In the months following 2023’s Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strikes, film-industry workers adopted a refrain: “Survive ‘til ‘25” — a meager goal reflecting industry reality. The strikes came shortly after the Covid-19 pandemic ground production to a halt. The dream factory had become a nightmare.
The pandemic-inflicted production pause bled workers’ savings, forcing many to seek income outside the industry. Once work restarted, those who wanted to return to work — grips, camera operators, writers, directors, administrative staff, the Teamsters who ferry cast and crew to film sets — found some of those jobs never came back — the new normal of smaller, leaner Hollywood, had arrived. While union members voted almost unanimously in favor of the twin writers’ and actors’ strike, it dragged on, and the industry contraction continued. Two years after the end of those strikes, production is still down.
When news broke that Netflix sought to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery for $83 billion, a deal that includes its sprawling Burbank studio lots, and HBO Max (WBD’s cable channels would be spun off into a separate entity), the industry’s workers were quick to voice their opposition.
“The world’s largest streaming company swallowing one of its biggest competitors is what antitrust laws were designed to prevent,” the WGA-West and WGA-East said in a statement urging the deal be blocked. “The outcome would eliminate jobs, push down wages, worsen conditions for all entertainment workers, raise prices for consumers, and reduce the volume and diversity of content for all viewers.”
The DGA released a similar statement; Director James Cameron frankly warned that the buyout would be “a disaster.” SAG-AFTRA was slightly more measured. “A 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,” the union said in a statement.
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos sees only upside, describing the merger as “pro-consumer, pro-innovation, pro-worker” as well as “pro-creator” and “”pro-growth.” Prospects for the streaming giant appear rosy: On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that WBD is rejecting Paramount Skydance’s attempt at a hostile takeover, stemming in part from concerns over the deal’s financing. Netflix’s bid, the board believes, still offers greater shareholder value. David Ellison, the CEO of Paramount-Skydance, has tried to assuage criticism of his proposed takeover by stating that a combined Paramount-WBD would have more than 30 theatrical releases per year, a slight increase over the current output of the two studios.
But skepticism among the industry’s workers comes from precedent. When companies merge, it means job losses and fewer projects. IATSE, the union of “below the line” film workers–camera operators and technicians, makeup and costume artists, grips, electricians, and the like–noted the deleterious consequences that follow from such deals in a recent issue of its bulletin.
