What do Jay Roach, Celine Song, Mary Steenburgen, Bryan Cranston, and Sandra Hüller have in common? They’ve joined more than 1,000 other entertainment industry professionals in signing an open letter denouncing the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger. The list is a veritable who’s who of Hollywood heavyweights, including movie stars Ben Stiller and Joaquin Phoenix, directors Boots Riley, Yorgos Lanthimos, and David Fincher, documentarians Laura Poitras and Alex Gibney, and triple threat Lin-Manuel Miranda. Even those who rank among Warner Bros. most bankable filmmakers, like Dune director Denis Villeneuve and Lanterns creator Damon Lindelof, signed the letter.
“As filmmakers, documentarians, and professionals across the movie and television industry, we write to express our unequivocal opposition to the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger,” the letter states. “This transaction would further consolidate an already concentrated media landscape, reducing competition at a moment when our industries—and the audiences we serve—can least afford it. The result will be fewer opportunities for creators, fewer jobs across the production ecosystem, higher costs, and less choice for audiences in the United States and around the world. Alarmingly, this merger would reduce the number of major U.S. film studios to just four.”
In the opinion of the unequivocally opposed, media consolidation has ravaged Hollywood, diminished the value of screen credits, and eliminated “meaningful profit participation. “It also eroded distribution and destroyed international sales, among other sins. For consumers, mergers like these “accelerated” the death of mid-budget films, like our beloved rom-coms. The letter argues for competition in the marketplace, which it deems “essential” for a “healthy economy” and democracy. Meanwhile, the merger would prioritize the interests of a “small group of powerful stakeholders over the broader public good.”
The good news for these professionals is that Paramount hears and understands your concerns. Responding to the letter as if it were a customer support ticket, the studio promises, per The Hollywood Reporter, to remain “deeply committed to talent, and this merger strengthens both consumer choice and competition, creating greater opportunities for creators, audiences, and the communities they live and work in.” To quote one of Paramount’s great releases from more than a century of great films: “Sure, Jan.”
Read the full letter and browse its many famous signatories here.
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