Adding further to legal pressure on the deal in the US, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) has filed for a preliminary injunction against the Paramount Skydance acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery (WBD).
The move comes a week after the WGA West and WGA East jointly filed a lawsuit to block the deal. It also follows a suit challenging the deal from 12 US state attorneys general. The state attorneys then filed for a preliminary injunction and a temporary restraining order. The temporary restraining order was granted on Monday (July 20), causing closure of the deal to be put off until a hearing on August 3.
The WGA’s preliminary injunction motion says that if the deal closes “the combined company will be the largest buyer of screenwriting services on blockbuster films in the United States, eliminating head-to-head competition between two studios that have competed against each other for talent, projects, and audiences for more than a century.”
The complaint adds: “These competitive harms are distinct from those described by the coalition of State Attorneys General, but are no less dire or urgent. Writers, the people who transform blank pages into unforgettable stories, will be some of the first to bear the harms of that loss of competition.”
If the deal goes through, says the complaint, “The harm writers will suffer will be immediate, permanent, and irreversible.”
Responding to the latest WGA complaint a Paramount spokesperson said: “We are confident the evidence will demonstrate that this merger is pro-competitive and will expand opportunities for writers and creative talent alike. WGA’s complaint does not reflect modern market realities and ignores the strong incentives the combined company will have to invest in original programming and creative talent. A combined Paramount-WBD will mean more jobs, more writers’ rooms, more staffed positions, and more sustained work across film and television — not less. We will continue to vigorously defend the transaction.”
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