extraordinary but it’s really rather old hat as Arimand Banu was showing her wears and being dropped her publicist way back in 1925A German woodcarver managed to get Nottage’s attention in the early…