After the strike, Hollywood rushes to watch movies, and the televisions are humming
Written by Dawn Chmielowski and Lisa Richwine
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Hours before the Hollywood actors’ strike officially ended, Beth Goodnight’s phone began ringing with chance.
The president of a Hollywood construction company and prop shop bearing her name sent two project managers to begin bidding for the work. By the end of Wednesday, they had racked up figures for seven projects, including a Super Bowl commercial, a TV show, a major event and smaller parts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“My phone wouldn’t stop ringing last night,” Goodnight said, estimating she may have spoken to as many as 100 people, including her laid-off workers. “I couldn’t imagine the wave of tears that came, because… just like Sisyphus being able to drop a 200-pound boulder, I wasn’t even aware of the amount of stress I was under.”
Actors union SAG-AFTRA reached a tentative agreement with major studios and streaming companies on Wednesday, opening the door to Hollywood productions and getting the entertainment industry back to work after writers and actors strikes halted most filming. The writers reached an agreement in late September after a strike in May.
Major film projects, such as Ridley Scott’s historical epic “Gladiator 2,” are expected to return to production by the end of the year or early next year, according to a source familiar with the project. Schedules are being reconciled, flights to Malta and accommodation are being booked, and other preparations are being made.
Marvel Studios’ Deadpool 3, a high-priority project for Walt Disney Co., will likely resume filming before Thanksgiving, after an actors’ strike halted production in July. Disney announced Thursday that the new “Deadpool” movie will premiere in late July, instead of early May as originally planned.
Filming for the martial arts film “Mortal Kombat 2” will resume on the Gold Coast, Australia.
“We don’t have a lot of locations, so we ended up keeping all the sets,” producer Todd Garner said. “We’re ready to go, we just have to turn the lights back on and get everyone back.”
One of the major hurdles to resuming production is coordinating the A-list actors’ schedule.
“It’s going to be pandemonium,” said one talent agent, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. Some actors will want to spend the next few months promoting their films in the Oscar race rather than going on set, disrupting productions that other actors would love to return to. Scheduling conflicts may cause some projects to be dropped altogether.
“I think a lot of plans will fall by the wayside,” the agent said.
Saving the radio television season
Meanwhile, production managers across the industry are contacting light houses, prop shops and clients, many of whom have had to lay off workers, to make preparations to return to set.
However, it will take some time to restart many projects. Producers will have to book facilities and hire staff before starting to build sets and rent props.
“It won’t be business as usual for a few months, and it probably won’t happen until after the first of the year,” said Pam Elia, owner of prop supplier History for Hire. Her company has provided props for films from the 1997 hit “Titanic” to this year’s “Oppenheimer.”
One feature film the company was working on had just been delayed until 2024, she said.
Broadcast television networks are trying to salvage part of their season. After filling the fall schedule with reality shows and recurring series, executives hope to air some episodes of hit shows like “Abbott Elementary,” “NCIS” and “Law & Order” next year.
ABC Studios aims to begin production this month on new seasons of the long-running medical drama “Grey’s Anatomy” and the detective show “The Rookie,” according to a source familiar with the production. New episodes could debut early next year. ABC Studios’ new drama Tracker is also expected to begin filming for CBS this month.
The actors were gearing up to hit red carpets, talk shows and social media to promote their projects. Most of them were banned from promoting films and television shows during the strike. Studios are eager to have actors promoting Oscar nominees, such as Leonardo DiCaprio’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” and Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro.”
“Yes!!! Thank God. I can tweet a certain trailer that I’m very excited about,” actor Kumail Nanjiani wrote on the social media platform in December but was postponed by distributor Sony Pictures to March 2024 due to strikes.
(Additional reporting by Dawn Chmielewski and Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Editing by Mary Milliken and Jerry Doyle)
