Nicola Balkind

Freelance Writer & Content Specialist

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Books

Fan Phenomena: The Hunger Games

Written by Nicola Balkind

Published by Intellect, July 2014

An exciting dystopian fantasy series, The Hunger Games began its life as a trilogy of books by Suzanne Collins, the first released in 2008. An immediate success, the first instalment had a first printing of 50,000 hardcover copies, which quickly ballooned to 200,000.

Spending one hundred consecutive weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, the book was put into development for release on the big screen. The first film, starring Academy Award–winning actress Jennifer Lawrence, broke box office records, and all of its sequels are expected to follow suit.

Fan Phenomena: The Hunger Games charts the series’ success through the increasingly vocal online communities that drive the young adult book market. Essays here consider the fashion that the series has created and how the costumes, memorabilia, merchandising, and branding have become an ever bigger part of the fandom experience. Issues explored include debates over the movie stars’ race and size, which tap into greater issues within the fan community and popular culture in general.

With this scholarly compendium, navigating the post apocalyptic landscape of Panem will be as effortless as Katniss Everdeen’s archery and ensure that the odds will be forever in your favour.

World Film Locations: Glasgow

Edited by Nicola Balkind

Published by Intellect, February 2013

World Film Locations: Glasgow explores Scotland’s biggest city and the many locations in which its films are viewed, set, and shot, taking in the important moments and movements in its rich cinematic history. Contrasting the historic with the contemporary, and social realism with drama, World Film Locations: Glasgow seeks to discover the city’s culture, character, and comedy. Essays cover a variety of topics including a background of Glasgow’s cinema-going and the city’s picture houses, the evolution of Scots comedy, and Glasgow a filmmaker’s city for grassroots and underground filmmakers as well as big Hollywood productions. We look at interpretations of the city from homegrown talent and a European cinema stance. 38 films are featured from classics like Gregory’s Girl and Loach’s Carla’s Song to cult hits like Trainspotting. Bollywood is represented, alongside European titles and grim Scots realism like Sweet Sixteen, My Name is Joe, and Red Road and new titles including Fast Romance, Perfect Sense, and NEDs.

The volume is part of the World Film Locations series published by Intellect Books. The concept grew out of the ‘On Location’ feature from The Big Picture Magazine – also published by Intellect.

The World Film Locations series explores and reveals the relationship between the city and cinema by using a predominantly visual approach perfectly suited to the medium of film. The city continues to play a central role in a multitude of films, helping us to frame our understanding of place and of the world around us. Whether as elaborate directorial love letters or as time specific cultural settings, the city acts as a vital character in helping to tell a story.

The book features 38 films set or shot in Glasgow, 7 Spotlight essays on Glasgow as a filmmakers’ city, and an amazing group of contributors.

Order your copy of World Film Locations: Glasgow online at Amazon or Intellect.

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Testimonials

Nicola has been my number one go-to for freelance community management. She is incredibly efficient, she is clear with costs, time estimates and invoicing and completely reliable. She is a breath of fresh air in an industry which is plagued by self-promoting “gurus”: her range of skills and experience is broad and authentic. I really appreciate the way Nicola is uncomplicated to work with: she asks quick, straightforward questions about what’s required then sits down and gets the job done without fuss. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Nicola and would certainly work with her again.
Annie MacfarlaneTOMS Europe
Nicola helped transform EIFF’s web vision at a time of change. She is assured and confident with her tactics in an ever-evolving industry and, more importantly, generates great content with results. Allied to Nicola’s strategic savvy, it’s a winning combination.
Colan MehaffeyEdinburgh International Film Festival
Nicola has been nothing but helpful, insightful, and an amazing force to impact our team. She exudes exceptional talent, and throughout working together I’ve been able to see first-hand her strength in organising and leading a team, attention to detail, and ability communicate with her peers and clients effectively. It has been a real pleasure to work with Nicola, and I can’t wait to continue working alongside and learning from her.
Jessica Yamamoto, Yelp
Nicola is crazy talented, knowledgeable and efficient when it comes to Social Media and Copywriting. I had the pleasure to work with Nicola on several online marketing projects over the course of almost two years. Not only is she a fountain of knowledge regarding latest trends and best practices for both Social Media and online writing – she is also able to put abstract ideas into action. Any team looking to improve their online presence would be lucky to get their hands on Nicola.
Eva MartinSERPS Invaders
Nicola was an important member of the Edinburgh International Film Festival Marketing Department and was key in the communication delivery of the Festival. In such a dynamic and demanding environment, Nicola delivered great content and was dependable throughout, an invaluable asset to the Festival.
Ross PerthEdinburgh International Film Festival
Nicola has worked with Purplefeather on various social media and copywriting campaigns. She is creative, reliable and professional and can be completely trusted with the voice of your brand – rare qualities indeed!
Andrea GardnerPurplefeather
Nicola is an experienced creative copywriter, with a great ability to produce quality pieces quickly and at short-notice. She has a great knowledge of social platforms and ability to apply this knowledge. Nicola is an absolute pleasure to work with and brings her creativity and personality to everything she does.
Kaye SymingtonMint Digital & Stickygram
Nicola and I worked together across several projects in the Yomgeo community management team. Nicola is great to work with, her attitude towards projects is always amazing and she is incredibly efficient, Her work is always of the highest quality, and I’ve learned a lot from working with her.
Catherine CarriganYomego
We’ve employed Nicola’s services several times at Yomego and every time she has been absolutely fantastic in both outputs and attitude. Supporting our community management team, Nicola has added invaluable expertise in creating customer focused strategies for our clients and helping to draft truly compelling content plans. I have absolutely no hesitations in recommending Nicola’s services for anyone that places important on ensuring outputs are consistently exemplary.
Sam Macleod
Nicola was a pleasure to work with. She managed a number of our clients social media and content strategy with a brilliant flair to adapt her creative skills for each of their brands guidelines. She also provided social media training which was highly informative and engaging. Nicola is highly knowledgeable and is constantly in touch with the forefront of all social media developments. She provides all her work in a professional and timely manner. Nicola is comfortable presenting and talking to clients. I would have no hesitation in recommending Nicola. Great person to work with!
Lorraine WaddellSERPS Invaders

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