The sale of Warner Bros. \u2014 whether in pieces to Netflix or in its entirety to Paramount \u2014 is stirring mounting worries among Hollywood union leaders about the possible fallout for their members.<\/p>\n
Unions representing writers, directors, actors and crew workers have voiced growing concerns that further consolidation in the media industry<\/a> will reduce competition, potentially causing studios to pay less for content, and make it more difficult for people to find work.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen this movie before, and we know how it ends,\u201d said Michele Mulroney<\/a>, president of the Writers Guild of America West. \u201cThere are lots of promises made that one plus one is going to equal three. But it\u2019s very hard to envision how two behemoths, for example, Warner Bros. and Netflix … can keep up the level of output they currently have.\u201d<\/p>\n Last week, Netflix announced it agreed to buy Warner Bros. Discovery\u2019s film and TV studio, Burbank lot, HBO and HBO Max for $27.75 a share,<\/a> or $72 billion. It also agreed to take on more than $10 billion of Warner Bros.\u2019 debt. But Paramount, whose previous offers were rebuffed by Warner Bros., has appealed directly<\/a> to shareholders with an alternative bid to buy all of the company for about $78 billion. <\/p>\n Paramount said it will have more than $6 billion in cuts <\/a>over three years, while also saying the combined companies will release at least 30 movies a year. Netflix said it expects its deal will have $2 billion to $3 billion in cost cuts.<\/p>\n Those cuts are expected to trigger thousands of layoffs across Hollywood, which has already been squeezed by the flight of production overseas<\/a> and a contraction in the once booming TV business.<\/p>\n Mulroney said that employment for WGA writers in episodic television is down as much as 40% <\/a>when comparing the 2023-2024 writing season to 2022-2023. <\/p>\n Executives from both companies have said their deals would benefit creative talent and consumers.<\/p>\n But Hollywood union leaders are skeptical.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can hear the generalizations all day long, but it doesn\u2019t really mean anything unless it\u2019s on paper, and we just don\u2019t know if these companies are even prepared to make promises in writing,\u201d said Lindsay Dougherty, Teamsters at-large vice president and principal officer for Local 399, which represents drivers, location managers and casting directors. <\/p>\n Dougherty said the Teamsters have been engaged with both Netflix and Paramount, seeking commitments to keep filming in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a lot of members that are struggling to find work, or haven\u2019t really worked in the last year or so,\u201d Dougherty said.<\/p>\n Mulroney said her union has concerns about both bids, either by Netflix or Paramount.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t think the merger is inevitable,\u201d Mulroney said. \u201cWe think there\u2019s an opportunity to push back here.\u201d<\/p>\n If Netflix were to buy Warner Bros.\u2019 TV and film businesses, Mulroney said that could further undermine the theatrical business. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard to imagine them fully embracing theatrical exhibition,\u201d Mulroney said. \u201cThe exhibition business has been struggling to get back on its feet ever since the pandemic, so a move like this could really be existential.\u201d<\/p>\n But the Writers Guild also has issues with Paramount\u2019s bid, Mulroney said, noting that it would put Paramount-owned CBS News and CNN under the same parent company.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have censorship concerns,\u201d Mulroney said. \u201cWe saw issues around [Stephen] Colbert<\/a> and [Jimmy] Kimmel<\/a>. We\u2019re concerned about what the news would look like under single ownership here.\u201d <\/p>\n That question was made more salient this week after President Trump, who has for years harshly criticized CNN\u2019s hosts and news coverage, said he believes CNN should be sold.<\/p>\n The worries come as some unions\u2019 major studio contracts, including the DGA, WGA and performers guild SAG-AFTRA, are set to expire next year. Two years ago, writers and actors went on a prolonged strike to push for more AI protections and better wages and benefits.<\/p>\n The Directors Guild of America and performers union SAG-AFTRA have voiced similar objections to the pending media consolidation.<\/p>\n \u201cA deal that is in the interest of SAG-AFTRA members and all other workers in the entertainment industry must result in more creation and more production, not less,\u201d the union said. <\/p>\n SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said the union has been in discussions with both Paramount and Netflix.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is as yet unclear what path forward is going to best protect the legacy that Warner Brothers presents, and that\u2019s something that we\u2019re very actively investigating right now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear, however, how much influence the unions will have in the outcome.<\/p>\n \u201cThey just don\u2019t have a seat at the ultimate decision making table,\u201d said David Smith, a professor of economics at the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School. \u201cI expect their primary involvement could be through creating more awareness of potential challenges with a merger and potentially more regulatory scrutiny … I think that\u2019s what they\u2019re attempting to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The sale of Warner Bros. \u2014 whether in pieces to Netflix or in its entirety to Paramount \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93519,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1872,51432,5177,1804,3413,6709,1758,48,52,51,51431,47,50,49,1741,51430,9233,47410,2328,51433,72],"class_list":{"0":"post-93518","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-actor","9":"tag-alternative-bid","10":"tag-cnn","11":"tag-company","12":"tag-concern","13":"tag-deal","14":"tag-director","15":"tag-la","16":"tag-la-headlines","17":"tag-la-news","18":"tag-lindsay-dougherty","19":"tag-los-angeles","20":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","21":"tag-los-angeles-news","22":"tag-lot","23":"tag-michele-mulroney","24":"tag-netflix","25":"tag-tv-studio","26":"tag-union","27":"tag-wga-writer","28":"tag-year"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}