Michele Robertson, former executive director of national publicity at Fox Searchlight Pictures, has launched her own boutique PR agency in Los Angeles called MRC.

Kicking off with two film accounts - Fine Line Features' Saving Grace and Trimark Pictures' Skipped Parts - Robertson plans to work with both studios and independents in creating "postioning-forward" publicity and marketing campaigns.

While at Fox Searchlight, Robertson was responsible for the national publicity and awards campaigns for films including Boys Don't Cry which won a Best Actress Academy Award for its star Hilary Swank, Titus, Waking Ned Devine, William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Slums Of Beverly Hills.

Prior to joining Searchlight in 1997, Robertson was a senior publicist at independent publicity outfit Clein + White where she handled the corporate publicity for IFP/West and the Independent Spirit Awards and worked on film campaigns including The Brothers McMullen, Ulee's Gold, When We Were Kings and Little Odessa.