We're finishing our live coverage of today's strikes, which have brought Hollywood to a grinding halt.

Famous actors have been picketing outside major studios in both Los Angeles and New York City alongside members of the Writers Guild of America.

We've heard from Screen Actors Guild president Fran Drescher, Oscar-winner Susan Sarandon and several other industry members.

It's not immediately clear how long these strikes will last, but the unions have made it known they are prepared to picket for as long as it takes to reach an agreement with the major studios.

This page was edited by Marianna Brady and Brandon Livesay and our writers have been Ali Abbas Ahmadi, Emily Atkinson, Catherine McGowan, Brandon Drenon, Nadine Yousif and Antoinette Radford.

Thanks for joining us.

The Screen Actors Guild has shared some guidance, external on what its members can and cannot do during the strike.

Here's a round-up of the key dos and don'ts.

What actors can't work on:

• On-camera work, including acting, singing, dancing, stunts and puppeteering
• Off-camera work, such as voice acting, singing and narrating
• Background acting
• Auditions (including self-tapes)
• Rehearsals
• Publicity, including conventions, premieres, tours or promotion via social media

What actors can work on:

• Television, radio and digital media commercials
• Television programmes covered by the Network TV Code, external, such as variety shows, talk shows and reality TV
• Sound recordings
• Music videos
• Audiobooks
• Station contracts and broadcast news
• Television and new media animation
• Dubbing

Just a short while ago, we shared a snippet of a Newscast interview with Succession star Brian Cox on the Hollywood actors strike.

You can now listen to the full episode here.

Actors represented by SAG's sister union, Equity, in the UK must continue to work as normal - the Hollywood strike does not apply to them.

Equity, which is not striking, says "a performer joining the strike (or refusing to cross a picket line) in the UK will have no protection against being dismissed or sued for breach of contract by the producer".

Even actors represented by both SAG and Equity may be required to work on projects being made in the UK, Equity said, due to UK employment laws.

The union has told US companies it will be keeping a "very close eye" on any attempts to move US productions to the UK now.

Image source, Getty Images

Stars are gathering in multiple locations across Los Angeles and New York.

Right now our cameras have turned to Paramount Pictures in California.

Palm trees and blue skies paint the landscape behind protestors as they march back and forth holding picket signs, yelling in megaphones, and egging on the honking-cars of Los Angeles traffic.

Caitlyn Kansely, 31, told reporters: "It's exhilarating. There's so much energy out here.

"I think we're sad about the circumstances around [picketing], but I'm glad to be out here."

Actor's guild president Fran Drescher is reportedly headed here next.

You can click the Play button at the top of the page to watch a live stream of the strike.

It's worth remembering that it's not just actors who are walking out - writers have been striking for weeks.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has been on strike since May, and their demands include:

• better pay
• increased royalties, known as residuals, especially from streaming shows
• increased contributions to their pension and health plans
• regulations on the use of AI in the industry

The WGA represents some 11,500 screenwriters, and their strike is the biggest disruption in the US film and television industries since the pandemic.

Nada Tawfik
Reporting from New York City

Image source, Getty Images

Thousands are expected to picket in New York across four locations.

Here at Netflix, actor Joel Garland, known for his work in the Netflix show Orange Is the New Black, says it’s not fair that his residuals stopped after five years and that actors want a fairer practice from streaming giants so that their wages keep up with inflation.

He said they also have to stay ahead of technological changes in the industry or their contacts will be exploited.

Image source, Getty Images

Film and television is one of many industries being forced to confront the existential concern over its future in the age of artificial intelligence (AI).

Hollywood actors are striking for the first time in 43 years, partly over fears about the impact of AI.

It comes after the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) actors' union failed to reach an agreement for better protections against AI for its members.

Its chief negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, accused studios of asking to scan the faces of background artists for the payment of one day's work.

Their likeness could then be owned and used "for the rest of eternity, in any project they want, with no consent and no compensation," he said.

If that sounds like the plot of an episode of Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror, that's because it is.

You can read more about the similarities here.

Nada Tawfik
Reporting from New York City

On the streets of New York, I spoke with Susan Sarandon who's out here on the picket line.

When asked how SAG demands affects the industry's most well-employed and well-paid A-listers, she says: "AI will effect everybody."

Sarandon says studios "wouldn't even deal with the things that are most important" at the negotiating table, like discussions about AI. That's one of the reasons why she's here.

"There’s definitely always been the feeling that if (the issue) isn’t solved now, how do we ever solve it in the future," she adds.

"Every time there’s a bump with some technology, if you don’t have the foresight to put something in place for the future then you’re screwed."

Image source, Getty Images

We're seeing some famous faces joining the picket line as actors join the strike.

Ted Lasso star Jason Sudeikis was just spotted holding a placard.

Schitt's Creek actor Dustin Milligan (who plays Ted the veterinarian) was also seen in the crowd.

