Signage on display prior to a press conference at SAG-AFTRA Place on Thursday JULY 13, 2023. (AP)

Hollywood actors were set to join writers in the first industry-wide strike in 63 years on Thursday, with practically all film and television production expected to come to a standstill.

The SAG-AFTRA union agreed on Tuesday to resort to a federal mediator in an attempt of reaching a last-minute agreement with Hollywood studios. Doing so would avert a second simultaneous strike in the entertainment industry.

The union said it will maintain its strike deadline on Wednesday if a new labor deal is not reached by midnight that day.

The guild, which represents 160,000 performers, including A-list celebrities, said discussions on their demands for declining compensation and the danger presented by artificial intelligence had failed.

Its negotiators have unanimously proposed a strike to its national committee, which is due to vote on Thursday morning, with a news conference at noon (1900 GMT) scheduled.

The vote opens the possibility to a "double strike" with writers, who have already been on strike for 11 weeks, triggering the first Hollywood closure since 1960.

Popular programs due to return to television this year will experience significant delays. If the strikes continue, major films will be pushed back as well.

At the height of the summer blockbuster season, a strike would immediately restrict performers from promoting some of the year's biggest films.

Emily Blunt, star of Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer," told reporters on the red carpet of the film's London premiere on Thursday that "we will be leaving together as a cast in unity" if and when the strike is legally allowed.

"We're gonna have to. We'll see what happens," Blunt expressed, hoping for a "fair deal."

The much-anticipated film's US premiere is scheduled for Monday in New York, but it is one of the numerous events that are likely to be canceled in the short term owing to the strike.

Actors, like authors, are demanding higher remuneration and safeguards against the future use of artificial intelligence in television and cinema.

A SAG-AFTRA statement released after the talks said "Compensation has been severely eroded by the rise of the streaming ecosystem. Furthermore, artificial intelligence poses an existential threat to creative professions."

It added that executives have "refused to acknowledge that enormous shifts in the industry and economy have had a detrimental impact on those who perform labor for the studios."

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers expressed that it was "deeply disappointed that SAG-AFTRA has decided to walk away from negotiations," adding that "This is the Union's choice, not ours."

Painful but necessary

Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC on Thursday that the actors' and writers' expectations were "not realistic," and that the strike decision was "very disturbing." However, Phil Lord, the writer, director, and producer behind blockbusters like "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" and "The Lego Movie," was among those in Hollywood mocking the studios' version of events.

"AMPTP has played hardball instead of helping to solve entirely solvable problems that endanger writers and actors on the lower ends of the pay scale," Lord Tweeted.

The last strike in 1980 continued over a span of 3 months.

While the writers' strike has already decreased the number of films and television series in development, an actors' strike would effectively shut down practically everything.

Some reality television, animation, and chat shows may continue.

Actors and writers joined picket lines in New York on Thursday ahead of the election.

SAG-AFTRA member Jennifer Van Dyck called the situation "painful," but "necessary," adding that "They are making so much money, and they say that we are not approaching this issue fairly.... no one wants to go on strike, but there's just no way we can."