Media literacy for healthy fandoms

The inside scoop on inside scoops from PR professionals.

[sunnywiththescoop]

About Us

2 chronically online PR veterans, Sunny 🌞 and Mare 🐴 out to provide professional insight into the world of celebrity PR.

🌞 Former account exec. Nepo baby (of the PR world.) Lifelong Angeleno. 30s. Raising beach babies. She/Her.

🐴 Former talent agency intern, digital account coordinator supervisor at large bi-coastal firm. 20s. Creole multi fandom horse girl offline and elsewhere.

(Always open to new mods! DM for info!)

What does a publicist do?

Create, approve and promote editorial content. Create, approve and promote social media content. Network! Build advantageous relationships

Mod Rules

This is a space to discuss the forces at work behind fame, celebrity and the occasional scandal. This is not a celebrity gossip blog. Discussions of specific celebrities, public figures and/or their representatives will be posted with extreme discretion.

[sunnywiththescoop]

Who keeps telling celebs that they need fake teeth?

ME. I earn a commission on every cosmetic dentistry referral I make.

If your smile is not a blinding row of porcelain chiclets so unnaturally white they could guide ships through fog, are you even trying?

Don't let something as trivial as biology get in the way of branding!! 🌞

[sunnywiththescoop]

Hi! Hope you're doing well. I'm curious about your thoughts on the Sebastian Stan/Annabelle Wallis news, as well as TMZ's wider reputation.

I don't have any thoughts beyond congratulations I guess?

As far as TMZ, if you check our tag, you'll see a pattern with both asks and our responses.

It's not ethical investigative journalism, because their sources are as likely to be paid public workers violating professional confidentiality as they are to be entertainment insiders or PR pros. And paying sources doesn't result in perfect accuracy, but it does tend to get sensitive information out first and in greater detail than anyone involved would typically prefer. So. They continue to have an audience. 🌞

[sunnywiththescoop]

Hope you both are doing ok!

Thoughts on the Timmy ballet/opera comments? Assuming hes asked about it in a future interview, what would you advise he says if you were on his team?

I don't think the comments would have landed as poorly as they did if they hadn't come from Tim in the midst of (what I sort of warned about in the Heated Rivalry ask) a bit of status contamination & overexposure.

Opera and ballet aren't dead art forms, but they are far less accessible than the cinema has been for the past century or so. Had the public already not been kind of annoyed with him after a self-aggrandizing awards campaign, it could have been attributed to clumsy phrasing.

So my advice would be a good long media hiatus/detox before making any kind of statement at all. 🙃🌞

[sunnywiththescoop]

Do you think the PR surrounding Hudson & Connor will translate to them landing more roles? What do you think about their apparent separate PR strategies?

My understanding is that future season(s) of Heated Rivalry are in the works, so it makes sense to put some space between their public moves while they can. I don't think it would matter as much if HR was a completed project. Hollywood can utilize public friendship as much as feuds and romantic relationships.

The bigger risk with such massive, instant hype (and the roles that I'm sure will come) is how quickly they will lose their protective "outsider" status. Will the backlash be as intense as the praise once they inevitably do something kinda douchey?

Chris Pratt and Brad Pitt used to wait tables too, it doesn't make folks relatable forever. 🌞

[sunnywiththescoop]

Survived award season minus my health and sanity. So obviously...it's the perfect time to return to Tumblr.

I promised I'd clear out the inbox then never did!! So enjoy a few final (eh maybe??) unfiltered thoughts and never forget that Public Relations is:

UNPAID, earned media

conspiracies are a social contagion. friends don't let (Tumblr) friends distort reality. check sources. take breaks. touch grass etc. too much freak shit happening in the world to go making up more.

[achillesinhighheels]

[sunnywiththescoop]

Probably winding down my activity on this blog for the foreseeable future. Won't delete anything, but will no longer be updating as Sunny 🌞

Will spend the next few days going through the inbox, might even hit up some of the kookier asks that have been sitting in the inbox for years (for my own entertainment.)

