Hollywood actors began their strike yesterday, Friday, protesting in front of major studios along with screenwriters, in a dual social movement that is causing the sector’s worst paralysis in more than 60 years.

Hundreds of strikers with banners demonstrated in front of the Netflix building on the famous Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, but also in other parts of the city, as well as in New York in front of major studios and streaming services, such as HBO, Amazon or Paramount.

“We’re here for a long time,” Vera Cherny from Los Angeles told AFP, calling it a “historic moment.”

“Now is the time to secure the contracts that will serve the next generation of actors, just as they did in 1960,” added the 44-year-old actress, who appears on “The Americans” and “For All Mankind.”

“Spoiler alert: We will win,” read the banners held by the actors, including “Ted Lasso” star Jason Sudeikis, outside the NBC Universal studios in New York.

“We’re just trying to earn a minimum income that allows us to live in New York (…) where we work,” said 36-year-old actress Cassie Killoran.

This is the first strike of actors and screenwriters together in 63 years in Hollywood.

The production of films and series was already very slow since the beginning of May due to the mobilization of the scriptwriters, but with the mobilization of the actors, the American industry is on its knees: apart from some “soap operas” and reality shows, filming is simply impossible.

Despite an extension and government mediation, negotiations between the actors’ union SAG-AFTRA and the employers have failed, while at the same time the gap between the two sides appears to be widening. On Thursday, Disney chief Bob Iger called the actors’ and writers’ claims “unrealistic.”

Actors’ union SAG-AFTRA — Hollywood’s largest with 160,000 members — and the Writers Guild of America (WGA) are demanding increases in base pay and residuals (financial compensation paid to actors, directors and other artists participating in television shows and films in cases of repeats, rebroadcasts, DVD releases, or streaming media) in the age of television streaming (continuous transmission) and ensuring that their work is not replaced by artificial intelligence (AI).

No one knows how long this strike will last, but if it goes on for long it could delay the production of several blockbusters such as “Deadpool 3” and “Ghostbusters 4”.