It has emerged that SAG-AFTRA has come out against the proposed $111bn paramount-Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) merger unless it receives guarantees that production levels in the US will increase.
Posting a letter on its official website over the weekend, the union’s president Sean Astin and national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland wrote: “Today, our national board adopted a resolution publicly opposing the Paramount Skydance acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, absent enforceable guarantees of continued and expanded production levels.”
The letter continued: “The resolution affirms our strong support for the attorneys general from a dozen states and the Writers Guild of America, who have filed anti-trust lawsuits to block the massive leveraged buyout.”
The separate resolution expresses antitrust concerns over the impact of a combined Paramount-WBD on “competition, on production levels, especially within the USA, and on employment opportunities for SAG-AFTRA members and their fellow entertainment workers”.
It goes on to express support for the lawsuits brought by the 12 states and Writers Guild Of America, urges heightened scrutiny from “regulators, legislators, and the parties themselves” over domestic production and employment, and asserts that the merger cannot proceed unless there are saeguards.
Part of the resolution read, “SAG-AFTRA declares that this acquisition cannot and must not proceed unless legally binding and enforceable assurances are delivered, not voluntary commitments or aspirational statements, that assure that production levels at Warner Bros. and Paramount, including the employment of journalists by their news-related entities, will not be decreased or otherwise compromised as a result of this transaction, and that assure this acquisition will result in a net increase, rather than a decrease, in the percentage of production carried out in the United States.”
Earlier on Monday, Paramount CEO David Ellison told staff in a memo that he was “confident” the merger would close.
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