The Art of the Pitch in the Midst of a Pandemic

Clint Morris, who runs October Coast Publicity in Burbank, Calif., got in touch with me to offer an interview with an actress. “Please let me know if you’d like to talk to Jamie Bernadette (‘I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu’) for her new film ‘Dead by Dawn,’ releasing in April,” he wrote in an email. “Happy to coordinate!”

A little too on the nose, perhaps.

Ms. Ritterhoff, the high-spirited Singapore slinger, declined to comment. Mr. Morris said: “Like everyone else, we’re a little frightened — the pandemic, the uncertainty of the entertainment business — but the show has to go on. People need entertainment and distraction right now, so we can help with that.”

Greta Kovacs Schmid, the owner and chief executive of Ragdoll PR, responded on Ms. McCormick’s behalf. “We are doing the best we can to remain sensitive in content and approach,” Ms. Kovacs Schmid said. “Most of our clients are small businesses and are really struggling from the pandemic, as most companies currently are, so now more than ever is it important for us to pitch.”

And the response from editors and influencers?

“We’ve actually seen a dramatic increase in responses to our pitching efforts,” she said. “We’ve chatted with many close editor contacts who let us know they still want us to keep pitching. They understand this is our job, and we’re just trying to keep our company and our clients’ companies afloat.”

Fair enough.

Some agencies, however, have taken a more cautious approach. Fitz & Co., with a client list that includes Art Basel and Gagosian, stopped pitching media outlets as soon as the coronavirus started to spread in the United States, according to its founder and chief executive, Sara Fitzmaurice.