There's that 'S' word again....

After the three-month Writers' Strike last year, TV may be in for another one if a settlement isn't reached.

The actors are currently in negotiation with the studios (AMPTP). The deadline set is June 30th.

What's getting ugly is, if reports are to be believed, the actors' unions themselves (there's more than one, I learned) are fighting amongst each other, making it impossible for deals to be ironed out before the deadline.

However, this report could be another ploy by the other camp the actors are negotiating with... "to distract from core issues and attempt to sow dissension." (Deadline Hollywood)

Whatever the case, if there is no deal after June 30th, what's gonna happen?

THR outlines today the current scenario:

• "24" -- the show most impacted by the writers strike as its seventh season was scrapped by Fox -- is the best prepared to weather a SAG strike. With 12 episodes already in the can and the two-hour prequel set to wrap production by month's end, "24" is certain to air a full season. --- YEY! STRIKE PROOF!
  
• Multicamera sitcoms that were the first primetime series to go dark immediately after the beginning of the writers walkout are among the most strike-proof. Some of them, including Fox's " 'Til Death" and CBS' "Rules of Engagement" and "Project Gary,".... HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Flight of the Conchords," the CW's "Reaper" and CBS' "Harper's Island." --- YEY! STRIKE PROOF!
  
• About two dozen broadcast series -- including "Heroes," "House," "Bones," "My Name Is Earl," "ER," "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "CSI: NY," "Criminal Minds," "Brothers & Sisters," "Chuck," "Dirty Sexy Money" and "Life" -- will have episodes in the can by July 1 as some stayed in continuous production or resumed shooting quickly because of the fallout of the writers strike. --- YEY! SEMI STRIKE PROOF!
  
• But there will be no finished product of such heavyweights as "Grey's Anatomy," "Desperate Housewives," "CSI: Miami" and "The Office," prompting speculation that networks might consider pushing the start of the 2008-09 season if there is a long SAG strike. --- BOO!!!!!
• Most broadcast pilots, whose production was delayed until after the upfronts, are expected to wrap production by month's end. --- YEY! SEMI STRIKE PROOF!
  

It doesn't look so bad from a viewers' standpoint. Except I'm concerned for The Office.

And how long will the strike be, how many episodes are in the can?

What's your stand about this strike? I can sympathize with the writers. Coming up with a decent, entertaining, original idea for a television show is hard...so they do deserve to negotiate for better compensation harder.

Is it the same case for actors? They also do hard work, an acting job isn't easy. But the question is --- do actors really need to hardball for more money?

If they strike --- stars can still afford to live way beyond their means, right? But the writers and the production crew that they work with will render themselves jobless immediately and a second time around while the strike is ongoing.

It's not the same fight, I think.

Strike Watch: Could SAG go to the picket lines next?

Hollywood Reporter dishes that all eyes are on SAG, as their contract with the AMPTP expires June 30. Should there be a possible breakdowns during the negotiations, will we see the stars in the picket lines next?

SAG officials won't say when they might launch negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers to replace a contract that's set to expire June 30. But a burgeoning rapprochement with sister performers union AFTRA makes much more likely the prospect of informal talks with studio chiefs of the sort that led to WGA and DGA contract deals.

"We're always open to having discussions," SAG president Alan Rosenberg said Wednesday.

He declined to elaborate.

News Corp. COO Peter Chernin and Disney chief Robert Iger were the most hands-on in hashing out deal terms with the writers and directors, and many believe those executives or other top media bosses also will engage with the actors unions before their formal negotiations with the AMPTP. An affable and loquacious labor leader for all his reputed militancy, Rosenberg has held previous sit-downs with such executives as CBS Corp. topper Leslie Moonves and Warner Bros. chief Barry Meyer during his more than two years in office.

But until just last weekend, inter-guild squabbling threatened to complicate any dialogue between labor and management.

SAG and AFTRA seemed to be going down diverging paths as the calendar counts down toward a June 30 expiration of their current AMPTP agreements. Rosenberg and SAG national executive director Doug Allen were regularly chastising AFTRA for perceived incursions onto SAG turf, and the duo pushed the SAG board to order a membership referendum on breaking with a decades-long tradition of bargaining jointly with AFTRA.

Then the board reversed course Saturday, halting the referendum and underscoring an interest in negotiating jointly with AFTRA. Key considerations seemed to be opposition to sabre-rattling from SAG New York leaders and the tentative agreement secured by the WGA on early Saturday morning.

Also, top actors like George Clooney and others have started to speak out against any overtly confrontational approach to the upcoming contracts. So whether for reasons of political practicality or a genuine interest in getting started, it now appears contract talks of some sort might happen sooner rather than later.

Rosenberg is said to be still leaning toward a late spring date for launching formal negotiations. Yet informal talks with one or more studio chiefs could happen at any time now.

To goose the process, Clooney, Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep and others have been strategizing over how to pressure Rosenberg into changing his thinking on the timing of formal discussions. For starters, the actors took out ads today in publications including The Hollywood Reporter.

Helpfully, SAG and AFTRA already have held several committee meetings on wage and working conditions issues. So should the A-listers succeed in getting SAG officials to launch negotiations by sometime next month, labor-side negotiators should be primed and ready to go.

On Wednesday, SAG's Allen issued a brief statement in response to press inquiries about the pressure from well-known guild members and the prospect of early negotiations with the AMPTP.

"Our ongoing member outreach has included, and will continue to include, conversations with high-profile television and movie actors, as well as input from our member-driven wages and working conditions committee meetings," the SAG exec said. "We are jointly conducting these wages and working conditions meetings with AFTRA (and) this process will conclude in the March. We will bargain with management at a time that will most benefit our members."