by: Jay Carlson

Not only am I a nerd for film, I’m keenly interested in all aspects of how a film comes together. These days, outside of the actual film or show, the most important ingredient for a project’s success is marketing and promotion.

Growing up, I loved souvenir movie magazines, the opportunity to devour images and information from behind the scenes was like a drug to me. Unfortunately, there weren’t nearly enough of these magazines to satiate my need for film “stuff”. Then came the easiest things I could  get my hands on growing up in a small town, posters from my local video store and advertisements from movie magazines.  (I was always partial to the size of the glossy film ads in Premiere Magazine.)

From floor to ceiling my walls were covered with these pieces of movie advertising. My favorites were always alternative pieces of advertising, the lesser seen pieces that weren’t as popular as the key theatrical art. (This may explain my love of the alternative covers that Criterion produces for their releases) Even though I didn’t care very much for the film, I was partial to a large illustrated newspaper ad for Stallone’s Judge Dredd that had three vertical boxes with Stallone on top labeled “The Good”, a robot in the middle labeled “The Bad” and one of the interesting looking crazies outside the city walls labeled “The Ugly”.

If you’re like me and this kind of stuff interests you as well, you might dig the images below from the upcoming Judd Apatow created Netflix show Love starring Community alum Gillian Jacobs and comic actor Paul Rust. Please note that these are VERY rough mock-ups and are NOT final marketing pieces for the show. The first image is lifted directly from a scene in Community (That is Joel McHale on the left). These are internal pieces meant to convey tone and narrow down which direction the marketing team plans to go. They were never intended for public consumption.

A quick one liner for the show describes it as:

A comedic and down-to-earth look at dating from creator Judd Apatow (Director of Trainwreck, Knocked Up and This is 40). The Netflix original series follows Gus (Paul Rust) and Mickey’s (Gillian Jacobs) relationship, showing both the male and female perspective as they navigate the good and bad, the exhilarations and humiliations on their way to Love.

I don’t know if there is another director working today that has Apatow’s uncanny ability to balance hilarity and genuine emotion the way he does. I loved Gillian Jacobs on Community and Paul Rust has been on the verge of breaking through for a while now. I’m really hopeful that this Netflix series is going to be something special.

What do you think? Leave us a comment below!