In Hollywood they?ve heard the line enough to know it usually means trouble: ?It?s quiet out there ... too quiet.? Still, perhaps lulled by the absence of any ominous drums, executives at the television networks seem eerily calm right now about the prospect of a strike by their actors. The producers? contract with the Screen Actors Guild was to expire Monday at midnight, though union leaders have yet to call for a strike authorization vote, and balloting could take up to three weeks. Still, a walkout could derail television production in the same devastating way that a strike by writers did last winter. So far, that threat is muted. One telling piece of evidence: Network executives are not displaying the same hair-on-fire demeanor that characterized the days leading up to the writers? strike.
See "Networks Lie Low on Actors? Contract", Bill Carter, The New York Times, June 30, 2008