The wave of series cancellations during the dual Hollywood strikes has continued amid sweeping cost-cutting, including layoffs and content removal, by traditional media companies and some belt-tightening among the tech-based streamers too as their once sky-high series budgets have come down to earth.

What’s more, the strikes resulted in a pipeline backlog, with a number of streaming series originally intended for 2024 being pushed to 2025. That has led to fewer greenlights as platforms’ 2025 slates are largely filled. The same goes for the broadcast networks, with most of the new scripted series for 2023-24 being delayed to next season.

Non-Existent 2024 Pilot Season

A decade ago, as many as 100 broadcast pilots would be casting right now. This year, we have a total of three, all at NBC. In addition to a shot at an on-air series, a casting in a pilot provides a life line for hundreds of actors with a paycheck that helps them qualify for the union’s health insurance.

Broadcast networks had already been pulling away from pilots — they don’t really factor into Fox’s development model, and the new CW’s scripted slate relies predominantly on international co-productions. (With few exceptions, basic cable networks, which also employ pilots, have retreated from original scripted programming altogether.)

Still, after the physical and emotional toll of the strikes on actors, many of whom lived off savings and odd jobs for six months, they had been looking forward to the 2024 pilot season for some semblance of normalcy.

Because of the effects of the strikes, which delayed production of new and existing series and development of new ones, that was never really in the cards. An anticipated flood of series castings immediately after the end of SAG-AFTRA work stoppage didn’t materialize either.

“Fewer actors are auditioning this year for pilots vs. previous seasons, and actors are really feeling the emotional effect,” one casting director said. “Competition for the few series regular roles that are available is much more intense.”

The same applies to name actors getting offers. NBC’s Suits: LA pilot cast Arrow and Heels star Stephen Amell as its lead.

During pilot season we would normally have a feeding frenzy for TV stars of his caliber. But, because of the contraction, with broadcast volume going down, pilots drying up and streamers often going for feature names, there are dozens of proven TV stars in their 30s, 40s and 50s — all of whom have headlined hit series — that have been sidelined for months (some for a year or two) with no major job prospects.

Disappearing Series Regular Roles

The value of series regular roles has diminished over the past 10 years as TV seasons often consist of 6-10 episodes in the streaming era — a fraction of the standard 22-24-episode a year broadcast shows that dominated television for decades — making it harder for rank-and-file working actors to make a good living off their episodic fees.

Even broadcast series don’t always produce 22 episodes a season anymore, with 13-18 episodes considered a standard order size, and the current network model rarely can sustain a show beyond six or seven seasons.

Still, due to the volatility in streaming where short seasons of 6-8 episodes could run a year and a half to two years apart and shows often gets get canceled after 2-3 seasons, a lot of big-name stars who had turned up their noses at broadcast in the golden era of cable — and then streaming — are now looking to go back to the steady paycheck security the network business provides.

But those well paying jobs are harder to land as budgets are being slashed amid industry-wide drive to rein in costs.

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