Phil Hall (US writer)

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Phil Hall (born 1964) is an American writer, publicist and actor. He is best known for his work as a contributing editor for the online magazine Film Threat, where he has championed independent and underground cinema.[1]

Hall's Film Threat reviews have helped many previously unheralded filmmakers gain theatrical and home entertainment release for their motion pictures. His weekly Film Threat column "The Bootleg Files" highlights classic and off-beat movies that can only be seen via bootleg videos or unauthorized online presentations.[2]

Contents

[edit] Career and writing

Hall graduated with a B.A. from Pace University in 1986, majoring in journalism and minoring in religious studies.[3].

His film writing has also appeared in numerous publications including the New York Times, Wired Magazine, the New York Daily News, American Movie Classics Magazine, Tower Records' Pulse! Magazine, and Video Librarian. [4] Since 2002, he has been a member of the Governing Committee of the Online Film Critics Society. His work in film journalism was honored in 2005 with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the B-Movie Film Festival in Syracuse, NY.[5]

In addition to his film journalism, he has written extensively on technology, business, history and social sciences. His writing has appeared in the Hartford Courant, EDGE Boston, New Architect, and Nation's Business. His book review column for the weekly New York Resident was submitted for the Pulitzer Prize in Criticism for 2006, making it the newspaper's first-ever entry in the Pulitzer competition. Hall has written book reviews for Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Organica Quarterly, and NYCPoetry.com. In September 2006, he joined Zackin Publications and became the editor of two monthly magazines: Secondary Marketing Executive and Alternative Energy Retailer.[6].

Hall is the author of three books: The Encyclopedia of Underground Movies: Films from the Fringes of Cinema (2004) and Independent Film Distribution (2006), both published by Michael Wiese Productions [7], and The New PR (2007), published by Larstan Publishing.[8] A new book, tentatively titled The History of Independent Cinema, is scheduled for release in 2009 from BearManor Media. [9]

[edit] Other work

From 1994 through 2004, Hall ran Open City Communications, a public relations agency specializing in the promotion of small and mid-sized businesses. He was quoted on contemporary PR issues in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, and he was a guest speaker at many business conferences.[10] After Open City Communications closed, Hall went on to become the editor of PR News, a weekly trade journal; he previously authored a marketing column for the trade newspaper Credit Union News. During 2007, he wrote a weekly column called "The PR Gospel According to Phil" for the public relations industry online site Strumpette.

Outside of publishing, Hall worked for two years as a United Nations radio correspondent for Fairchild Broadcast News.

Hall is also an actor who appeared on the VH-1 reality series "BSTV" and in the films "Land of College Prophets," "Matutitnal Reverie," "Bikini Bloodbath," "Bikini Bloodbath 2," "London Betty" and "Bikini Bloodbath 3."

In October 2007, Hall became the director of the New Haven Underground Film Festival. He had previously programmed the Light+Screen Film Festival in New York.

In 2007 Leszek Drozd made the documentary short, A Writer Named Phil Hall, which features Hall talking about his career in the media, the books he authored, and his advice for young writers who want to get published.[11]

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ Film Threat
  3. ^ MySpace.com - Phil Hall Superstar - 43 - Garçon - Connecticut - www.myspace.com/philhallsuperstar
  4. ^ MySpace.com - Phil Hall Superstar - 43 - Garçon - Connecticut - www.myspace.com/philhallsuperstar
  5. ^ B-Movie Theater
  6. ^ Alternative Energy Retailer
  7. ^ Michael Wiese Productions
  8. ^ Larstan Publishing
  9. ^ [2]
  10. ^ Open City Communications
  11. ^ story tellers productions

[edit] External links

  • Phil Hall at the Internet Movie Database
  • Phil Hall online: [3]
  • Entrepreneur Magazine article on Phil Hall at Open City Communications: [4]
  • Phil Hall interview at The House Next Door: [5]
  • Phil Hall podcast interview on Fat Free Film: [6]
  • Online link to the film "A Writer Named Phil Hall": [7]