Emotions spilled over at a gathering of Hollywood workers, union officials and a current FCC commissioner opposed to the planned Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. merger on Saturday, with some arguing that the mega-merger on top of other recent challenges in the business would mean the “death of Hollywood.”
Writers, actors, crew members and small business owners made dire predictions for the proposed $111 billion transaction at the “Main St. vs. The Merger” town hall at Beverly Hills’ Lumiere Cinema. Some expressed feelings of powerlessness at the prospect of one historic studio swallowing another, a transaction Warner Bros. shareholders approved in late April. Others, including moderator and former FTC commissioner and current American Economic Liberties senior advisor Alvaro Bedoya, urged that the transaction isn’t a done deal yet and called for hope.
On Friday, Reuters reported that California, New York and other state attorneys general are preparing a lawsuit to block the merger after California attorney general Rob Bonta previously promised to look into the deal.
Nevertheless, many in the room didn’t seem to be banking on that suit stopping the transaction. One person who identified as a producer, but like many speakers at the town hall didn’t say her name, described a Paramount-Warner Bros. deal in existential terms. “A domino fell during the pandemic. Another fell during the writers’ strike. If Paramount merges with Warner Bros., it may be the final domino that knocks everything down,” she said.
The fear is that the Hollywood mega-merger would lead to thousands of layoffs, the removal of a key buyer in the marketplace for projects and less work for those already facing the downstream effects of an industry contraction and previous consolidation. One television writer who spoke at the meeting said that he had a project in development with CBS Studios that slowed down once the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger was announced. He has had to make a career pivot this year. “If this merger goes through, this will be the death of our industry, I believe,” he said.
In a statement shared with The Hollywood Reporter, a Paramount-Skydance spokesperson said, “Opposing this deal means opposing expanded consumer choice, new opportunities for creators and workers, and greater competition throughout the creative ecosystem — the opposite of what antitrust law is meant to achieve. It also means giving entrenched incumbents like Netflix an advantage they do not deserve. We will continue to fight against any attempt to derail a deal that plainly benefits consumers, creators, and the industry as a whole.”
The mood in the room was heavy as audience members questioned how they could make an impact. “As someone who tries really hard to keep people positive and motivated and inspired and empowered and, ‘Let’s keep going, let’s keep doing it, I am starting to feel… do you know what I mean? The hard. And it’s getting hard for me to keep others inspired. And I don’t like that,” a self-described actor and comic said, her voice cracking.
Some expressed frustration that more elected officials and labor unions weren’t stepping up to challenge the merger, with performers’ union SAG-AFTRA especially coming under fire.
A panel of speakers including Writers Guild of America West president Michele Mulroney and board member Adam Conover, as well as current FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez and a representative of the International Documentary Association and Future Film Coalition, Marjan Safinia, didn’t negate the pessimism. (“It’s the death of a great American industry,” said Conover in his opening remarks.) But they did suggest action items, like telling personal stories on social media, calling political representatives and joining larger groups to lobby for a stop to the deal.
Bedoya also maintained optimism about the potential attorneys general suit. “This merger can be blocked,” he said in his opening remarks. “I have to say there is every reason not just to think that Attorney General Rob Bonta will step in along with other state attorneys general to block this merger, there is every reason to think they will win.”
In addition, Bedoya said a challenge to the merger could come in the form of a lawsuit from a private citizen or labor union, legislation, a European Union review of the transaction or funding from Middle Eastern ventures falling through amid the war in Iran.
The town hall arrived just days after Ellison’s Paramount Skydance became embroiled in a new scandal at CBS News. In an overhaul of 60 Minutes, management fired executive producer Tanya Simon and correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi and hired columnist-slash-filmmaker Nick Bilton to lead the storied newsmagazine. Longtime 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley subsequently was fired after laying into management at a meeting on Monday, claiming CBS News head Bari Weiss was “murdering60 Minutes.”
Though speculation swirled about whether other correspondents would follow Pelley out the door, Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim said on Friday they would stay because “we don’t want to see60 Minutesdie.”
Back at the Lumiere theater, Gomez, the sole Democrat left at the FCC, addressed the frustration in the room with a call to action. She argued the public backlash to ABC pulling Jimmy Kimmel off the air last year reinstated the late-night host in his role and demonstrated the power of everyday voices.
“I know it’s exhausting, I’m exhausted,” she said. “Every day I’m speaking out about some new horror that this administration is doing, particularly on the First Amendment. I’m exhausted. But it’s not time to be tired. It’s time to get inspired because your voices really do matter.”
June 6, 7:51 p.m. Updated to correct Bedoya’s work experience. He is a former FTC, not FCC, commissioner.