On Wednesday, the negotiating committee of The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) stated they would be offering their support to a strike authorization vote, with the intention to break stalled contract talks with Hollywood studios.

The recommendation will be presented to the guild's national board for review, afterwards needing the approval of 75 percent of about 120,000 voting guild members. The SGA negotiating committee has approved of the recommendation by 11-2.

The previous contract expired on June 30 this year, the contract talks dealing with prime-time TV shows and movies having been at a standstill ever since.

The 100-day writers strike that ended in February forced actors to work under the terms of the deal in hopes of avoiding a new action of the like. The strike shut down production of a multitude of TV shows, incurring a cost estimated at $2.5 billion to the Los Angeles area economy.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the studios, answered swiftly to the call for strike vote, advising actors not to go on a strike, given the current economic issues that the nation is facing.

"Is this really the time for anyone associated with the entertainment business to be talking about going on strike?" the statement asked.

"Not only is the business suffering from recent economic conditions, but if ever there was a time when Americans wanted the diversions of movies and television, it is now."

Screen Actors Guild’s national board, which consists of 71 members, is scheduled to assemble on October 18, a simple majority being needed for the approval of the strike vote.

Biz labor watchers noticed that SAG’s toughest talk to date about a possible strike came one year to the day after the governing bodies of the WGA West and East voted to seek a strike authorization from their members, adding that the aforementioned action triggered enough economic pain through the showbiz economy to make many SAG members wary of calls for another work stoppage.