Contract talks are to resume in a dispute threatening to disrupt two major TV and film productions in Nova Scotia.

Canada's television and film performers have voted 97 per cent in favour of a strike to back their demands for higher pay and better benefits and royalties.

The 21,000 members of ACTRA, including 600 in the Maritimes, will be in a legal position to walk off the job on Jan. 1 if they don't get a contract.

If that happens, production of the CBC-TV comedy This Hour Has 22 Minutes could stop.

"Our members are ACTRA members, so we wouldn't expect them to cross a picket line," said Mark Farrell, one of the executive producers of the show.

"We have a narrow window when the network wants shows from us. If there were a strike and it lasted any amount of time, we'd start to lose shows for sure."

The producers of the sci-fi movie Outlander, shooting in Nine Mile River, refuse to comment on the potential impact of a strike on their project.

But Gary Vermier, manager of ACTRA Maritimes, says productions everywhere outside British Columbia will be shut down if the members go on strike.

"We're really hoping that cooler heads will prevail and we can get ourselves a good collective agreement so we can let the world know that Canada's a great place to shoot," Vermier said.

In its 63-year history, ACTRA has never had a strike.

Negotiators with the union and the Canadian Film and Television Production Association are scheduled to meet this week.

The possibility of a strike has already led to the cancellation of two major film productions in Toronto and Montreal.