Strike threat stalls indie producers

Film producer Paul Schiff is a victim of the actors strike.

The fact that the actors strike hasn't happened yet, and many in Hollywood doubt it will, is beside the point. Schiff and producers like him are at the mercy of insurance companies, which are refusing to cover independent movies that can't be filmed before mid-June.

Schiff, who has made such offbeat films as "Rushmore," says he was forced to shelve three projects because he couldn't finish them by June 15, two weeks before the actors' contract with studios expires.

That's the deadline insurance companies have imposed upon dozens of movies that require a so-called completion bond. The bond guarantees that backers of independent films, which often involve a patchwork of financing with no assurance of distribution, will be paid in the event the movie is not completed on time or on budget.

"There were a number of projects that we had to surrender on and admit that there was just no way to meet the bond deadline," Schiff said.

So it goes for many independent film producers, who are juggling projects amid the uncertainty of contract negotiations between studios and actors. Producers, many of whom lost valuable time during the three-month writers strike that ended last month, are under pressure to begin shooting their movies, which can take eight weeks or more to complete.

The crunch has caused many of them to postpone projects while scrambling to finish others before any potential walkout.

"Whether or not a strike happens, for our purposes it's happening," said James Stern, producer of the Bob Dylan biography movie, "I'm Not There." "It's a big deal."

Although the well-financed major studios don't need completion bonds for movies, they are indirectly affected because their specialty labels rely heavily on independently produced movies that are the mainstay of film festivals and Hollywood's annual awards season.

Nonetheless, even the major studios have been hedging their bets. They have been contingency planning for an actors strike since the fall, rearranging their 2009 film release schedule so that most films would complete production by mid-June.

"For the smaller movies under $20 or $30 million they [the studios] are in fact waiting to see if there's going to be a strike," said producer Michael Bay, who is preparing to shoot a sequel to his 2007 summer blockbuster, "Transformers."