Find me on insta if you enjoy shitty concert photography and music marketing, with a touch of domestic chaos.

[sunnywiththescoop]

was Harry Styles entire 2013–2015 dating history a single long-form PR narrative, or did it just accidentally read like a trilogy with a tragic ending?

I...don't think I know enough of the lore to answer this one, friend. Sorry. 🌞

[sunnywiththescoop]

Do studios still plant anonymous blinds, or is that considered too 2016 now?

PR pros across the entertainment use all kinds of gossip mediums to earn press. It's still common. 🌞

[sunnywiththescoop]

Is it true that you can pay tabloids not to run certain photos, and if so… ballpark, how much are we talking?

"Catch and kill" isn't a common *tabloid* strategy in my experience, because:

the journalists/outlets that are receptive to that kind of technique are often not considered reputable in the first place

cost prohibitive (see explanation below)

creates a secondary scandal (see: Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow)

Preventing the publication of photos is done much more efficiently and affordably by working directly with photographers, and if that fails, the photo agencies that license them. Exclusive rights to newsy photos can go for thousands to tens of thousands depending on who the subject is. (But not all reps have strong relationships with these entities, so, ya know. Hire wisely.) 🌞

[sunnywiththescoop]

[rabbiteclair]

if tumblr had a 'what in the hell are you even talking about' button, I'm not saying I'd use it as much as likes, but it'd be up there.

[sunnywiththescoop]

[sunnywiththescoop]

Meredith Maines is leaving the employment of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, making her the 11th publicist they've lost in 5 years. Is that normal turnover? What factors would cause a publicist to jump ship after only a few months?

From a general LinkedIn/job search perspective, "in house" PR positions like this are considered more desirable than working at an agency when the pay is competitive. Theoretically the workload is lighter & comes with less oversight.

There are too many factors that could be contributing to the high turnover (which isn't "normal," hence the scrutiny) for my speculation to have any value.

Whatever systemic issues are at play, I don't know why they wouldn't bring in one of the major agencies at this point. A brand in constant flux needs flexible representation, and someone like Weber Shandwick isn't gonna up and bail on a contract. But I guess that's not how "the Royals" have traditionally done it?? Or maybe there are financial limitations or too many conflicts of interest. Seems like time to change strategies tho. 🌞

[hollandery]

"As it turns out, witnessing two young, exceedingly green actors be so free in and genuinely enthusiastic about the moment that they’re experiencing is as refreshing as it is endearing. Neither one of them is above it or blasé about what is happening, as you so often see once fame hits — nor are they dismissive of or embarrassed by the premium smut that they’re promoting. [...] Toggling between the show and the press tour has been a joyful respite from so much ugliness in the world — one can only hope the next nine days, and well beyond, will remain so. We need it. Maybe we even deserve it." — The Hollywood Reporter, ‘Heated Rivalry’ and the Art of a Truly Joyful Press Tour

[sunnywiththescoop]

If the goal is PR analysis, it might be worth looking at confirmed, public facing decisions: franchise exits, press behavior, and brand alignment, rather than assuming someone’s relationship is their only marketing tool. That’s where strategy is a lot more evident. 🌞 /

Is this one of the PR strategies you are talking about? Still doesn't mean the whole relationship is fake, right?

https://www.vogue.com/article/andrew-garfield-monica-barbaro-couple-style-world-tour

Yes. These kind of articles are all about building cross-section appeal.

They are actors, and upcoming releases are mentioned, but because this is Vogue and not strictly an entertainment outlet, a bunch of luxury brands are name-dropped which sort of elevates them into the realm of "fashion/lifestyle" trendsetters while providing those brands hundred of thousands of dollars in earned media value.

Tier 1 coverage like this tends to get recirculated pretty heavily and encourage additional media pick-ups, so they're def not shying away from the attention. With joint projects to promote and $$$ brand partnerships to encourage, why would they? 🌞

[sunnywiththescoop]

Love, light & peace despite it all ✌️