Hollywood labor unions setting stage for all-out war: tentative pact covering craft workers appears to be an exception.

IT was a rare glimmer of light on an otherwise bleak Hollywood labor horizon.

Hollywood s five basic crafts unions and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers last week reached a tentative agreement on new three-year contracts affecting more than 6,000 workers. Drivers, plasterers, electrical, masons and utility workers are covered.

Meanwhile, the studios and the guilds that represent Hollywood's writers, actors and directors are preparing for all-out war.

It's likely the drivers and electricians would still be negotiating if they had to deal with the sticky issues the creative types do, such as residuals on the myriad emerging platforms.

Amid fears of a work stoppage by the Hollywood guilds next year, studios have been greenlighting more active projects than they were at the same time last year. The goal is to start production no later than March 1, so shooting can be completed by next July, when actors and directors could launch strikes.

Network brass also have been quietly planning for alternative lineups heavy on reality, sports and gameshows--i.e., fare that doesn't require guild talent.

Although the Writers Guild of America's contract expires on Oct. 31, few expect a deal to emerge by then. In that case, it's likely the WGA will tell members to keep working under terms of the expired pact in hopes that the guild can achieve an improved deal after the directors and actors negotiate.

The most recent numbers from the Film L.A. permitting agency showed off-lot feature filming in the Los Angeles region surged 29 percent and TV work 19 percent in the second quarter to 2,514 and 5,387 days, respectively.