As New York City’s film industry suffers from the shocks of the writers’ strike, even bigger storms may be looming: In July, the Screen Actors Guild and the Directors Guild of America are expected to lead strikes of their own, which would immediately halt all filmmaking and could threaten the survival of scores of New York’s independent film companies.

In preparation for a possible SAG and DGA strike, many Los Angeles-based studios have been rushing to get their filming done before July. That increase in demand has allowed actors to raise their fees, making those who run the less wealthy New York indie film companies worry that they might have to halt production until actors become more affordable.

“We are not the sort of companies with very deep pockets that would be able to sustain ourselves through a very long cessation of work,” a co-owner of New York-based indie film company Belladonna Productions, Linda Moran, said. “Some companies might have to shut down.”

About a third of all independent films are produced in New York City at 145 studios and stages, according to a 2005 report by the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corp. The Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre, and Broadcasting calculates that the film industry as a whole employs 100,000 New Yorkers.

In the face of such strong competition, New York’s indie filmmakers are finding it especially difficult to convince talent to sacrifice higher pay for an opportunity to work on more creative independent projects.

“Even the big actors at some point want to make a decent indie film, and normally they do it for very little money,” the producer for New York-based Vox3 Films, Andrew Fierberg, said. Right now, though, actors are trying to grab as many of the higher paying jobs as possible, in order to put some extra cash in the bank in case a strike keeps them from working. “Lower-budget films, even the really good ones, become less of a priority in that kind of crunch,” according to a producer for Open City Films in New York, Jason Kliot. “It’s harder for us to get the agents’ and the actors’ attention when they’re thinking about these basic livelihood issues.”

Representatives from SAG and DGA declined to comment on the possibility of a strike. However, people in the industry are acting as if it’s a sure thing, noting the general discontent among creative workers over compensation for “new media” content, including DVD sales and online distribution.

“There is a good chance that there could be a strike, because you’re already seeing it with the writers here. … These are serious issues on how people are being compensated in the modern age, and things have to change. … I don’t think SAG or DGA will back down in discussions,” Mr. Kliot said.

If the Writers Guild can sustain its strike until June 30, when the contracts of SAG and DGA are set to expire, then the three unions might strike in unison. Whereas movie production has been able to continue during the writers strike due to the use of pre-written scripts, such a “perfect storm” of strikes could immediately bring the entire American film industry to its knees.

“It might be the death blow to the American film business as we know it,” Mr. Fierberg said. The shock could “usher in a whole new paradigm” of production and distribution, he said.

Nonetheless, some producers are hoping that a SAG and DGA strike could yet have a silver lining. During the commercial strike of 2000, SAG allowed some independent filmmakers to accept its terms on their own, enabling indie film production to continue during the strikes.

Messrs. Kliot and Fierberg said they would be surprised if SAG didn’t make such an offer to independent filmmakers again, should strikes look imminent. “I think all of the unions know that having us go out of business isn’t good for them down the road,” Mr. Fierberg said.

Even if SAG does allow independent filmmakers to accept its terms and continue filming, “that’s not exactly going to make things easy,” according to Mr. Fierberg.

Independent filmmakers could still have a tough time funding their projects, so long as SAG is striking against the larger film studios. Even if Mr. Fierberg does get SAG’s blessing to shoot during a strike, his financiers might worry about whether any of the larger studios would be able to buy and distribute the finished product. “In that situation,” he said, “my capital would have to say, ‘Well jeez, I don’t really want to put money in right now because I’m not sure we can sell it to studios.”