By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

STEVE ELZER LAUNCHES BOUTIQUE PR FIRM SPECIALIZING IN MEDIA RELATIONS & STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS FOR EXECUTIVES, PRODUCTION COMPANIES AND INDUSTRY RELATED BUSINESSES AND ORGANIZATIONS

Rachel Falikoff Joins Firm As Senior Vice President; Launch Clients Include *Newzcard, Court Five Productions, Stradella Road
(Los Angeles, April 24, 2014) — Corporate communications veteran Steve Elzer is launching Elzer & Associates, Inc, a new, boutique PR firm offering strategic communications counsel to help businesses build brands and support the ever-evolving media relations needs of corporations, production companies, senior level executives, filmmakers and philanthropies working within the entertainment community. He will be joined at the company by former Imageworks communications executive Rachel Falikoff, who will become a Senior Vice President of Elzer & Associates.
Elzer is well known as a highly respected and influential PR strategist and Media Relations specialist, who spent the last 20 years serving as chief spokesman for the motion picture divisions of Sony Pictures Entertainment and New Line Cinema. In these roles, he provided each studio’s senior executive management team with award-winning PR representation and advice integral to the launch of more than 300 motion pictures.  Falikoff brings 14 years of PR experience to Elzer & Associates and is highly regarded by press and members of the visual effects and animation communities.
“During my 25 year career, I have been privileged to represent some of the best executive teams in the business. Now it’s time to take all that experience and help a wider range of clients working in our industry. Rachel and I worked together at both New Line and Sony and we are committed to providing proactive and protective PR guidance for creative talent, businesses and organizations looking to better navigate the challenges of today’s media landscape.”
Elzer & Associates launch clients include:
*NEWZCARD
*Newzcard is an innovative new start-up company that will redefine the way consumers use social media to share and comment on professional news photographs taken at entertainment, sports and news events of every size and scope.
Created by WireImage founding partners Steve Granitz and Justin Kahn, *Newzcard will formally launch this summer with a strong push to the entertainment community.
Elzer will serve as Chief Communications Officer and business development advisor to the company.  Follow the company at www.newzcard.com.
COURT FIVE
Jane Fleming and Mark Ordesky, who championed and oversaw production on the multi-billion dollar box office phenomenon, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, have hired Elzer & Associates to assist Court Five as the company heads towards the July 31st  primetime launch of ABC’s new fantasy-based reality series “The Quest.” Last month Court Five sold their Eduardo Sanchez directed horror thriller “Exists” to Lionsgate Films. The company most recently produced the thrillers Frozen Ground, starring Nicolas Cage and Lovely Molly, also directed by Eduardo Sanchez. For more information on Court Five, please visit www.courtfive.com
STRADELLA ROAD
Founded by veteran marketing executive Gordon Paddison, Stradella Road is a digital services and social media agency with deep roots in Hollywood and Silicon Valley. The company develops global marketing campaigns for studios and networks and was most recently recognized by Fast Company as one of the Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Hollywood. In 2013, Stradella Road embarked on a growth strategy to expand the range of digital services offered to entertainment and consulting clients. The company has has a seasoned team of developers, artists, analysts and online marketing specialists who have managed social campaigns for Fast and the Furious 6, Mud, Dallas Buyers Club, All is Lost, Much Ado About Nothing, Django Unchained, Les Misérables, and upcoming projects Fifty Shades of Grey, Edge of Tomorrow, Tammy, Lucy and The Giver. Stradella Road also represents Academy Award-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson for digital brand strategy and provides consulting and social media support for clients, including Twitter, RealD, Universal Pictures, Focus Features, LionsGate, The Weinstein Company, Warner Bros., Anchor Bay Entertainment and ABC-Disney Television.
ABOUT STEVE ELZER
Most recently, Elzer served as the motion picture group spokesman and chief liaison between Sony Pictures senior management and journalists representing major national media, entertainment industry websites, and trade press. He was responsible for representing all senior motion picture group executives, including studio chief Amy Pascal.
While at Sony and Columbia Pictures, Elzer worked on all four blockbuster Spider-Man films, the James Bond adventures Skyfall, Casino Royale, and Quantum of Solace, as well as diverse and acclaimed films such as Zero Dark Thirty, The Social Network, District 9, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, 2012, The DaVinci Code, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Hitch, Superbad,  Pineapple Express, Men in Black 2 and 3, Bad Boys II, Something’s Gotta Give, The Smurfs, Moneyball, Black Hawk Down, 21 Jumpstreet,  Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs and Michael Jackson’s This Is It,  among others.
Prior to joining the Sony-owned subsidiary, Elzer was the primary press spokesman for New Line Cinema, where he served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications. During his nearly eight year tenure at New Line, he was a key member of the senior publicity team that launched such hits as The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Rush Hour 1 and 2, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Se7en, The Mask, Dumb and Dumber, Boogie Nights, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, and Wag the Dog, among many others.
Elzer began his public relations career in network television at the Fox Broadcasting Company in 1989.  He served as the network’s in-house publicist for numerous specials including The Emmy Awards, The Billboard Awards and more than a dozen motion pictures for television.
He is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and teaches entertainment public relations as an adjunct instructor at the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Southern California (USC).
ABOUT RACHEL FALIKOFF
Rachel Falikoff is a Los Angeles- based public relations professional specializing in media relations, corporate communications, media training and event planning.  With more then fourteen years experience in film and entertainment, she has worked on campaigns for blockbusters such as Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs (1+2), TangledAlice in Wonderland,TED, the Spider-Man trilogy, Monster HouseLord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, among many others.
As a consultant, Falikoff has worked for companies such as Sony Pictures Imageworks;  Disney Animation Studios; The Creative-Cartel, a visual effects and animation production company and ToyTalk, the first of its kind, two way interactive app created by former Pixar leads.  She has also worked on campaigns for clients outside of the entertainment industry such as Mommy Brings Home The Bacon, a self-published children’s book; Cool-Cups, an all natural gelatin free jello;  Sock Panda, an online sock subscription company and Animation Mentors, an online school for artists.  Falikoff will continue to represent visual effects leader Jenny Fulle.
Prior to consulting, she served as Manger of Publicity for Sony Pictures Imageworks, interfacing with journalist covering technology, visual effects and animation.  She has worked at Columbia Pictures, New Line Cinema and Paramount Classics.   Falikoff began her career working for SRO Communications in Phoenix, Arizona where she worked on campaigns for the Phoenix Suns and the Arizona Diamondbacks.
She graduated from Arizona State University with a BA in Communications and a Business Minor.
ELZER & ASSOCIATES is now on Facebook and you can follow us on twitter @elzerassociates. For further information about the firm and its services, please visit our website atwww.elzerassociates.com

 

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

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I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

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