The Canadian film and TV industry could get more than ghosts and goblins at the door this Halloween. Hollywood screenwriters last week voted to authorize a possible strike after Oct. 31, when the current Writers Guild of America contract expires. Should the WGA pull the trigger with a strike after Halloween, the supply of American movies and TV scripts headed to Canada for shooting in the coming months could be reduced sharply.

Until recently, the industry was betting that studios and networks would be in Canada to stockpile film and TV product before the current Screen Actors Guild contract expires on June 30, 2008. That scenario had Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal busy with shoots until next summer.

But the ground shifted on Oct. 19, when the Writers Guild of America gave its leaders permission to set up picket lines after Oct. 31 if a new deal with the major studios is not reached. Crunch talks began the week of Oct. 22.

For Canadians, the talks between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers recall the prolonged actors strike in this country earlier this year. In the U.S., there has been little movement since management and union representatives began negotiating on July 16, and the thorny issue of compensation for work on the Internet appears to be the main deal-breaker.

‘Writers do not want to strike, but they are resolute and prepared to take strong, united action to defend our interests,’ says WGA West president Patric Veronne. ‘What we must have is a contract that gives us the ability to keep up with the financial success of this ever-expanding global industry,’ he adds, putting the onus on the Hollywood studios and networks, represented by the AMPTP, to make concessions on key issues such as Internet residuals.

The doomsday scenario is that the stream of scripts from Los Angeles – driving the current Hollywood location shooting in Canada – could end with a writers strike.

If the writers walk, and ‘if scripts need rewrites, [the Hollywood studios] can’t do them,’ says Ken Ferguson, president of Toronto Film Studios. Feature and TV scripts would need to be finalized and greenlit before Oct. 31. Among location shoots that could be pulled if revisions aren’t completed by then is 20th Century Fox’s Another Night, a proposed sequel to Night at the Museum, which is slated for Montreal next year.

Ferguson, who is currently in Los Angeles meeting with studio executives, says the prospect of a writers strike – and not of Hollywood stars walking out next summer – has suddenly become a flashpoint in L.A.

‘All the people we’re meeting – this was not something they saw coming,’ he says. The last Hollywood screenwriters strike was in 1988, and crippled U.S. film and TV production for 22 weeks.

Of course, there’s no certainty that Hollywood screenwriters will strike on Nov. 1, or anytime soon afterwards. They could wait until the major studios hold talks with SAG next year before dropping their pens and raising pickets signs. That would keep the major studios busily shooting in Canada to add to their strike stockpile.

A long Hollywood writers strike also has implications for Canadian broadcasters. The major networks are expected to air reruns and reality shows once episodes of popular dramas and comedies run dry. That could hurt audiences and advertising dollars for the Canadian broadcasters that air those shows, as TV viewers opt instead for rival content on specialty channels, DVDs and the Internet.