Nell Scovell Quotes

Interviewing politicians and movie stars, you know what you'll get. I like the people-stories better.

By virtue of some of the ways the game is played, in terms of message discipline, in terms of access for reporters, and especially in the way that sources and subjects, especially famous subjects, treat the media, almost by default there's more news that's falling into books.

I've had high-powered publicists in my career, and I've had publicists when they've had no power. I've run the gamut.

Once, I used to have the local reporter on the team bus and I'd tell him everything, so when he wrote about the club he was informed, even if he couldn't print some things. Those days are long gone.

There's not a lot of original ways to get attention in the press.

Journalists immediately think of me as a resource for a quote or comment because they know that I will be available to offer fresh insight and meet their deadlines.

My job is to be a spokesman - the spokesman, I suppose - for the President, for the White House, to do the daily briefings, to manage the press corps in terms of travel, day-to-day needs, access, interviews, all those issues.

You can understand why good publicists go on to run distribution companies: because the creativity involved is complex and nuanced.

The reason I hate publicists is because I think if we got rid of them everything would be on equal footing.

Sure, I've done movies in which I was embarrassed by my performance, or might not have cared for a co-star. Then I'd have to tell lies, like, 'Oh, we love each other; everything was perfect!'

One of the first things that I did was, I got myself a publicist as soon as 'Maria Full of Grace' premiered in July, so that I could go and meet people that I wanted to meet: the writers and the directors and the people that are doing things.

The one thing I've always done as an author is talk to my publicists. Because they have all the best stories - and they have all the dirt on other, more famous and important writers. They're not supposed to talk about it, but sometimes you can get awesome little tidbits from them.

I get into all sorts of trouble with my publicists and with newspapers because I won't do photographs.

We don't make announcements until we make announcements.

Nothing is so tantalizing to journalists as some answer they can't get. If you want to appeal to political journalists,…you hide something from us …

Every administration I remember has tried to control its message and manage contacts with the media. As a senior editor for more than a quarter century, I frequently received complaints from administrations of both parties about coverage they considered unfavorable, along with occasional and mostly empty threats to cut off access.

There will be no more blabbing secrets to the media.

There are two things that you should never do in front of the TV cameras. You should not make love and you should not make peace.

When you interview celebrities, they're so guarded so many times, they can't reveal anything.

CAA has a great history of representing fantastic talent, many of whom are my heroes in film and television.

I give thousands of interviews, and I'm probably about as open as anybody in Washington as far as access goes, so I'll continue to do that.

I was a publicist for other people's movies.

Executives are rarely comfortable speaking on the record, particularly in secretive Silicon Valley companies.

With these big superhero movies, everybody is so tight-lipped about everything, there's a certain amount of just going on faith.

Stacy Keach was really fun to work with, and Henry Winkler was very fun.