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WGA West president Michele Mulroney has a message for Netflix chief Ted Sarandos and Warner Bros. Discovery head David Zaslav: “We want there to be consideration of industry workers in these conversations… We don’t believe it was inevitable that Warner Bros. needed to be sold.”
The guild leader sat down with Elaine Low on Monday morning as the town was still digesting the news of Netflix’s winning $82.7 billion bid to acquire Warner Bros. studio and streaming assets, not to mention the fresh shock of Paramount’s hostile takeover bid for the entirety of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Though Sarandos says he will stay true to Warner Bros.’ theatrical and TV commitments that keep the industry vibrant, his recent comments to Wall Street about his vision for the deal and what he sees as “consumer-friendly” outcomes have prompted no small amount of skepticism.
“I think we may have different definitions of what ‘consumer-friendly’ is, and certainly what creative-friendly is,” Mulroney says. “There’s a feeling that with these truncated theatrical releases, a lot of money is being left on the floor... This has been really distressing for our members, and for all industry workers, to see movies that really should be viewed communally running off to the (streaming) platform almost immediately.”
The last five years, marked by the pandemic, strikes and the Peak TV bust, have meant tough economic times for many of the WGA West’s 11,000-plus members.
“The adjustment to the streaming landscape has been really, really difficult,” says Mulroney, and “we also have concerns about what a potential merger would do to residuals… because it’s going to inevitably mean a massive increase in self-dealing, which almost always leads to an undervaluation of content.”
In looking at the impact of past mergers (Disney-Fox, Warner Bros.-Discovery, etc.) on writers, Mulroney says, “We sadly know how this movie ends,” and that the Disney-Fox merger didn’t increase employment or content production among writers. “We are doing a lot of advocacy at the congressional level and with attorneys general to outline what we see as the dangers for our industry, and for the wider, wider economy of the U.S., and they are hearing us.”
Guild leaders urge members also to reach out to their elected officials about their concerns — and to lean into their creativity to navigate the current challenges. “This is a time to dig deep and be entrepreneurial where you can try and make things happen for yourself, rather than waiting around,” she says.
Watch our full conversation above or on YouTube, or listen to it on the Ankler Agenda podcast.
