A sudden split between two actors unions over the weekend added an unhappy twist to Hollywood’s troubled contract cycle: It appeared to weaken the labor organizations without making life easier for the studios they bargain with, the New York Times reports.

On Saturday, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists suspended its bargaining alliance with the Screen Actors Guild, just before a board meeting where they hoped to approve a joint negotiating strategy.

The actors’ current contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers expires on June 30, and talks about a new contract were to have begun within two weeks.

Now Aftra, the smaller of the two unions, says it plans to open talks with the producers on its own as quickly as possible. In a brief statement, the studios’ alliance said it welcomed the prospect.

Hollywood, however, stands little to gain from a showdown. Having barely recovered from a three-month writers strike, television producers have been rushing to get their series back on track. Movie studios, meanwhile, are hurrying to finish productions like Universal Pictures’ “Land of the Lost” , a Will Ferrell comedy that was being shot last week at the La Brea Tar Pits, a half block from the actors guild headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard , before facing the possibility of another walk-out.

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