Fewer new shows in production. A higher bar to get shows renewed. Rich paydays going only to an elite few.

The labor pact writers struck with studios and streamers this week, ending a five-month strike,  will likely accelerate the retrenchment that was already under way in Hollywood for more than a year. It represented a formal end to “peak TV,” a decade that included an explosion of programming for viewers—and job opportunities for talent in Tinseltown.

A combination of debt-laden mergers, mounting losses in streaming, and the fast-shrinking cable TV bundle, has led to a push on Wall Street for entertainment companies to rein in spending. 

The streamers will have to find a way to pay increased talent costs—from the writers’ settlement, along with an earlier deal with directors and whatever is finalized with actors—without adding to their overall production costs.

Late-night shows including “Late Night With Seth Meyers” and Jimmy Fallon’s “The Tonight Show” announced plans to return next week, though it will be hard to bring in actors as guests, since their still-unresolved strike limits promotional appearances. Drew Barrymore’s daytime talk show plans to resume later in October. 

Writing activities on scripted shows can resume—from broadcast shows like ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” and NBC’s “Law & Order” franchise, to streaming and premium-cable fare like “Stranger Things” and “The White Lotus.” But production can’t start until the Screen Actors Guild reaches a labor deal with the studios. So it could still be many weeks—and for a lot of shows and movies, into 2024—before shooting begins.

Ultimately, both the writers and the studios face a common threat in the AI world, said Doug Shapiro, a consultant to media companies. “If AI more broadly reduces the cost of creating content and the supply of good-enough content explodes, then the whole economic foundation of Hollywood is going to shift, if not crumble.”