TV in 3: The Open Letter Tearing Apart Agencies, Writers, Paramount & WB
The Block the Merger campaign is straining relationships
I wrote about how A24 is reshaping TV, dug into what’s taking Peter Friedlander so long to set his TV strategy at Amazon, wrote about Byron Allen’s deal to rent CBS’ late-night block and interviewed legendary TV creator David E. Kelley. I’m lesley.goldberg@theankler.com
Hello and welcome to TV in 3, where this week I’ve got more of a three-in-one as I break down reactions to the incendiary open letter signed by 3,600 (and counting) Hollywood creatives in opposition to the Paramount-WBD merger. Together with my Dealmakers colleague Ashley Cullins, I’ve got the view from inside Paramount and WBD, where execs are doing business with many of the signatories, and how agencies and their clients are navigating a debate that increasingly demands taking sides.
It all started in January, at the Sundance Film Festival, where the Future Film Coalition launched a campaign to support the indie film community amid industry consolidation, including whatever was to come from the war for Warner Bros. Discovery (at the time Netflix appeared to have won the prize).
Now, if David Ellison’s $111 billion bid for WBD clears regulatory approval — which he’s targeting for the third quarter — it would shrink the number of major U.S. studios to just four and likely cost thousands of jobs.
The goal, interim executive director Jax Deluca tells me, is to help regulators understand “the complexities of the film [and television] industry and why scrutinizing the merger is essential.”
Since the publishing of the open letter, filmmakers (Celine Song, Alex Gibney, Denis Villeneuve), actors (Mark Ruffalo, Bryan Cranston, Tiffany Haddish), showrunners (David Chase, Damon Lindelof, J.J. Abrams) and fans alike have added their names. Organized with groups including Jane Fonda’s Committee for the First Amendment and the Democracy Defenders Fund, the campaign is aimed squarely at officials like Rob Bonta and his peer attorneys general in other states to take action against the proposed merger. It certainly got Hollywood talking, including at CinemaCon, where Michael O’Leary said the merger would be “harmful to exhibition, consumers and the entire entertainment eco-system,” and our own Richard Rushfield’s “pin-gate” turned him into a Vegas cause célèbre.
“If everyone understands that a lot of jobs will be lost, the industry will be less competitive, there will be fewer buyers, fewer movies, fewer TV series being made and produced — why are we taking it lying down?” showrunner Lindelof (Watchmen, Lost) tells me.
Lindelof has spent the past 15 years based at Warner Bros. Television and its corporate sibling HBO under rich overall deals. He and his former Lost collaborator Abrams are the studio’s highest-profile showrunners to have signed the letter. As of press time, the signatories did not include WB’s Chuck Lorre, Greg Berlanti, Quinta Brunson or John Wells.
“Having testified in Congress as president of the WGA West in opposition to the 2011 Comcast merger and having opposed the Disney purchase of Fox, we all have ample historical evidence that these entertainment mergers have always led to massive waves of downsizing and loss of jobs — above the line, below the line, executives, support staff,” The Pitt’s Wells tells me via email. “As a creative community, we’re never better off with fewer outlets/buyers for our work.”
It’s unclear if he plans to sign the open letter.
With the campaign continuing to gain steam, reactions around town are hardly uniform.
Ashley and I spoke with Hollywood veterans, executives, writers, producers and agents for the inside scoop on the chaos it has unleashed inside Paramount, Warners and the agencies — and what happens next.
Read on for:
How Paramount execs are handling the backlash — publicly vs. privately
The chilling message inside Paramount about its top showrunners’ silence: “comply if you want to survive”
The mood inside Warner Bros. and how they feel about their showrunners signing
Why agencies are stuck in an impossible position as clients force them to take sides
Which top Paramount creator actually broke ranks
What Lindelof and other creatives are hoping will come out of the campaign