Writers with deadlines barreling down on them are not a pretty sight. Think Bryan Cranston hunched over his typewriter in the bathtub in Trumbo.

Which is why Hollywood right now is getting kind of . . . tense. On Tuesday, Writers Guild of America members will begin voting whether to authorize a strike if their negotiating team fails to secure a favorable contract deal by May 1. Without a deal, a work stoppage would begin May 2 and would immediately cripple late-night TV shows, stall scripted-series production, and halt writing on any film scripts in development. As the negotiators for the W.G.A. and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers get back to the bargaining table in Sherman Oaks Monday morning, the town is stockpiling scripts, getting polishes done, and bracing for financial losses.

“It is certainly impacting the stress,” One Day at a Time writer-producer Mike Royce said of the looming contract deadline. Royce’s team recently got back in the writers room after Netflix picked up their show for a second season. “When May 1 hits, we would normally be rolling along.” Nevertheless, like nearly every writer I’ve spoken to, Royce said he’ll vote yes to authorize a strike. “The things we’re asking for“—among them higher pay for TV writers and larger company contributions to the guild’s health-care plan—“are reasonable,” he said.

Screenwriters say their dance cards are suddenly filling up, as studios scramble to move projects forward in advance of the deadline. “I’m in discussions on two things that got ratcheted up because of the possibility of a strike,” said one film writer, who also plans to vote yes. “There’s more of a time imperative.”

Producers are making their arrangements, too. “I’ve got a whole plan for this strike,” said producer Stephanie Allain, whose Netflix show, Dear White People, premieres April 28 and next film, the Alfre Woodard–starring Juanita, recently started shooting in Virginia. “I have all these scripts stacked up, ready to go. The winners are going to be the people whose scripts are ready.”

Hollywood lawyers are even using strike fears as a way of getting their clients out of things. “The possibility of a potential writers strike, with the W.G.A. strike authorization vote scheduled for April 18, has caused even more turmoil,” wrote an attorney for Universal, successfully arguing for a delay in an insurance dispute that would have pulled TV production executives Randi Richmond and Mark Binke away from work on Mr. Robot. “The television industry is engrossed in strike contingency planning and other efforts to work around a threatened writers’ strike.”

In their negotiations, the W.G.A. argues that an era of record profitability for studios has largely left writers behind. In a recent letter to members, the W.G.A. West said that the average pay of TV writer-producers fell by 23 percent in the last two years, while entertainment companies experienced a record $51 billion in profits in 2016. The W.G.A. wants a 3 percent increase in script fees for the lowest-paid writers, bigger residuals from streaming media, and a 1.5 percent increase in employer contributions to the guild’s health plan. The guild has taken their case to advertising buyers planning for the fall season and to stockholders in Time Warner and AT&T contemplating a merger.

Publicly, the A.M.P.T.P. has been much quieter than the W.G.A., but privately negotiators are telling their more than 350 member companies—including Walt Disney Pictures, NBC, and independent film and TV producers—that the W.G.A.’s data fails to account for the producer fees paid to many writers. Let’s all whip out our tiny violins, the companies imply, for people whose $300,000-a-year salaries might not cover Crossroads School tuition, a mortgage, and a Tesla.