re the first part, the cat is out of the bag. If you are in PR (I am not but we are really talking about the producer not the publicist), then you know that when something gets out that you didn't want out (e.g., your hypotheticals) you no longer have the option of pretending that nothing has been disclosed.
re the second part, my experience is quite different. If you handle it upfront correctly-asking the actor(s) to keep it under wraps-they will without any push back at all. This is especially true when you have someone coming in to a big gig who wants to be on good terms with everyone and another person who is a part of the creative team. But you have to be hands on at the time the decision is made, and experienced enough to know how to spin it positively. This is not a show that can afford even small mistakes.
I think when you have info coming out that undermines an incoming star's capabilities, that's bad PR. What people are saying may not be true, and we may wish they wouldn't speculate, but it is a fact that they are saying things that are not helpful, and that the producer is not controlling the narrative. Bad producing, bad PR, bad bad bad :-) |
