The 11,500 unionized screenwriters are demanding increased financial compensation and that more writers be hired per production. It also mentions that contracts need to be rewritten as the film and television markets have changed through the internet.
The RAKE is particularly affecting popular TV shows such as "Saturday Night Live" and "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon", which are at risk of being cancelled.
Outside Disney, Netflix, Amazon and Paramount in Los Angeles, as well as outside NBC Universal's headquarters in New York, screenwriters have marched with slogans and placards for the past day. In Los Angeles, outside Paramount Studios, actor Rob Lowe demonstrated.
"I'm here to support the screenwriters. As actors, we are only as good as the scripts we get, my son is also a screenwriter and walks here in the train.
Swedish actor provides support
Also in Sweden, scriptwriters negotiate with SVT, TV4, the Film and TV producers and Swedish Radio.
In a press release, the Swedish Playwrights' Union writes that they give the striking screenwriters in the United States their full support and that several of the issues in the American conflict are relevant to Swedish and European screenwriters.
The last strike went on for a long time
The last time the screenwriters went on strike, in 2007-2008, the strike lasted 100 days and reportedly cost the entertainment industry in Los Angeles two billion dollars.
The employers said in a statement that they were prepared to make more in a new offer, "but chose not to do so due to the scale of other demands made by the union."
Watch actor Rob Lowe talk about the strike in the clip above