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 The Incredible HulkDirected by Louis Leterrier Starring Edward Norton Liv Tyler |  Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal SkullDirected by Steven Spielberg Starring Harrison Ford Shia LaBeouf |
 Kung Fu PandaDirected by Mark Osborne John Stevenson Voices by Jack Black Dustin Hoffman |  You Don't Mess with the ZohanDirected by M. Night Shyamalan Starring Zooey Deschanel Mark Wahlberg |
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STRIKE TALK = FILM STOPPAGE
Just as the scripted TV biz was starting to get out from under the upheaval caused by the writers strike, the threat of a work stoppage by actors has studios and nets making contingency plans for the upcoming season.
The majors are putting the brakes on production starts for features and TV pilots for fear that the Screen Actors Guild will call a strike following the June 30 expiration date of its feature-primetime deal. A few pics now shooting, such as “Angels and Demons” and “Transformers 2,” have a built-in hiatus next month; the next batch of tentpole features, including “2012,” “Prince of Persia” and “Nottingham,” won’t start until late summer as a hedge against the labor strife likely to play out in July.
The key date for the studio decisionmaking has now become July 7, when AFTRA should announce the results of its ratification vote on its primetime deal. Contract negotiations between SAG and the majors aren’t expected to lead to a deal before then — because SAG has tied its fortunes to defeating the pact reached by rival actors union AFTRA, which has 44,000 dual members with SAG. The guild has not yet scheduled a strike authorization vote, which would take three weeks to complete and require 75% approval from those voting.
Despite SAG’s efforts, the AFTRA ratification vote is expected to pass. Once the results are announced, the congloms are likely to make a “last, best and final” offer to SAG, leading in short order either to a deal or a possible lockout by the companies. Though the lockout strategy is risky for the congloms from a PR standpoint, taking such a step would preempt SAG from pulling the plug later on, with features and series in mid-production, via a strike.For now, the landscape’s already unsettled in TV — although, in an unintended result of the writers strike, the work stoppage may have helped the nets’ contingency plans for a potential SAG strike. That’s because some shows weren’t brought back in midseason, giving the nets and studios a jump on fall.
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