Industry figures have paid tribute to John Campbell, magazine publisher, film producer and former Screen International advertising director, who died in January aged 70.
Campbell has been credited with revolutionising the world of film trade advertising, overseeing commercial strategy at Screen International during the 1980s, a period that saw the advent of the booming home video sector and a huge growth in the independent and international film business.
“The independent business was awash with money because the major studios refused to get involved with home video,” recalled Terry Ilott, editor of Screen from 1983 to 1987. “It was all John driving these ad sales. He was unusual for an ad director, very entrepreneurial. The key thing with John was that he had great ambition and he was very, very creative.”
When Campbell was in his prime, Screen would sell so many ads at the Cannes Film Festival that the market dailies would often be close to 250 pages long. Grumbling journalists would be cajoled and charmed by Campbell to write the thousands of words of extra editorial coverage needed to accompany the huge amount of advertising.
“The problem was that the weekly editions didn’t make any money,” said Ilott. “What made money were the festival editions, the festival dailies and the special editions done with [indie movie outfits] Cannon, Lorimar or whoever.”
Industry peers recalled Campbell as a charismatic, persuasive and charming figure.
“The first time we met John, he invited us for lunch, quite unusual those days for advertising executives,” said Michael Ryan, co-founder of UK-based sales outfit J&M Entertainment with Julia Palau.
“In those days, we were dealing with besuited old gentlemen who were wandering up and down Wardour Street, looking for trade. He was a breath of fresh air. He made his case for print advertising and then produced a payment plan. It was unusual, quite innovative. He made it fun.”
Ilott credited Campbell with “elevating” him to his role as editor of Screen after the departure of previous editor, Quentin Falk. They worked together in “an amicable and intense” partnership for four years.
Every Friday, Ilott and Campbell would have lunch with Peter King, the owner and publisher of the magazine, at Braganza, a celebrated Soho restaurant, to brainstorm about fresh ideas for Screen.
“John was the driving force,” said Ilott of how the quietly spoken yet determined ad director looked at ways to make the business grow. “The initiative came from John. It didn’t come from me and it didn’t come from Peter King either.”
“He took risks,” Ryan remembered. “He was very naughty and sometimes slightly mad but that was the period we all lived in at the time.”
“He was truly inspirational, clever and charismatic”
Campbell began his career working for Haymarket Publishing at Accountancy Age. He was initially brought into Screen International by then-publisher Elspeth Tavares. When she left to form her own publication Business Of Film, he took charge of advertising.
Campbell left Screen International after it was bought by International Thompson Business Publications Division, and launched Moving Pictures in March 1990, taking several Screen journalists with him, including Tina McFarling, now head of strategic communication at the British Film Institute.
“Although I was on the editorial team, I always saw John as a great spotter of talented people who would come and work on the paper,” said McFarling. “He had such a generous spirit in helping people to progress their careers. He was truly inspirational, clever and charismatic, but also a kind and gentle person.”
Moving Pictures, which had backing from Milan-based media group Rizzoli Corriere Della Sera, was known for its irreverent approach. At its first Cannes, it made a splash by hosting its ’The Too Hot To Trotsky’ party in the Cannes bay aboard the Mikhail Lomonosov, an ageing Russian freighter that belonged to the Soviet Black Sea fleet.
During subsequent Cannes festivals, Campbell oversaw a series of ever more lavish events in aid of charities such as Medecins San Frontieres and AIDS Crisis Trust at the Chateau de la Napoule, a few miles from the Croisette. Musicians from Marc Almond to the Leningrad Cowboys performed and Prince Albert of Monaco was one of the guests.
Moving Pictures went through several changes of ownership without ever really prospering, After leaving the company, Campbell was involved in film production, developing and executive-producing projects with his partner, filmmaker Joëlle Bentolila at Chimaera Films, including the 2019 award-winning short, Starboy.
“John was a believer that you could work and play hard, especially at the festivals and markets,” said former colleague Christopher Pickard, who worked as Moving Pictures’ Brazil correspondent and was editor for a period. “He encouraged us all to live life to the full and embrace it with a sense of humour.”
Campbell’s former colleagues at Moving Pictures also included Mike Downey, who went on to create Film & Music Entertainment and is now chair of the European Film Academy; David Jenkinson, founder, C21Media, Studio21 and Media Enterprises; columnist, author and former Screen International editor, Nick Roddick; Nick Cunningham, founder and publisher of Business Doc Europe; events organiser JoJo Dye, founder of JJDConsultancy; festival programmer and film critic Mark Adams; marketing and PR professional Christian De Schutter, former managing director of Flanders Image; Australian-based author and founder of Urban Cinefile, Andrew L Urban; veteran Danish journalist and former ballroom dance champion, Jorn Rossing Jensen; and Variety’s Madrid-based journalist John Hopewell and international features editor Leo Barraclough.
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