LOS ANGELES - Picket lines formed outside studios in Los Angeles and New York as thousands of writers downed tools in a strike over pay and conditions in the streaming era.
Late-night shows fronted by the likes of Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Myers and Stephen Colbert were expected to be the first casualties as 11,000 union members walked off the job for the first time in 15 years.
"Writers are not being paid enough," Louis Jones told AFP outside Netflix in Los Angeles.
"Writers are working long hours, and I'm not seeing a lot of residuals on recurrent episodes on TV."
The strike, which could hit television series and movies scheduled for release later this year if it continues, came after talks between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the studios' Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), collapsed.
The WGA said late Monday the studios' response to its proposals had been "wholly insufficient, given the existential crisis writers are facing."
The last time Hollywood writers laid down their pens, in 2007, the strike lasted 100 days and cost LA's entertainment economy around $2-billion.
This time, the two sides are clashing as writers demand higher pay, minimum guarantees of stable employment and a greater share of profits from the boom in streaming, while studios say they must cut costs due to economic pressures.