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Erin Schettler’s Outside the Box Entertainment LLC represents bands, solo performers and comedians. Virginia Prater’s Prater Publicity represents a wide array of small businesses (art, wine tasting, stationary) and up-and-coming entertainers. Leslie Ogle and Emily Moore have decades of experience as writers, editors and publicists, and their business, OgleMoore, provides a variety of assistance to creative, technical and scholastic writers.

Outside the Box Entertainment is a publicity company that was formed in December 2006 by Erin Schettler and Melissa “Meli” Rosenthal. This new company sprang from Erin and Melissa’s budding success following their October reopening of the 4620 nightclub in the Bearden area. Ms. Rosenthall, who was also a practicing attorney, had lived in New York for several years and hoped to model 4620 on clubs she enjoyed in the Big Apple. With Erin’s experience with the local restaurant and music scene, these two friends and business partners opted for an appetizer menu that included tapas-like duck tacos, blue point oysters and sesame shrimp lollies. The club also offered unique desserts, a full line of quality cigars, and numerous specialty martinis. One of Erin’s brainstorms was a wildly popular and unusual Ladies’ Night called “Manicures, Manolos and Martinis.” This weekly event gave women a chance to relax by having manicures, enjoying discounted martinis, watching Sex in the City videos, and registering to win a pair a Monolo Blahnik shoes.

Erin also acted as the club’s booking agent and she experimented with several bands, comedians and contests. Soon the club was attracting a large diverse following and several entertainers were interested in working with Erin outside of 4620. In December 2006, Erin and Melissa formed Outside the Box Entertainment LLC, and began representing performers, including the funkalicous Jaystorm.

Outside the Box Entertainment allows clients to pick and chose the type of representation they want. Jaystorm already had numerous local connections, so Outside the Box Entertainment books Jaystorm in other cities and acts as liaison between the band and various media outlets. Outside the Box Entertainment also prepares media kits that include t-shirts, bumper stickers, flyers and newspaper advertisements.

In late January, around the time Outside the Box was inking a deal with several out-of-state comedians, tragedy struck. Melissa Rosenthal and 4620’s General Manager, John Heiser, were killed in an auto accident. Erin has since closed 4620, but she remains busy with Outside the Box Entertainment and freelancing for Target Media.

For more information, please contact Erin Schettler at (865) 455-0961; erinschettler@yahoo.com ; Myspace

Virginia “Ginny” Prater easily stands out in a crowd with her dazzling smile and thick curly hair. Her distinguishing features became part of her whimsical professional logo, created by Moxley-Carmichael, when Virginia formed Prater Publicity prior to her 2003 graduation from the University of Tennessee’s Communication/Public Relations department.

In 2002, while still a student, Ms. Prater knew she wanted to hone her public relations skills in New York City and she successfully researched and landed an internship with KSA Publicity, a firm that boasts Sting and Lenny Kravitz as clients. There she learned everything that a publicist does, including hands-on experience with media kits and press releases.

Before she returned to the University of Tennessee, Virginia had already landed her first client, Natalie Blalock, a New York Cabaret singer. Her early representation of Natalie Blalock included placing show information in Time Out New York, the Daily News and Gay City News, which resulted in large crowds attending Ms. Blalock’s shows. Natalie Blalock is still a Prater Publicity client and has referred other entertainers to Virginia’s business. Some clients have found Prater Publicity on MySpace, and other clients were obtained when Ms. Prater approached them after a show. “I have to really love a band [or business] in order to represent them.”

In addition to up-and-coming music performers, Prater Publicity also represents theatres, artists, art galleries and other small businesses. She also offers website design and promotion and special event planning. For special events, her company may be responsible for well coordinated invitations, press, food and wine. Local photographer Tovah Greenwood also provides photography services for Prater Publicty clients, which include Christabel & the Jons, Nova Delinquents and Stephanie’s Id, an avant-garde singer from Asheville, North Carolina. Presently, Prater Publicity is busy coordinating Id Fest, an April music festival in North Carolina that involves twenty-five bands, two venues and numerous committees and sponsors.

In the past year, Virginia has been especially pleased to observe the popularity of local band Christabel & the Jons. “Their success has been growing by leaps and bounds. They have acquired a touring van and have already completed a successful tour in the western United States. They have recently appeared on the cover of three area entertainment newspapers.” As Virginia works with a new local jazz samba band, Nova Delinquents, she is hopeful they will soon be on a fast-track like Christabel & the Jons.

For more information, please contact Prater Publicity at (865) 300-2107; praterpublicity.com and Myspace.

Entertainers aren’t the only ones well represented in Knoxville. OgleMoore, a three year old full-time public relations company, offers assistance to writers. With over 20 years of combined experience, Leslie Ogle and Emily Moore offer services that include research, copyediting, book editing, proofreading, book publicity, public relations, manuscript review, speechwriting, writing coach (including songwriting), and ghost writing.

Leslie Ogle has 17 years of marketing, public relations, and media and advertising experience. She has a master’s degree in public relations/journalism and has taught college level communication classes. Ms. Ogle has also worked in book publicity for over 10 years. She credits Dottie DeHart and Celia Rocks of Rocks-DeHart Public Relations, as her mentors. “Through them, I learned so much, and gained PR expertise that I never would have gotten anywhere else.”

Her writing has appeared in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Time, among others. She has also booked clients on The Today Show, Oprah, CNN, Bloomberg Radio and National Public Radio.

Emily Moore has worked at Nathan Public Relations in New York. She also has extensive experience with creative marketing in the New York theatre world. Her writing has appeared in Technology Review, The Pak Tribune, and Chocolate for a Teen’s Soul, as well as other publications.

She is also an editor, ghostwriter, published songwriter, and jingle composer. She has studied extensively under Sheila Davis, author of The Craft of Lyric Writing. “One of Shelia’s primary and most valuable lessons regarding lyric-writing is the eloquently simple, “Don’t tell me; show me.” That advice directly applies to fiction as well, and when followed, produces the most original results.”

OgleMoore edits and proofreads all types of manuscripts, including books, short stories, speeches, business reports, government white papers and screenplays. “We enrich the experience of authors by helping them to see incongruous plot or character developments they may have overlooked, or dramatic conflicts they may not have thought of. And if we think your manuscript needs a rewrite before you engage our editing services, we’re going to tell you that as well,” says Emily.

In local writer Ron Miller’s travel autobiography Escape from the Happy Cannibal, Miller acknowledged gratitude for Leslie and Emily’s professional assistance: “You went far beyond the normal role of editors...and added valuable input to the content of the book, and greatly enhanced its readability."

“Our face-to-face contact with Ron Miller has proved very rewarding. Ron initially asked us to edit his autobiography. Once it was published, he continued our association by engaging us as his publicists.” Ron Miller is presently on an extensive nationwide book tour, which included appearances at Knoxville’s Borders Bookstore and Mast General Store.

For more information, please contact:
OgleMoore
Website
oglemoore@gmail.com
Direct lines/emails:
Leslie Ogle 865.609.1199 leslieogle@comcast.net
Emily Moore 865.254.5244 emily.moore@gmail.com