When I last spoke with “QR Queen” Jill Martin a year ago, the fan-favorite Today Show and QVC personality was discussing her innovative joint venture with 101 Studios “Shop The Scenes”.
Now, after re-defining Entertainment Commerce with “Shop The Scenes” and giving viewers an opportunity to buy products on the very show they’re watching, Martin has partnered with Lionsgate to give The Hunger Games fans an opportunity to purchase exclusive replicas of items and props straight from The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, releasing Nov. 17.
A series of curated boxes with The Hunger Games goodies are available at Walmart
WMT
Jill was diagnosed with breast cancer in late June. In the past two months, she had a double mastectomy and began the most aggressive cancer treatment available, including eight rounds of chemotherapy with radiation to follow.
“For the week after chemo, I work from bed for the next week. And I take Zoom calls from bed, and everyone knows what I’m going through,” Martin said of working around treatments.
“It’s honestly humbling, because I know how difficult her battle is, and she has powered through in a way that it just makes me feel inspired,” said Jenefer Brown, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Products and Experiences with Lionsgate, who worked closely with Martin to make the ground-breaking movie merchandise deal happen. “I don’t have that health constraint that Jill has, and she’s working 110 percent every day.
“So I think for our team, we want to absolutely deliver our best efforts. But I think having Jill as the motivator along this process— and her spirit was never down. She’s always been cheerleading us through this entire effort.”… So it’s been, I think, a really incredible journey. We have a lot of special projects that we get to do here at Lionsgate, but this one in particular, I think, really touched us in an emotional, connective way that— and as you know, Jill is inspiring, always. But to see her go through this journey and still work so hard to get this to the finish line has been pretty incredible.”
Jill is speaking candidly about the trials and tribulations with her health and treatments in hopes that it inspires others to get screened.
“It’s hell. I can’t describe it any other way,” she revealed. “I’m grateful that I caught it, because if I didn’t, it would have been incurable in not a long amount of time. And so mentally, I’m wrapping my head around that, that I only would have had very few years before it spread to a point of being incurable.”
The latest “Shop The Scenes” project and Jenefer’s team’s understanding and support for Jill’s situation helped provide Martin with undeniable determination to persevere in her battle.
“Her team has been so compassionate and graceful,” Jill said. “And with everything going on in the world and I’m on one week and I’m totally on, and then the treatment week, I sort of have to drop out.
“And that’s a real-life thing, and not everybody can deal with it with such grace. And Jen and the team have been so compassionate, so supportive, so unbelievable in not only empathizing with what I’m going through, which is hell, but also knowing that this has been a passionate project and has gotten me through such a difficult time.
“So that’s the other part of the partnership, is that— I never bring my personal life into my real life, but sometimes you can’t help it. And when that does converge and you have partners who are so elevated that they’re able to be supportive, it makes you want to work and create even more.”
Focusing on her career during her health journey has not only provided Martin with motivation during an incredibly difficult time in her life, but also helped her feel like herself.
“It’s been incredibly motivating for me and incredibly life-saving to have work that I could still do,” Jill stated. “And not everybody has that, and I empathize with that. But I always try to find silver linings. And I’ve been incredibly creative, incredibly grateful, grateful that we caught it, grateful that it was me and not anyone else in my family, because I couldn’t watch anyone go through this.”
Martin also stopped by The Today Show on Tuesday to present holiday “Steals and Deals”. She has a unique perspective from going through her battle publicly.
“Everyone says it must be so hard to do this publicly. It’s actually easier to do it publicly, because people know what you’re going through,” Jill said. “It’s been incredibly humbling and also encouraging that there are good people in this world and that there are kind people.
“I only want to be with those people and work with those people. And so I think with work, you see the passion and the dedication and the way that Lionsgate embraced what I’m going through. Look what we created in it. I think there’s something to be said about that, and I hope that that encourages people, whatever struggles they’re going through, to try to find a silver lining and motivation in something that is really hard to do.”
The finished product from Jill and Lionsgate is a game-changer for movie fans and collectors. Rather than wasting hours and hours in searching and watching online auctions for movie memorabilia items that may or may not be legitimate, you can get the real thing or licensed replicas straight from the movie studio.
“With everything going on in the world right now, I feel like people are looking for escapism and looking to be able to immerse themselves into something that they love,” Jill said. “And what this does is it kind of blurs the lines between reality and actually being in the movie.
“So when the viewer watches and has this box and takes out the book, and they see it’s the exact book from the movie, they’re actually able to watch and use in real time. It tricks the mind to think for a minute you can escape and go somewhere else.”
Depending on the tier and the box, The Hunger Games fans could walk away with items ranging from an Academy notebook, a Lucy Gray Baird & the Covey band hat, or Lucky Flickerman’s signature card deck to official Hunger Games props like an Academy pin and Panem money.
There are four different tiers of boxes that fans can select. Three of the boxes are available on Walmart.com and one of the boxes sold in collaboration with Aviator Nation is available at ShoptheScenes.com.
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