Movie and television directors said Thursday that they were prepared to begin bargaining toward a new contract with production companies after the New Year holiday, a move that could realign Hollywood’s troubled labor front, the New York Times reports.

The contract between the Directors Guild of America, which represents about 13,500 directors and associated production workers, and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, an industry bargaining group, is to expire on June 30.

The talks can be expected to jolt striking screenwriters, who walked out almost six weeks ago after failing to reach a deal with the producers’ alliance. Members of the Writers Guild of America West and the Writers Guild of America East had lobbied directors to stay away from the bargaining table while the writers were still trying to negotiate with the companies.

The writers’ unions said Thursday that they had filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing the companies of failing to bargain in good faith.

Talks between the producers and the writers collapsed last Friday, and leaders of the directors’ guild, who have often found an advantage in settling their deals early, decided that they could no longer hold back.

In a letter to members, the guild’s president, Michael Apted, said, “We have decided that the D.G.A. must go forward with our own negotiations.” But Mr. Apted said the guild would wait until January to give the writers and the companies “one last chance to get back to the table.”

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