SAG-AFTRA grants Priscilla an interim agreement for Venice Film Festival premiere
Since it wasn't shot in the U.S., SAG-AFTRA will allow the cast of Sofia Coppola's Priscilla to promote the film at the Venice Film Festival next week
Priscilla has entered the palazzo.
Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, the second and decidedly less garish Presley biopic in two years, will get the complete treatment at the Venice Film Festival, should its cast wish. The A24 film received an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA, per Deadline, allowing its stars Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi to promote the movie if the mood strikes them, satisfying the suspicious minds of the press.
Current strike rules forbid any WGA-covered project shot in the U.S. from receiving an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA. “Shot in the U.S.” is the operative part of that sentence. A24’s Priscilla was shot in Canada and produced by TCB Productions Canada, a production company based in the Great White North. Current agreements (of which A24 has several) were updated on August 14 and now exclude any WGA-covered project produced in the U.S.
“After several productive and collaborative meetings, and upon the recommendation of our NED & chief negotiator, we have approved a modification to our Interim Agreement policy,” SAG-AFTRA wrote in a statement published on August 14. “We will now exclude from Interim Agreements any WGA-covered project to be produced in the USA. We have been advised by the WGA that this modification will assist them in executing their strike strategy, and we believe it does not undermine the utility and effectiveness of ours. It is a win-win change.”
Interim agreements
have been the cause of some controversy during the strike.
Nevertheless, these agreements reveal a “vital” facet of the strike
strategy. Namely, if smaller companies can abide by these rules, why
can’t these entertainment conglomerates?
The agreement is another embarrassment for the AMPTP, which can’t seem to find the money in its record profits to pay writers and actors fairly and not jeopardize future employment with AI-generated cartoon characters and scripts. As a result of the studios stretching the strike out for nearly four months, numerous films have been released without the help of its stars’ promotion, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Blue Beetle, and Haunted Mansion. Last week, The Hollywood Reporter reported that movies take as much as a 15% hit when stars aren’t promoting their films, but at least Warners can pretend it saved $100 million by not settling this strike already.
The Venice Film Festival runs from August 30 through September 9. Priscilla opens in the U.S. on October 27.