Dietland, the book by Sarai Walker that’s been top pick and “best of” by everyone from O magazine to US Weekly and from the New York Post to NPR! The book is a work of fiction, but reflects how society treats and thinks about women who are large. It’s tongue-in-cheek, hilarious, poignant and important. So, when Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing (HMH) contacted Circle of Seven Productions (COS) to create a book trailer it was the beginning of something totally original and exciting.
COS Productions had been contacted by the New York Film Academy, Los Angeles campus just the week prior to the HMH book trailer order. The school was looking to partner with COS in order to get practical, real-life experience for their students and alumni. The students would work under the COS Productions partner program with COS Productions CEO, Sheila English as the lead producer and liaison for all COS Book Trailer projects. COS would provide feedback on the student’s process, work, etc. in order to help them successfully engage with clients. The process started with each student or team of students providing a treatment (their idea of how the video would look and feel) and the treatments would be shared with the client. COS and the client would give feedback on the treatment, whether it was the one chosen or not. The client chose the treatment they liked best and that team was then assigned to the project and all parties were introduced so there was on cohesive team effort.
Dietland was a perfect start for the new partnership since the overall idea, which came from the author and publisher, was simple, fun, direct and didn’t require a lot of actors. Plus, the subject matter was one the school and the students could be proud of and feel they’d contributed to something larger than just the project itself.
COS Productions oversaw the budget, timeline, troubleshooting and team interaction while the school oversaw the students, their work, crew, location, creative ideas and overall delivery of the material. HMH was thrilled to work with the school and the students, having their own team give feedback and work with the students in a way that helped the students learn how to best interact with the a client. Everyone was on board and the project was a huge success for all!
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Notes:
COS Productions is the parent company of Reader’s Entertainment and owns the trademark to the term “book trailer”.
More about Dietland as provided by Sarai Walker’s website:
Plum Kettle does her best not to be noticed, because when you’re fat, to be noticed is to be judged. Or mocked. Or worse. With her job answering fan mail for a popular teen girls’ magazine, she is biding her time until her weight-loss surgery. Only then can her true life as a thin person finally begin.
Then, when a mysterious woman starts following her, Plum finds herself falling down a rabbit hole and into an underground community of women who live life on their own terms. There Plum agrees to a series of challenges that force her to deal with her past, her doubts, and the real costs of becoming “beautiful.” At the same time, a dangerous guerrilla group called “Jennifer” begins to terrorize a world that mistreats women, and as Plum grapples with her personal struggles, she becomes entangled in a sinister plot. The consequences are explosive.
Dietland is a bold, original, and funny debut novel that takes on the beauty industry, gender inequality, and our weight loss obsession—from the inside out, and with fists flying.
Dietland is currently available at bookstores everywhere.
