Monday June 2, 2003

Lights, camera...public relations?

Are UK PR professionals and clients ready for their close up? Photographers and filmmakers invited to make use of SimpleScout, a free location scouting service.

Contact: Tracey Hopkin
PR Press Network, owner/operator
mailto:tracey@prpn.com
http://www.prpn.com

Public relations professionals, filmmakers and photographers are to have a new website where they can really click, in more ways than one. And SimpleScout - you'll find it at www.simplescout.co.uk - could help PR professionals' clients get on the silver screen.

Part of the PR Press Network, SimpleScout aims to bring together two parts of a media equation - filmmakers and photographers looking for that special location, and agents and representatives
of some of the UK's most striking properties and landmarks.

"We leaked the site's address to a number of key groups a few weeks ago and had a very encouraging response," said PR Press Network owner/operator Tracey Hopkin.

Hopkin said she anticipated that four distinct groups will use the new service. On the location side, there will be for-profit location scouts ready to provide commercial services. But there
will also be PR professionals representing clients with distinctive properties which would also be suitable for location shooting. These clients would then have the opportunity to have
their PR representative put them forward for inclusion in the photo or film shoot.

And on the photographer/filmmaker side, there will be commercial professionals with a budget to spend, said Hopkin, but there will also be those without a budget looking to exchange a little help in scouting a location for inclusion in the final shoot. Canny PR professionals will be able to spot opportunities that may arise from these requests, she said.

"To be honest the reason why I can be so confident about that is that we've already received contact from representatives of all four of these groups," said Hopkin.

"The entire process will be very open to ensure everybody gets something from the service. The commercial location scouts can pick and choose which enquiries they respond to and all enquiries
will have to give an indication of whether or not there will be a budget. The PR people will likewise be able to respond only to those requests which are of interest, but some of these may be projects that do not have a budget - the final exposure may be reward enough for the effort of putting photographers or filmmakers in touch with their clients."

The site is due to go live in August, but PR professionals, filmmakers and photographers can register their interest at the website http://www.simplescout.co.uk prior to launch.

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About the PR Press Network

The PR Press Network is a provider of free services to the UK media industry. Launched in May 2003, its first websites were newsnext.com, prposts.com and prfinder.com. The PR Press Network
has more in the pipeline for the remainder of 2003 and into 2004.

While the sites and services have a clear UK focus, international users are encouraged to use the sites and the PR Press Network has plans to offer its services to a more international audience later this year.

PR Press Network
http://www.prpn.com

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