Can Hollywood Talent, Creative Impact Paramount-WBD Deal?

• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 8 hours ago

Over 1,000 actors, producers, directors and creative professionals in the Hollywood community have given an emphatic thumbs down to the proposed Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. Discovery merger.

What comes next? The effort came via an open letter that was published in The New York Times on Monday.

The underlying belief is that there will be less opportunities and creative freedom for already troubled talent/creatives with further media consolidation.

In addition, the letter expressed concern about “this merger that prioritizes the interests of a small group of powerful stakeholders over the broader public good.”

A number of U.S. state attorney generals have filed a lawsuit to halt the deal, saying the merger would stifle competition, raise consumer costs and potentially allow for political interference in news reporting.

The last point may be particularly alarming to many -- especially when the Trump Administration sued CBS over a "60 Minutes" interview of the former Presidential candidate Kamala Harris. CBS settled and paid Trump $16 million.

Will federal regulators weigh in on the merger? To an extent. The only concern that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr seemed to have on Tuesday in an interview with CNBC was the influence in foreign money.

Middle East-sovereign wealth funds -- especially from Saudi Arabia -- have been reported to have invested $24 billion in the proposed $110 billion deal.

Paramount Skydance responded to the open letter by saying there would be more work, not less -- “increasing output to a minimum of 30 high-quality feature films annually with full theatrical releases, continuing to license content, and preserving iconic brands.”

This move comes three years after the writers' and actors' union went on strike for several months in 2023. Since then, scripted movie and TV content have seen a severe contraction, according to FilmLA. Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an outplacement/executive coaching firm, says there was a net loss of 17,000 jobs.

At its core, media business issues are tied to the creative process. Walt Disney, under longtime CEO Bob Iger, ensured that creative executives and talent at the company knew they were of major importance in terms of freedom in their work.

He emphasized this "creative" message when he returned to the CEO position in November 2022 -- after a two-year-plus stint by Bob Chapek. During that time, Disney executives believed there were many missteps that affected Disney creative content.

Major Hollywood-based studios understand the shifting influence and creative competition from digital-first premium streaming platforms -- Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and perhaps YouTube.

This is why Paramount responded so quickly, saying: “Paramount remains deeply committed to talent,” adding that the merger “strengthens both consumer choice and competition, creating greater opportunities for creators, audiences and the communities they live and work in.”

We are left to figure out the real impact those talent/ creatives including Glenn Close, Jane Fonda, JJ Abrams, Jason Bateman, John Leguizamo, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Margaret Cho, Mark Ruffalo, Noah Wyle and many others will have going forward -- if, as expected, the deal passes through federal regulators' scrutiny.

For example, could they really rebuff work and creative deals proposed by an ever-bigger Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery company?