Authority Magazine: Publicist Rockstars: Rick Krusky of MWPR

Publicist Rockstars: Rick Krusky of MWPR On The Five Things You Need To Have A Highly Successful Career in The PR Industry

[as originally published on medium.com]

The glitz will wear off. So many actors have said it, but that’s because it’s true. At the end of the day, Hollywood is not really “real” in terms of the glamour. Publicity is a job. It’s a lot of hard work even if some of that work is done under the limelight.

As a part of my series about the things you need to know to excel in the modern PR industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Rick Krusky.

Rick Krusky is the president and co-founder of MWPR, a full-service public relations firm based in Los Angeles. Rick’s business background and 20-plus years of experience in the entertainment industry led him to the helm of the firm and to this day makes him a highly trusted adviser for his clientele. His prowess for maneuvering clients through the intricate subtleties of public relations has brought about a wealth of media placement over the years in such top-tier outlets as Allure, Billboard, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Forbes, GQ, NPR, People, Refinery29, The Hollywood Reporter, Us Weekly, and more. He’s navigated clients through press days at Comic-Con and escorted them down red carpets for countless A-list movie premieres as well as such renowned award shows as the GRAMMYs and Primetime EMMYs. And he’s worked closely with such film and TV studios as Sony Pictures, Netflix, Bravo, and more.

Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

My wife had been working in publicity on the Paramount lot for years. She was thinking about starting her own PR firm. I encouraged her to do so, and we decided to found it together — and from there it just continued to grow. This year we’re celebrating fifteen years in business.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began at your company?

Well, there have been many over the years. But one that immediately comes to mind is getting a call from our client, comedian Red Grant, a few years ago. He asked if his friend Katt Williams could hire me to escort him to the Emmys. The interesting thing about it was — besides spending the entire night with Katt at the Emmys and then at the Netflix afterparty, which in itself involved many interesting stories (he won for “Atlanta,” by the way) — was that I got the call at 3:30pm on the day of. Like, carpet starts at 5:00pm, an hour and a half from the time I got the call. So, I literally just threw on a suit and walked out the door. And that became my Monday evening — and Tuesday morning too.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Well, it wasn’t when we were first starting, it was more recent than that, but we pitched our client Lindsay McCormick to the premiere of “Suffragette” starring Meryl Streep. But the event didn’t have the signs of “huge Hollywood premiere.” Rather, it looked on the surface like it was going to be more of a low-key industry event. A nice one, mind you — director, some of the cast, etc. — but just more low-key. For example, it was held at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater versus, say, Grauman’s Chinese Theater. So that and some other factors led me to “assume” Meryl would not attend — that maybe she was out of town or had a scheduling conflict or something like that, which is what I conveyed to Lindsay. But low and behold, Meryl showed. I had arrived before Lindsay, as I do, and could see it was more “substantial” than I’d originally anticipated. Lindsay texted me when she was on her way and asked me how it looked. I responded with, “NOT low-key.” We laugh about it to this day. So, even though I’d learned years ago to never assume anything, especially when it comes to Hollywood red-carpet events, that lesson was further solidified that night.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

We represent Martin Kove and his son Jesse Kove. With all the love “Cobra Kai” has been receiving recently, working with those two has been exciting. They’re both super cool guys — and the show is killing it.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)

Publicity does not keep hours. Be prepared to be on-call all the time.

Time zones can be a bitch. Sometime I’m in one time zone (let’s say Pacific) when the client is in another (let’s say Central) and the appearance that I’m booking is in another one (East Coast) while the booker for that appearance in another (let’s say Greenwich, oversees) — and the client’s schedule is changing since they’re traveling. That can be tough on the brain when you’re coordinating things. And if you multiply that by a number of clients and a number of media opportunities being coordinated at any given time, it can really start to get a little crazy.

The glitz will wear off. So many actors have said it, but that’s because it’s true. At the end of the day, Hollywood is not really “real” in terms of the glamour. Publicity is a job. It’s a lot of hard work even if some of that work is done under the limelight.

Hire good people or don’t hire anyone at all. If you bring on someone who does not bring solutions to the table, or ambition and common sense, they will not help you. Rather, they will tend to be more of a parasite by taxing or draining your energy from you. You’re better off without them.

Admin, admin, admin. Though there are events and things like that, the majority of my job is in front of a computer. A ton of admin — literally never ending. So, there’s that [laughs].

You are known as a master networker. Can you share some tips on great networking?

Be friendly. Be authentic and real.

Lead generation is one of the most important aspects of any business. Can you share some of the strategies you use to generate good, qualified leads?

Be friendly. Be authentic and real [laughs]. Also, work hard, care about your clients, and go over and above for them. A good portion of our clients have always been referrals, which I truly believe is because of the aforementioned factors. Also, ensure your contact information is available for potential clients. Although this may seem obvious, I’ve seen it become increasingly not the case over the years. Make your phone number findable — and then pick it up when it rings.

Is there a particular book that you read, or podcast you listened to that really helped you in your career? Can you explain?

Not exactly. But if my dad had written one, it would be his book. He instilled a hard work ethic and high level of responsibility in me at a very early age. And he was very successful in his own businesses, so I had years of tutoring from him.

Because of the role you play, you are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I’d like to inspire kindness and compassion on a large scale. Real, genuine, widespread kindness and compassion.

This was really meaningful! Thank you so much for your time.