Yudu - Ex PA Magazine Aug September 2010

PA PROFILE

PAprofile

PA to the stars Merryl Futerman speaks to Executive PA Magazine about one of her clients – Julian Clary BY CATH JANES

When you chat to Merryl Futerman about her career it’s hard to not let your eyes widen. It sounds like the sort of scenario that you’d find woven through a chick lit novel. Words like ‘film set’, ‘A lister’ and ‘film releases’ are dropped into the conversation and even though she is too discrete to name names it’s clear that Merryl is at home as a PA to the stars. Lucky for us, though, there’s one name that she’s happy to divulge and that’s Julian Clary, the man to whom she has been PA for the last 13 years. “I have worked as a PA for all sorts of people,” Merryl

explains, “but Julian has been the constant in my career. I came from a PR, publishing and film background and

knew that I wanted to do something that didn’t feel so superficial. I wanted to take my strengths and skills and use them to look after people.” And, what a background that was. When Merryl became a PA she was working for Corbett & Keene, a big- name entertainment PR company. She says, “The per- ception is that it was glamorous but the reality was long hours, not being in control, juggling the demands of actors and directors and trying to satisfy everyone all of the time. I loved organising and looking after people but the problem was that I’d get close to an actor while working with them on a film and then the project would 