As long as I’ve been in this business — jokingly since 1931 — there were two gold standard PR firms who handled Hollywood, PMK and Rogers and Cowan. A few years ago they merged, bringing together the talents of Cindi Berger, Alan Nierob, and Fran Curtis among others. They represented the biggest stars anywhere.

Now we learn from a new lawsuit that infidels at the company are accused of staging an ambush, pulling employees and clients from R&CPMK in what they must think is a coup. But the Empire Strikes Back: R&CPMK accuses the leaders of this gang of breaching contracts, corporate interference, and so on.

In the lawsuit, filed in New York, the principals of the new firm, called 2PMSharp, breached their duty of loyalty to R&CPMK, which stands to lose “untold revenues from the loss of client business.” R&CPMK says because of this surprise attack they will have to restore the morale of its remaining employees and manage a threat to its reputation as an industry leader.

“The Former Employees’ conduct is particularly egregious in that some of them were senior executives who understand the importance of protecting Company business relationships,” the suit states.

R&CPMK says that in the weeks leading up the announcement of 2PMSharp, employees downloaded 11,000 confidential files. Over a span of a few days, a dozen or so executives submitted resignations without explanation.

The leaders of 2PM Sharp include Mark Owens, who left the company last March 2024 after his dismissal in January; plus Lindsay Galin and Jeff Raymond, who serve as Co-Presidents and resigned on October 1st to join Owens.

You can read the lawsuit here.

As the complaint states: “R&CPMK represents more than 400 of the most prominent and influential actors, musicians, producers, directors, content creators, and athletes in the world, and creates distinctive integrated marketing campaigns for some of the largest brands and Fortune 500 companies across the globe.”

Over the years, PMK has survived other groups of employees leaving to start new firms. Among the firms that emerged were Leslee Dart’s 42 West, and ID-PR. Even though those were tough divorces, they were nothing like this.

2PMSharp has launched a website and Instagram account but they’ve yet to announce which clients they’ve persuaded to join them in their revolution. For decades, Rogers and Cowan has represented both the Rolling Stones and Elton, for example. I’d be very surprised if those savvy acts went along with this idea. Ditto for actors who are long time clients.

to be continued…