The Prospect Park online reboots of One Life To Live and All My Children are starting their hiatus earlier than planned because of a labor dispute.
Less than a month after announcing that the shows will only have two episodes a week each, Prospect Park announced that its hiatus will start now instead of holding off until June 17. In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Prospect said that the hiatus should end as scheduled on Aug. 12 if the dispute can be settled.
“Right now we have 40 episodes of each show ready to post through September, and if we can resolve this issue by August, we can get back into the studio on time so audiences will enjoy uninterrupted postings of their favorite shows,” Prospect said.
According to Deadline, Prospect and the IATSE Local 52 union can’t see eye-to-eye and the problem has even lead the studio to consider moving production from Connecticut to another state. IATSE claims that Prospect has often gone well over the $120,000-per-episode budget, but PRospect denies this.
“We believe we have met all contract requirements with IATSE, and as an internet start-up, and per our contract with the IA, we cannot afford, and our business model cannot sustain, traditional broadcast rates,” the statement reads. Prospect said that both OLTL and All My Children have been doing well on iTunes and Hulu and that they are committed to the properties.
Both soap operas aired on ABC before the network cancelled them, citing high production costs and low vierwership.
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