The Writers Guild of America West and the Writers Guild of America East have filed a lawsuit seeking to block Paramount Skydance’s proposed $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, alleging that it violates federal antitrust laws and would cause specific harm to writers.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. This comes a day after 12 Democratic state attorneys general also filed an antitrust lawsuit seeking to block the merger, alleging that Paramount and WBD are anticompetitive in the theatrical and basic cable TV markets.
“With fewer competitors, the combined Paramount and Warner Bros. entities would have both the incentive and the ability to lower costs by lowering writer wages and producing fewer titles. Writers would be paid less and have fewer job opportunities,” the WGA complaint states. The WGA complaint is available at this link.
Asked for comment, a Paramount representative said in a statement: “A strong Hollywood only makes sense if the writers who drive it are stronger. The combination of Paramount and WBD will reverse current trends in our industry and We have the scale and resources to expand, not shrink, opportunities for writers: more development slates, greenlighting more series and films, and our continued strong commitment to working with Guild writers across our brands.”
The company’s statement further added, “Our clear incentives and commitment to release at least 30 films a year in a full 45-day window, continue to commission independent production companies, and maintain two separate film studios reflects our commitment to preserving and fostering creative competition. Combined with our commitment to keeping our iconic brands under independent creative leadership, this means more work, more writers’ rooms, more staffing, and more sustained work across film and television.”
The WGA’s lawsuit focuses on the alleged anticompetitive effects of the Paramount-WBD merger in three markets for scripted services: expected top-grossing movies, episodic television and streaming series, and overall contracts.
The suit alleges that the merger will “reduce opportunities, lower wages, and worsen working conditions for writers,” according to the WGA. “Eliminating major competitors and creating a new dominant company would reduce the amount and variety of theatrical films and television series because the combined company would have a greater ability to reduce production. The complaint further alleges that the merger would increase the ability of the few remaining companies to implicitly work together to further suppress competition for writers’ work.”
“If Paramount is successful in acquiring Warner Bros., the combined company will become the largest buyer of original movies and television programming in the United States,” WGA West Chairman Michelle Mulroney said in a statement. “This would eliminate competition in an already consolidated industry and threaten the livelihoods of entertainment workers and the creative diversity of television and film. We commend the more than a dozen state attorneys general who have stepped up antitrust enforcement and are proud to litigate alongside them.”
Since the announcement of Paramount’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, the union has raised awareness of the threat to state attorney general’s offices and members of Congress, submitted comments to regulators and Congress, and participated in press events as part of a coalition of democratic and arts organizations, WGA said.
“The Writers Guild of America cannot stand by and watch Paramount violate our nation’s antitrust laws and deepen the hardship already felt by entertainment workers,” said WGA East President Tom Fontana. “This proposed combined entity would become the largest employer of writers and would have significant power to suppress our wages, eliminate opportunities for new writers, cut jobs across the industry, reduce programming, and impact the scope of storytelling. This merger is inevitable, and we are fighting to prevent it.”
In a statement about the lawsuit, Paramount said of WGA: “As a 100-year-old storytelling company, we have deep respect for WGA and its members, as evidenced by our recently renewed collective bargaining agreement commitments, and remain committed to building a unified company that expands opportunities for screenwriters and creative talent for generations to come. The alternative to our transaction is the continued decline of an entertainment industry increasingly dominated by big tech companies.”
WGA is represented in the lawsuit by Cinder Cantor Lerner, Cuneo Gilbert Flannery & LaDuca, and Platkin Law Firm.
