Multiple productions at once?

Sure, look at Mickey Rourke in Iron Man 2 and The Expendables. He even had the same hair cut because the shooting schedule overlapped.

Do the two companies ever come into contact about the schedule, or is it all done around the actor?

Usually for TV if the actor is part of the main cast, it's built into their contract that they can't be in other TV shows. This does not apply for day players like the victim of the week on CSI, for instance.

Some commercials also have what are called Conflicts or Conflicts of Interest where you can't be in another commercial that sells a competing product for a certain amount of time.

When it comes to movies, all bets are off.

Ewan said:

Do the two companies ever come into contact about the schedule, or is it all done around the actor?

Click to expand...

I suppose that would likely depend on the level of the production. It's very likely that in my example, all the paper-trading was taken care of between company lawyers and Rourke's agent. There's a good chance that neither the execs nor Mickey even heard about it until it was already finalized.

On smaller productions? I find that trying to limit an actor that's trying to start their career from doing other work is a good way to develop a bad reputation. Instead, try to enable those around you as much as possible, as long as what they're doing won't impede on your project. Have them sign paperwork on the issue so that everyone's on the same page about their obligations, but if you have a week off of shooting, and they want to work on another film in the interim, tell them to go nuts!

Ok, thanks

As long as the contracts don't allow for it, then the actor can take another job if he/she wants. I'm sure movie studios wouldn't mind, as long as the actor did other productions from that same studio, and like moonshield said, TV actors probably have less of a chance, though I think they'd find it easier to do a show on the same network.