10 Years Later: Jerry Milani
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| Graphic created by Hard Pass Creative |
For those that have covered Wizard World (currently Fan Expo) conventions as a journalist over the last 17 years, there is a pretty good chance that Jerry Milani is the person to thank for their coverage. As a well-respected member of the community, he has dedicated much of his career to finding the best people to share the best stories.
Milani received his degree from Fordham University and immediately launched his career in athletic public relations. After stints at PR firms and universities, he found an opportunity with a new mixed martial arts league called International Fight League. IFL only lasted a few years, but the CEO, Gareb Shamus, was also the CEO for Wizard World, and invited Milani to join the team.
The comic convention started as Wizard Press in 1991, as the publisher for the monthly magazine, Wizard. They expanded into conventions in 1997 after purchasing Chicago Comicon and became the template for creating events that represented all areas of pop culture fandom. Milani had attended Wizard World prior to becoming their public relations manager, representing IFL by bringing the athletes to the convention and setting up a ring right in the middle of Hall A. It became a stepping stone to merge the sport into pop culture.
Even though he wasn’t an entertainment publicist, he found similarities between subjects. He also found himself amongst some of his heroes. The Six Million Dollar Man was one of his favorite television series when he was younger, and one of his first conventions was where he was able to meet one of its stars, Richard Anderson. It felt as though one minute he was watching Batman and The Incredible Hulk and the next minute he was working alongside Adam West and Lou Ferrigno.
He recalls a point in his career where, within a span of 24 hours, he had spoken to Richard Anderson, Lou Ferrigno, Henry Winkler and Adam West to coordinate for an upcoming convention. If anyone would have told his childhood self that one day he would meet his heroes, he would have never believed it.
“I thought to myself, if this were 1978, I would have been the coolest guy in the entire world,” he said. “I still felt, 30 years later, that I was still the coolest guy in the world.”
Part of his routine is determining whether or not an outlet can attend the convention as a member of the press. When it comes to the application process, Milani doesn’t immediately decide based on follower count or circulation, although it is a consideration as he does have to justify his decisions. His deciding factors revolve around topic and influence. Are they familiar with popular culture? Will their audience view this content and want to attend a convention because of it? He also pays attention to frequency of publishing. It may have a larger number of readers, but are they posting consistently?
“There's the element of, yes, is someone going to write a story beforehand and support that particular show. That's important,” he said. “Is it someone who is in that world so the general population who follows or reads that publication has some interest in the pop culture world? The pop culture world is a bigger world than it's ever been, so it doesn't have to mean that they're Star Wars fans or they're fans of a particular genre, but is the typical reader of that publication someone who would be interested in our show?”
He contributes his vetting process to a tennis tournament for his first real client out of college. At the time, he was approving local news anchors from a smaller market. He would learn that they wouldn’t be local news anchors in Palm Springs forever, and in 10 years time, he would have contacts in higher places.
“The next thing I knew, the woman who ran the anchor desk at Channel 6 in Palm Springs was in Milwaukee, and then she was on MSNBC,” he said. “All of a sudden, I've got someone at MSNBC who I know who I helped, who trusts me. Not just that I know them, but they trust that I cared as much about them being the anchor in Palm Springs, whether it was a bigger market or not. You always try to treat folks the right way.”
Being treated the right way is exactly how, after covering Wizard World for a few years with a different publication, I asked Jerry if I could cover the convention with a different outlet - my own. 2017 was the first year Black is the New AP Style covered Wizard World Chicago and spoke to Lou Ferrigno, Barry Bostwick and Loren Lester.
Maintaining working relationships with journalists is only part of his routine. By working with guests of conventions and their teams, he makes sure that every interaction is professional.
It has been an interesting aspect that while the programming side of the convention takes more interest in the latest stars of Marvel or Star Wars projects, a lot of Milani’s job has been getting them outside of that audience. People like Lou Ferrigno, Henry Winkler or Robbie Rist have understood the importance of media relations, and have become staples in Milani’s day-to-day leading up to a convention.
“When you combine someone who understands that press is important, and there's interest in them, that's the perfect combination,” he said.
His most memorable interaction during a convention was at the last Wizard World Chicago show before rebranding to Fan Expo. Henry Winkler was one of the guests, and as he was walking towards him, Winkler raised his arm in a wave and called out Milani’s name. It must have been a different Jerry he was calling out to, he thought, but he was wrong.
“He's such an icon, but also the nicest man you will ever meet in your life,” he said. “You won't meet anybody nicer than him. He understands I respect his time and he always gives great interviews. The stories that come out of it are always great, and he's always very accommodating. We built up that little rapport, and for him to recognize me in the sea of people and call me over was kind of special.”
Milani also creates his own memories for those that spend the weekend working alongside him. He started a bit of his own tradition during the Wizard World days where, when Sundays were Kids Day, he would don the same bright yellow plastic cape that was handed out to children attending. For over 100 shows, if anyone needed anything from Milani, all they had to do was look for the yellow cape.
“I’m not above doing a little bit of weirdness and having a little bit of weirdness as part of my world,” he said. “It’s just part of my personality.”
Milani currently represents four Fan Expo conventions: New Orleans, Portland, Cleveland and Philadelphia. Although the cape is no longer in rotation, having a professional of his standards in your corner makes you feel like the king (or queen) of the world.
“When you combine someone who understands that press is important, and there's interest in them, that's the perfect combination,” he said.
His most memorable interaction during a convention was at the last Wizard World Chicago show before rebranding to Fan Expo. Henry Winkler was one of the guests, and as he was walking towards him, Winkler raised his arm in a wave and called out Milani’s name. It must have been a different Jerry he was calling out to, he thought, but he was wrong.
“He's such an icon, but also the nicest man you will ever meet in your life,” he said. “You won't meet anybody nicer than him. He understands I respect his time and he always gives great interviews. The stories that come out of it are always great, and he's always very accommodating. We built up that little rapport, and for him to recognize me in the sea of people and call me over was kind of special.”
Milani also creates his own memories for those that spend the weekend working alongside him. He started a bit of his own tradition during the Wizard World days where, when Sundays were Kids Day, he would don the same bright yellow plastic cape that was handed out to children attending. For over 100 shows, if anyone needed anything from Milani, all they had to do was look for the yellow cape.
“I’m not above doing a little bit of weirdness and having a little bit of weirdness as part of my world,” he said. “It’s just part of my personality.”
Milani currently represents four Fan Expo conventions: New Orleans, Portland, Cleveland and Philadelphia. Although the cape is no longer in rotation, having a professional of his standards in your corner makes you feel like the king (or queen) of the world.
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