STARS STRIKES SERIES

Drescher: Jill Connelly/Bloomberg via Getty Images SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher joined the picket lines outside Netflix on July 14. (As of now, SAG-AFTRA has barred talent from so much as promoting studio-backed work on social media.) Nevertheless, one Disney source says that they are operating under a worst-case-scenario end date of Jan. 1 as they consider what to do. Others are waiting to see what their competitors do, whether the Emmy eligibility cutoff for 2024 is pushed back and if any publicity loopholes emerge, as they did with the writers, who ultimately agreed to grant interviews arranged by personal publicists. This is partly because, some say, many are still holding out hope that the strikes could end quickly. In the dozen or more conversations that The Hollywood Reporter had with executives across the landscape, one thing became clear: No decisions have been made. “And if people weren’t starting to have these discussions, what you’d see is continued launches in Q3 and Q4 and then a very, very steep drop-off in Q1 of next year.” “There are lots of discussions happening around how do we make sure that, at least over the course of the next year, we have a steady cadence of content, even if it’s less content,” says one streaming executive, who notes his outlet is more likely to shelve star vehicles. (Series with lesser-known talent are more likely to stay put.) In at least a few cases, executives say the stars themselves have asked that their shows be held so that they can be involved in both the promotion and the celebration.

STARS STRIKES SERIES

At multiple streamers, discussions are already underway about potentially moving certain fully shot (but undated) series to early 2024, if not simply benching them until the dual strike ends.

Stars strikes