Promotional copies are short texts designed to promote a film to their potential audience members encouraging them to see the film. Here are some helpful guidelines when writing your own blurb.

1. Be short and concise, aim for 80-150 words.
2. Create a response in present tense and third person. For example, ‘After losing his parents and brother in two separate and equally tragic accidents , Hiro discovers his robotics project has been stolen.’
3. Hook the reader in the first sentence – use a rhetorical question, scene, situation or perhaps an unexpected snippet of dialogue.
4. Avoid cramming too much information into your blurb. You should include the main character/s, what problem or challenge they face, where and when the action occurs.
5. Use rich descriptive language to engage and intrigue your audience.
6. Make sure you do not give away the ending.

Read the blurb for ‘The Interviewer’, by Genevieve Clay-Smith and complete the activity below:

Thomas Howell gets more than he's bargained for in a job interview at a prestigious law firm; an insult about his tie, a rendition of Harry Potter and the chance to change the lives of a father and son.

Activity

1. Identify the main character, the hook and the themes in the film by highlighting and labelling a copy of the promotional copy above.
2. Why doesn’t the copy tell you the plot line?
3. Create a promotional copy for your film using the 6 guidelines above.