Playing in the Big Leagues, an Evening with Curt King

By Nina Melconian

December 5, 2016

For our final PRSSA meeting this last Tuesday, we had the pleasure of listening to a legend in the Entertainment Publicity world, Senior Vice President of Universal Television Publicity, Marketing and Corporate Communications Curt King.

The former Vice President of NBC Universal’s Publicity team discussed the early years of his career and the fork in the road he faced between wanting to be a reporter or go into publicity, as well as how to not only get your foot through the door, but be successful in such a competitive field when your “starting over”. King has overseen campaigns for multiple hit shows such as ER, Friends, Frasier, Seinfeld, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Scrubs and many more. He’s also known as the publicist that had the #1, #2 and #3 shows on air at the same time.

King also brought samples of a press kit from Mindy Kaling’s “The Mindy Project” and talked about the “nuts and bolts” of what they do to incorporate old-school tricks with new world multimedia. One thing he said was crucial to being good at what you do – being tenacious. “It doesn’t matter if you’re in a business doing PR or PR at a factory or a hospital or a studio or a network – you’re always going to have big egos to nurture. Being patient and tenacious is crucial in this industry.”

One thing King mentioned that I found very helpful was trying different types of jobs in the industry before going into corporate communications – for example, working at a boutique firm or going into a company that does publicity for one specific brand or product, so you can “stretch every muscle” and know how to accommodate every show, producer or client that comes your way in your future endeavors.

If you’re considering a career in Corporate Communications like I am, Curt King is definitely someone you should read up on and keep tabs on.