Studios Brace for Actors' Strike

TV and movie studios are scrambling to be as prepared as possible in the event of an actors' strike when the union contract expires Monday, reports the New York Times. Movie studios had long planned to finish projects by the deadline—and TV studios have been rushing productions to finish next season’s episodes early. “We’re incredibly hopeful an agreement will be reached—but we have a contingency plan,” said an NBC executive.

Studios learned from last winter’s writers' strike, which halted production and forced TV shows into reruns. Ironically, that strike put studios in a better position to weather a job action this time around. Writers immediately began scripting next season's episodes when they returned from the strike, giving a head start to this fall's TV shows. (More Screen Actors Guild stories.)