Hollywood studios scramble to restart projects as post-strike era begins

Production executives throughout the industry are contacting lighting houses, prop shops and costumers to make preparations for returning to the set.

Hours before the Hollywood actors’ strike officially ended, Beth Goodnight’s phone began ringing with opportunity.

The head of a Hollywood construction company and prop shop that bears her name dispatched two project managers to begin bidding for work. By the end of the day Wednesday, they had crunched numbers on seven projects, including a Super Bowl commercial, a television show, a large event and smaller pieces that add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“My phone would not stop ringing and buzzing last night,” said Goodnight, who estimated she may have spoken to as many as 100 people, including her laid-off workers. “I did not imagine the wave of tears that came, because … like Sisyphus being able to put down a 200-pound rock, I wasn’t even aware of how much pressure I was under.”

The SAG-AFTRA actors’ union reached a tentative deal with the major studios and streamers Wednesday, opening the floodgates to Hollywood production and returning the entertainment industry to work after dual writers’ and actors’ strikes stopped most filming. Writers reached a deal in late September after going on 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 one source familiar with the project. Schedules are being matched, flights to Malta and accommodations are being booked, and other preparations are under way.

Marvel Studios’ “Deadpool 3,” a high-priority project for Walt Disney, will most likely resume filming before Thanksgiving, after the actors’ strike shut down production in July. Disney announced Thursday that the new “Deadpool” movie would debut in late July, rather than early May as originally planned.

Martial arts film “Mortal Kombat 2” will resume shooting on the Gold Coast of Australia.

“We don’t have a lot of locations, so we ended up just holding all the sets,” said producer Todd Garner. “We’re basically ready to go, we just have to turn the lights back on and get everybody back.”