The UAB Films Committee hosted a film premiere last night of When In Rome. Students were allowed to watch the movie, not due to come out to theaters till Jan. 29, for free for the one-time only event.

The University’s movie premieres in the past have included films like The Fourth Kind, I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell, and Blades Of Glory.   The UAB Films Committee hosts these events when they are offered by advertising agencies like, as with Rome, the AMP agency.

According to Will Lamm, UAB Film Committee Chair, when motion picture companies like Disney and Touchstone wish to promote a new movie, they hire advertising and marketing agencies such as AMP Agency or Alloy Media+Marketing.   These agencies then have to carry out the job of developing a campaign strategy to reach as many people as possible, usually through advertising on social networking sites and organizing movie premieres across the country for their clients.

According to Alloy Media+Marketing’s Web site, teens and young adults are the prime targets of the agencies, and college students are especially vulnerable because they represent a large demographic and most have just began to make executive spending decisions. Integrate publicist for AMP Agency Lizzie Mangianello says that when deciding which colleges to host the premiere, these agencies look at the size of the school, it is decided from a category of other colleges in their region, and the history the agency might have with the college.

  “We have a really big student population, that and we have a 35mm equipped theater, so because of that, it (the University) makes it a really good target,” Lamb said. “They’re trying to hit a college audience so we get a lot of those [premieres.] They’re going to go where they want.”

The agency then contacts UAB Films Committee and offers a set of dates to host the premiere. It cost $400 for the agency to rent the Campus Cinema, and the Films Committee has to staff the event, Lamb said.