Hollywood studios troubled by labor pains

Studio executives insisted Wednesday that the Hollywood writers strike did not hurt their movie-release plans through summer 2009.

That was the good news. The bad news is that looming contract talks for actors could screw up things beyond then.

"It's not a foregone conclusion that it's going to work itself out," Sony Pictures Entertainment vice chairman Jeff Black said during a panel discussion at the industry's annual ShoWest convention.

Other film executives also expressed concern that sabre-rattling by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) could presage another troublesome labor dispute. The union's contract expires June 30, and no start date has been set for talks. The uncertainty has forced studios to delay projects rather than risk having them shut down by a walkout.

"If the SAG situation doesn't resolve itself fairly quickly, then you do start to develop a situation where there might be a little gap (in) late 2009," Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore said.

Of course, with most distributors lamenting the recent crush of releases over competitive weekends, having fewer films in the pipeline might not be such a bad thing, he added.

"People would start to spread out their slates," Moore said.

Disney Motion Picture Group president Mark Zoradi noted that his studio already has moved to cut annual releasing activities to about 12-14 films per year, with a pair of animation tentpoles slotted in the summer and holiday periods.

Sony is on the other end of the scale, still releasing upward of 20 films annually, including titles from its mid-budget Screen Gems arm, Blake noted.

Fewer prestige titles will get released this fall following last fall's problematic crush of adult-targeted films, such as "Gone Baby Gone" and "Michael Clayton," Universal worldwide marketing and distribution president Adam Fogelson said.

Releasing trends tend to be cyclical, Fogelson added. But he also noted that Universal executives embrace a recent movement toward slotting films throughout the calendar year.

"The weekend after Labor Day and the one after Thanksgiving do tend to offer some problems," Fogelson said. "But generally speaking, there are like 49 or 50 weekends throughout the year that can work."

Getting producers to endorse unconventional release slots can be tough, Moore said.

"The most common refrain you have when you're looking at a release date is, 'What other movie has worked in that window?' " the Paramount executive said.

Meanwhile, the increased use of Internet marketing, especially for young-skewing films, means campaigns have to begin six to eight months ahead of release dates if they are to succeed in generating prerelease buzz, executives noted.

The Internet has become a good additional resource for distribution clips and trailers to hype films, they said.

"(But) the theater is absolutely the best place to get that message out," Fogelson said, as other panelists nodded in agreement over the importance of theatrical trailers.

ShoWest, which has been running since Monday at the Bally's and Paris hotels here, concludes Thursday with an awards gala.