Hollywood workers rally against Paramount-Skydance deal
During a gathering on Saturday, stand-up comedian Adam Conover addressed the proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount Skydance, framing the ongoing media consolidation as a significant threat to an industry that has established the United States as a cultural powerhouse.
It’s on the verge of extinction, and that’s precisely why I feel so strongly about this matter,” he stated.
Conover was a prominent speaker on Saturday at an event described as the inaugural stop in a three-city “Main Street vs. The Merger” tour, which unites entertainment workers, small business owners, and politicians who are against Paramount Skydance’s proposal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in a $110 billion deal.
Approximately 100 individuals convened at Lumiere Music Hall in Los Angeles for the event, organized by advocacy groups, the Writers Guild of America, and industry workers aiming to express their concerns regarding the merger.
U.S. antitrust regulators seem ready to approve the merger, following assurances from Paramount Skydance that the agreement would not negatively impact other studios or creative talent. CEO David Ellison has committed to ensuring that the merged Paramount and Warner studios will remain active by producing a minimum of 30 films annually.
According to sources familiar with the matter, a coalition of U.S. states, including California and New York, is gearing up to file a lawsuit aimed at blocking the deal, as reported by Reuters on Friday.
Conover understands the impact of cost-cutting resulting from media mergers. Following AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner in 2018, the cancellation of his TruTV show “Adam Ruins Everything” resulted in job losses for employees, numerous contractors, and over 100 additional individuals.
The job losses indicate a downturn in the entertainment industry, which has seen a decrease in employment since its peak in late 2022.
California has faced significant challenges, losing 17,234 jobs from 2019 to 2023, as reported by the Milken Institute. It was determined that a variety of factors — such as declining television ad revenue and stagnant streaming growth — led studios to seek more cost-effective locations for producing movies and series.
The occupancy rate in Hollywood’s sound stages has decreased to 62% in the first half of 2025, a significant drop from nearly full occupancy in 2016, as reported by Film LA, the non-profit organization responsible for coordinating filming in greater Los Angeles. The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, representing 170,000 behind-the-scenes professionals, has reported that its members worked approximately 36% fewer hours compared to 2022.
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Matt Radecki, a co-founder of the Different by Design post-production facility in Los Angeles, expresses concern regarding a Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. collaboration. The merger of Discovery will lead to a reduction in the number of buyers for documentary films, including the Oscar-winning “Navalny,” produced by two Warner divisions, HBO Max and CNN Films.
This is the most significant challenge that we’ve encountered,” Radecki informed attendees on Saturday. The establishments we collaborate with have shut down… They are no longer in existence, and they will not return, and we certainly do not wish to witness that fate befall HBO or CNN or CNN Films.
Former Federal Trade Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya conveyed a sense of optimism regarding the possibility that California Attorney General Rob Bonta may intervene to block the merger. Bonta might contend that the Paramount Skydance-Warner agreement diminishes competition among film studios, which could have a ripple effect on workers.
In the U.S., it is indeed feasible to prevent a merger by contending that it would reduce competition for particular categories of labor. Antitrust authorities previously intervened in the case of publisher Penguin Random House’s attempt to acquire rival Simon & Schuster in 2022.
California could reference that precedent in any labor-related challenge, stated Ioana Marinescu, an economist from the University of Pennsylvania who authored the Biden-era Justice Department’s guidelines on labor market matters.
For some workers, it may be that positions at these two companies are truly exceptional, and this is genuinely what they desire,” she stated. And there isn’t necessarily a very close alternative. Those are the individuals who will experience a negative effect.
