Hollywood is officially on strike.

Both the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and Writers Guild of America (WGA) confirmed they were unable to work out a deal before the Minimum Basic Agreement expired on Monday (May 1), after six weeks of negotiations.

The guild instructed members of WGA West and WGA East to begin strike action on Tuesday (May 2) at 12:01 a.m. PT. Members had previously voted to authorize a strike in hopes of providing better leverage in negotiations.

U.S. productions currently filming in Canada have not been directly affected by the strike, a spokesperson for IATSE — which represents more than 36,000 Canadian production workers — has confirmed to Playback Daily. However, service production in Canada has already slowed in anticipation of the strike, producers previously told Playback.

The Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) issued a letter to members on Tuesday, stating that it “will support the WGA during its strike to the fullest extent possible.”

The Canadian guild also issued several rules to its members, stating they cannot accept struck work under WGA jurisdiction, that they can continue to work under the Independent Production Agreement with the Canadian Media Producers Association, and that WGA strike rules apply to dual WGC and WGA members residing in the U.S.

“The WGC, along with writers guilds around the world, stands in solidarity with the WGA in their strike action for fair compensation for writers,” said executive director Victoria Shen. “We hope for a swift and fair resolution.”

The Directors Guild of Canada issued a statement from director of communications Ian Gillespie that it “stands wholeheartedly in solidarity with the WGA to support their efforts for a fair and equitable contract for all their members. Creatives at the very heart of our industry deserve to benefit, first and foremost, from the prosperity they create.”

In a letter to members, the WGA said it was “intent on making a fair deal,” but the response from studios, citing Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBC Universal, Paramount and Sony, was “insufficient.”

The WGA said there was a “refusal to guarantee any level of weekly employment in episodic television,” as well as the creation of a “day rate” for comedy-variety writers, and “stonewalling” on regulations around AI-generated work. The guild argued that such an agreement would open the door “to writing as an entirely freelance profession.”

The AMPTP said in a statement that it “presented a comprehensive package proposal,” including “generous increases in compensation for writers as well as improvements in streaming residuals.”

The association said it is “willing to engage in discussions” and is prepared to improve its proposal, but was “unwilling to do so” in negotiations “because of the magnitude of other proposals still on the table that the guild continues to insist upon.”

Among the proposals are mandatory staffing and duration of employment, which the AMPTP argues “would require a company to staff a show with a certain number of writers for a specified period of time, whether needed or not.”

The WGA last went on strike more than 15 years ago, which lasted 100 days, starting on Nov. 5, 2007 and ending on Feb. 12, 2008.

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