Strike Prevents Actors From Promoting Films at Premieres or Festivals

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It has already been a difficult year for movie theaters, with the North American box office down roughly 20 percent from last year. And that was when actors could promote their films. With SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ union, on strike as of Friday, its 160,000 members are officially barred not only from acting in projects involving the major Hollywood studios but also from engaging in any publicity efforts for films and TV shows that have already been completed. That means no appearances, either online or in person, including at the Comic-Con International next week in San Diego, many of the fall film festivals, and any movie premieres or television promotional events. SAG-AFTRA officials convened conference calls with Hollywood’s top agencies and publicists this week to explain the strike rules for both the production and the promotion of coming projects. And on Thursday, after announcing the strike, the union released its rules for its membership. “It’s going to be expensive, because the only other way to compensate for the lack of publicity is to buy more noise,” Terry Press, a top Hollywood marketer, said. “When you don’t have any form of publicity, which is free to a certain extent, you have to try to make up that noise.