After a five-year career in advertising and consumer PR, Julia joined top advertising agency D'Arcy, Masius, Benton & Bowles (DMB&B) as Account Director of Twentieth Century Fox, Virgin Vision and Virgin Video.
In 1990, Julia consciously decided to move to an independent distribution company, rather than a US major, and took on the role of Marketing Manager at Rank Film Distributors. She then worked on the first PolyGram UK films, which RFD released, and, in 1993, when PolyGram Filmed Entertainment (PFE) set up its own operation, was recruited as Head of Marketing to release Reservoir Dogs. During her seven years at PFE, Julia was instrumental in setting up and running the UK sales, PR and Marketing departments and was involved in the releases of some of the most successful UK films of all time, which included Trainspotting, Fargo, Elizabeth, Wilde, Four Weddings, Notting Hill, Twelve Monkeys, Dead Man Walking, The Usual Suspects, Shallow Grave, Bean and Spiceworld. Julia also worked closely with many producers and productions companies, including Working Title, Revolution Films, Figment, Scala and Parallax.
When PolyGram was purchased by Universal, Julia decided to join the new outfit Redbus Film Distribution, where she was Deputy Managing Director with responsibility for the marketing of all of its releases and with a close involvement in acquisitions and strategic issues. In 2001, Julia set up a film consultancy and worked on a freelance basis for Latent Image (producers of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert), DNA, VCL and Film Four Distributors. In 2002, she joined Signpost Films as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, before setting up Verve Pictures, a new UK distribution company, in 2003.
Julia's top 10