Paramount, it seems, has won what analysts’ debut bidding war with Netflix over a merger with giant Warner Bros. Discovery. But as the deal is near on the cusp, fears in a segment of Hollywood producers grow.
Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of F1: The Movie, tells Variety, “It’s sad. A lot of people will lose their jobs unfortunately, which is no good, but [Paramount Skydance chairman and CEO] David Ellison loves movies. He’ll make a lot of movies, which is a good thing.”
Jason Blum, Insidious producer, similarly echoes the fear of job cuts, sharing, “There’s nothing worse than that,” he said. “That’s an absolutely real fear, and you know, the only thing that can stop that is the government, but that is a real fear. That is always a downside of consolidation.”
Meanwhile, the Forever creator Mara Brock Akil wants Hollywood to form a collective response to the danger of potential job losses.
“I think that’s the scary part of it,” she added. “What do you do when you’re scared – crawl in the corner or take action? I think we need to decide who we want to be as a community and as artists and have a conversation clearly about what’s going to be the most powerful studio in the world… We need to start that now.”
It is worth noting that Paramount/Skydance bought Warner Bros. Discovery in a $110 billion deal.