Image source, Reuters Image caption,

Fran Drescher, SAG-AFTRA president, poses with members of the union's negotiating committee on the first day of the strike

By Chelsea Bailey

BBC News, Washington

Vancouver's Brightlight Pictures studios resemble something of a ghost town these days.

Production on many shows had already been affected after US screenwriters' strike in May. Now with Hollywood actors joining the writers on union picket lines, studios have ground to a halt.

"It feels like COVID when I drive into the lot," said filmmaker Shawn Williamson, who founded Brightlight Pictures Inc. in 2001.

"But in COVID we knew it was ending. In this case, it feels very much beyond our control, which is frustrating."

As more than 160,000 performers in the US stopped work at midnight on Thursday, the ripple effects are being felt in film hubs thousands of kilometres away.

Hollywood strike could last until 'end of the year'

Speaking from his office above the empty studio soundstage, Mr Williamson told the BBC the Canadian film and television industry depends on American writers, actors and studios for much of its work.