Trish Long was appointed Vice President & General Manager of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Ireland in 2008 and since 1994 has held a wide variety of roles within The Walt Disney Company. Her present role combines core responsibility for WDSMP in Ireland, overseeing all aspects of the distribution and marketing campaigns in the country for the entire theatrical slate including Walt Disney Animation Studios; Disney live action; Pixar; Marvel & Lucas Films. She is part of the Disney International and European teams, while also working across Disney franchises and to grow the Walt Disney Company in Ireland. She is also an Advanced Practitioner of the Disney Strategic Foresight International team.
Her career with Disney began as head of publicity for Buena Vista International in Ireland. BVI was the film distribution arm established by the Walt Disney Company and responsible for the theatrical (cinema) releases of Disney, Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax and also international and national acquisitions.
From 1994 to 2008, Trish was responsible for all BVI & Disney theatrical marketing and publicity campaigns (including advertising and promotions) in Ireland and was a senior member of the BVI International publicity team. As part of this team she helped run Global, International and European press & premiere events in various countries worldwide and at international film festivals such as Cannes, Venice, San Sebastian; Locarno; Deauville, Berlin, Toronto, New York, Ghent, Rome, Taormina and Tokyo.
She is a recipient of the Global ‘Top Talent Handler of the Year’ award from WDSMP in recognition of her International publicity work with actors such as: Harrison Ford; Sandra Bullock, Tim Allen, Bruce Willis; Mel Gibson; Cuba Gooding Jnr; Richard Gere; Nic Cage; Oprah Winfrey; Gabriel Byrne; Will Smith; Dennis Quaid; Arnold Schwarznegger; Rupert Everett; Denzel Washington; Sean Connery; John Travolta; Orlando Bloom; Johnny Depp; Jeff Bridges and Tom Hanks. She has also toured with, and handled the international press schedules of many directors and producers including Jerry Bruckheimer; Roy Disney; Ivan Reitman; Anthony Minghella; John Lasseter; Norman Jewison; Gary Marshall; George Lucas and Martin Scorsese.
Long has also devised and managed the marketing and distribution of over 25 Irish acquisitions including the successful releases of feature films such as Oscar nominated THE SECRET OF KELLS and ONCE plus MAN ABOUT DOG; INTERMISSION; TIGERS TAIL; STUDS; TARA ROAD; ABOUT ADAM; I WENT DOWN; THIS IS MY FATHER; IF I SHOULD FALL FROM GRACE; TIGERS TAIL; SWEETY BARRETT and A LOVE DIVIDED plus a variety of short films.
As the head of publicity in Ireland during a period in which TWDC shot many feature films in the country, as well as acting as country liaison for the studio, she managed the world and Irish premieres and press junkets of various Disney/Touchstone movies shot in Ireland such as VERONICA GUERIN which was attended by over 200 worldwide press (Joel Schumacher; Cate Blanchett; Jerry Bruckheimer and a host of Irish actors). Also KING ARTHUR (Kiera Knightley; Clive Owens; Ioan Gruffud; Ray Winstone); THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO (Jim Cavezil; Henry Cavill; Guy Pearce) and the European premiere and junket for REIGN OF FIRE (Matthew McConaghy; Christian Bale).
Previously, Trish Long was the 1st Marketing and Publicity Director of Irelands National Centre of Film - the Irish Film Institute, during its inaugural two years. Before moving to Dublin she held the position of Publicity and Marketing manager at the Belltable Arts Centre in Limerick where she worked in theatre, film, visual arts, dance, poetry; and music as well as access and development. During this time she was also Publicity manager for the highly acclaimed Island Theatre Company. Having begun her career in Big L local radio in Limerick (as a presenter, producer, newsreader & journalist) in the '80's, she also trained as a counsellor and ran the Limerick Rape Crisis Centre during its 1st four years. She has a long history of involvement and activism in women's issues at a national and local level.
Trish Long has a 1st class honours Masters in Cultural and Communication Studies from Dublin City University as part of which she completed research and papers on The Possible Impact Of GATT For The Irish Audio Visual Industry and also European Censorship And The Debate About The Effects of Violent Videos. Her thesis was original research on PORNOGRAPHY AND IRISH WOMEN: TOWARDS A CULTURAL DEFINITION AND FEMALE GAZE. Her audio essays (In My Mothers Heaven and In My Fathers Hell) have been broadcast on RTE’s Sunday Miscellany radio show & she has been published in the Sunday Miscellany anthology of the Best of Irish writing of the last 5 years.
Past and present memberships include the National Union of Journalists; founding member of Cinema Days Ireland; RAAM; Advisory Committee of the Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTA). Long sits on the Irish Industry Trust and is a board member of the Irish Film Institute (IFI) where she also sits on the Governance & Enterprise subcommittee & the Development committee. She has been a member of the Governing Authority of the University of Limerick since 2012 as well as the Plassey Campus Centre Board and UL’s Access & Student Affairs committees. She is a board member of Troy Film Studios based in Castletroy, Limerick which is the largest film studios in Ireland.
