SAG-AFTRA Prepares Hollywood Publicists for Strike (EXCLUSIVE)

Leadership from the performers guild SAG-AFTRA held a conference call with top Hollywood publicity agencies on Monday, bracing the powerful gatekeepers of A-list stars for a strike. The objective of the call, according to sources, was to brief the reps on protocols and how talent can best serve the union if and when a strike takes place.

SAG-AFTRAs National Board has the option to call a strike if the AMPTP wont agree on a deal that bolsters performers careers and ensures their profession remains one that can support a dignified livelihood, leadership wrote to the PR agencies ahead of the meeting. SAG-AFTRA initiated the meeting.

During the call, which one participant described as panicked, the publicists asked varied questions including if their clients would be allowed to sit for panels at the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con, and if promotional obligations outside the United States would be kosher. A representative for SAG-AFTRA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Its understood that call participants included about 140 PR reps from top firms as well as Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRAs national executive director and chief negotiator; Ray Rodriguez, the unions chief contracts officer; and marketing and communications chief Pamela Greenwalt.

Its the most sobering sign yet that the union may join the Writers Guild of America in battling the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers for more generous contracts. The current contract between the actors and producers is set to expire at midnight PT on July 12, an already-delayed deadline that sowed chaos in the industry for nearly two weeks with a will-they-or-wont-they guessing game. SAG-AFTRA leaders have also made similar outreach to top law firms and talent agencies in recent days.

It would be a miracle at this point to reach a deal by this Wednesday, one producer told Variety.

Publicists have been wringing their hands for weeks over a potential SAG-AFTRA strike as they send talent out to promote blockbuster summer movies tentpoles whose success relies on maximum exposure to audiences, including Barbie, Oppenheimer, and Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1.

The agents who broker deals for stars were freaking out as news of the Monday call trickled out, the producer source said. Last week, the tea leaves read positive that the producers and actors would reach a deal. But by Friday, according to another top power player who spoke on the condition of anonymity, everything fell apart.

Selome Hailu contributed to this report.