Studios step up film production

TV production has been slow to recover following the writers' strike

Studios have stepped up film production in Hollywood in the face of a threatened strike by actors in June.

Movie production increased by 11 per cent in the first three months of 2008, compared to the same period last year.

Current contracts between the studios and stars of film and prime-time TV are due to expire on 30 June.

Earlier this year a 100-day writers' strike crippled production. Film union, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), entered their 10th day of talks last week.

The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (Aftra) is due to begin talks on 5 May, after the TV union voted to sever ties with the Screen Actors Guild in March.

Aftra delayed the start of its talks for a week to give SAG a better chance to complete a three-year deal covering movies and prime-time television.

Compensation

The actors' union, which offered strong support to the Writers Guild of America (WGA) in its three-month strike, shares its concerns over work distributed on DVD or over the internet.

Actors are looking for improved compensation for shows and movies distributed online.

A film shoot interrupted by a strike would a "very expensive proposition", Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation told the Associated Press.

"We are determined, as we have always been, to work hard and bargain reasonably with the actors' unions so that we can all avoid another harmful, unnecessary strike," the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the film and TV studios, said last month.