It's still morning in Los Angeles, so there's bound to be more stars to come.

Actor Brian Cox says he thinks the actors' strike action will last "until the end of the year."

The Succession star describes the walkout, the first "double strike" by both actors' and writers' unions since 1960, as "crucial."

"The whole streaming thing has shifted the paradigm," he tells the BBC's Newscast podcast.

He accused streaming sites of trying to "freeze us out and beat us into the ground", adding: "There's a lot of money to be made in streaming and the desire is not to share it with the writers or the performers."

On artificial intelligence, another concern raised by the SAG union, Cox says: "It's pretty hairy.

"We need to nip it in the bud good and proper or else nothing will be new, everything is going to be regurgitated. Shows like Succession will be copies."

You can listen to his interview with Newscast in full here when it airs at 19:00 GMT (20:00 BST).

The unlikely viral sensation of the strike so far is Fran Drescher, who is best known for playing Fran Fine in The Nanny, a US sitcom that aired in the 1990s. She earned two Emmys and two Golden Globes for her role.

In 2021, she was elected president of the SAG.

After the union endorsed the strike by 97.9% of voting members, she took the microphone and made it clear this was a battle she plans to win.

Jabbing her finger towards the camera, she said: "We stand in solidarity in unprecedented unity. Our union, our sister unions, and the unions around the world, are standing by us."

Read more about Drescher, or watch her speech yesterday here:

Samantha Granville
Reporting from Los Angeles

If you're following the coverage of the Hollywood strike, you'll know Fran Drescher's name by the end of it.

Drescher, current president of SAG-AFTRA, has arrived to loud cheers from picketers.

As she got off the bus she threw her hands in the air and chanted "SAG-AFTRA STRONG!".

Around her, people are shouting how proud they are of her and the team.

If you want to read more about Fran's role in the current strike, we've explained it for you here.

We'll be following her journey throughout the day. She starts outside the Netflix offices and will later head to Warner Brothers, Paramount Studios and Disney.

Image source, Reuters

It's just after 09:30 local time in Los Angeles, and SAG union members are already gathering outside some of the biggest studios in Hollywood.

People can be seen on the picket line outside the California headquarters of Netflix, as well as Paramount, Warner Bros and Disney.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

The last time the actors' union picketed was in 1980, with the burgeoning home video rental market at the centre of the divide. This time around, there are new demands.

Here's what SAG wants:

• Better pay: Movies and TV shows made for streaming services - now dominating the market - are often less lucrative than traditional network shows for actors. They want a higher base pay and greater share from streaming services
• Protection from AI: Actors fear artificial intelligence may one day replace them, or, that their image and likeness will be used without approval or without pay

Image source, Getty Images

What the studios are saying:

• Dwindling profits: Hollywood’s biggest studios like Disney, Universal, Sony and Paramount, say they're bleeding money, watching share prices nose-dive and profit margins shrink since the onset of the pandemic and the boom of streaming services
• Keep AI options open: Studios have countered actors' demands to reject AI by proposing annual meetings to discuss advancements in technology

Image source, Reuters

The actors' strike has spurred some of the biggest names in Hollywood to join in on the conversation, as A-list celebrities voice solidarity with the tens of thousands whose names we rarely hear.

Here's what the stars are saying.

• Matt Damon, talking to the Associated Press, said: "We got to protect the people who are kind of on the margins"
• George Clooney told Deadline: "Actors and writers in large numbers have lost their ability to make a living. For our industry to survive that has to change"
• Jamie Lee Curtis, on Instagram, said: "We are UNION STRONG!"
• Sheryl Lee Ralph told Vanity Fair: "Strikes are very difficult. Nobody wants to be in strike mode, but sometimes you have got to do what needs to be done"
• Nathan Lane, also in Vanity Fair, said: "I’m in full support. But I hope that maybe there might be a miracle”

Image source, Getty Images

Members of the SAG are on their way to the picket line in Los Angeles. We're streaming the journey live at the top of the page. Click play.

Paul Glynn
Entertainment & Arts reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Cinemas in the UK and US will be relieved that all of this has come about while three major movies - Barbie, Oppenheimer and part one of Mission Impossible 8 - are already having their film reels loaded in.

But if the actors' strike and already established screenwriters' strike both roll on for months then cinemas could have problems, and viewers could be left with nothing new to watch bar reality TV and live sport.

• Marvel's Deadpool 3, starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, has halted production
• Fans may also have to wait longer for other eagerly-anticipated movies like Tim Burton's Beetlejuice sequel and a film adaptation of the musical Wicked, featuring Ariana Grande
• On the small screen, Warner Bros Discovery previously boasted about the minimal disruption of the writers' strike to HBO projects like the Game of Thrones spin-off series House of the Dragon, because scripts were already complete. But now who is going to read them?
• Similarly, work on other big shows like Stranger Things, The Last of Us and Yellowjackets had already been parked due to the writers' strike, but now its double parked

Read more.