With a strike deadline looming, negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the major Hollywood studios made limited headway in contract talks Tuesday as they met for the first time with a federal mediator, the Los Angeles Times reports.

After a months-long stalemate, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the writers union met until the early evening at the alliance’s headquarters in Encino. Previously, talks typically adjourned in the afternoon.

It was unclear, however, whether the involvement of mediator Juan Carlos Gonzalez would be enough to bridge the deep divisions between them and avert a strike as early as this week.

Even though all the thorny issues remain on the table, Gonzalez presided over the first serious negotiations since talks began in July, people close to the talks said.

The fractious negotiations have prompted major studios to prepare for the first writers strike in nearly two decades. Guild leaders have obtained authorization from their members to call a strike if they can’t reach an agreement on a new three-year deal by midnight tonight. Although the two sides could extend the current contract, that’s unlikely. Union leaders have signaled that they will be ready to walk out as early as Friday.

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