London-based film PR company Strike Media, founded by Wez Merchant, takes pride in putting candour at the heart of its business.
Merchant acknowledges that being upfront with potential clients in the film PR world is a risk, but he believes it is exactly why Strike Media wins the clients it does, enjoys repeat business, and has built the business it has.
Based in London with an international reach, the agency’s work spans theatrical releases, live cinema, trade stories, press days, home entertainment releases and everything in between.
“I am probably too candid at times, but I don’t like to over-promise to clients,” says Merchant. “I tell them what they need to hear, not necessarily what they want to hear.”
That can mean talking a film financier out of mounting a costly out-of-town villa party during the Cannes Film Festival, when there are more effective routes to fruitful deal-making, or ruling out a red-carpet premiere for a film destined to find its audience at home rather than in cinemas.
“We aren’t just PR, we understand the industry, the ins and outs, the bums on seats, the dos and don’ts, the superfluous activity compared to the meaningful,” explains Merchant.
That straight-talking approach, paired with industry know-how, shaped a UK campaign for the Canadian crime thriller The G, written, directed and produced by Karl R. Hearne.
Merchant was working for Hearne at the film’s world premiere in official competition at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) in November 2023, and emailed long-time Strike client Lightbulb Film Distribution to suggest they take a look, telling them it was “right up their street.”
Strike went on to oversee the film’s UK release campaign, including a UK premiere at the Glasgow Film Festival in 2024.
The agency also recently handled PR around the UK premiere of documentary World Without Cows, directed by Michelle Michael and Brandon Whitworth, at the Ham Yard Hotel in central London.
Elsewhere, the team is representing Luxembourg director Cyrus Neshvad and his debut feature, Child, which has been selected as Luxembourg’s entry for the 2027 Oscars. The relationship began after the film screened at this year’s Raindance Film Festival, via a conversation between festival founder Elliot Grove and Merchant.
Strike has also been brought in to work on Altitude Film Distribution’s 24th anniversary 4K restoration re-release of 24 Hour Party People in early October. The film will be screened with an on-stage conversation between director Michael Winterbottom and star Steve Coogan at Beyond The Music, at MediaCity, Salford.
Additionally, Merchant and his core team of six are working with UK indie cinema veteran David Wilkinson and his Guerilla Films label on 1 In 2, a personal documentary Wilkinson directed after being diagnosed with stage four terminal bowel cancer.
YouTube channel
The agency often launches independent trailers via its own YouTube channel, using it as a springboard for the wider campaign.
“It depends on who the client is and where they want it, but we’ve built up a sizeable YouTube subscriber base, so we can launch things from there,” Merchant says. “Then we share the links out in our press releases. Some clients don’t have any subscribers of their own, so it helps to know there’s at least that audience there from the start.”
Looking ahead, Strike has signed on to the found-footage horror film The Influencer Project, and is working with the Paramount UK promotions team across several campaigns before Christmas.
Merchant named the company after a successful industry night out that revolved around ten-pin bowling in 2009. He had decided to take the plunge and go it alone following six years in agency work
The day after he made the leap, the UK economy fell into a recession. In the 17 years since, Merchant has operated through Covid, serious mental and physical health challenges in his early 30s – he is now 46 – and, six years ago, becoming a father to identical twin boys.
All of it has sharpened Merchant’s grit, fight and determination to carve out Strike’s space in the industry, and it continues to inform the agency’s campaigns and candid counsel.
“As we approach our 17th birthday and I reflect on being in business for this long, success for me is having loyal staff, loyal clients and advocates. It’s not about individual achievements, it’s about growth, knowledge, a curious mind and finding efficiency in the administration to make the job freeing for people to get on with the real work and have a life outside of it all
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