Two powerhouse Hollywood unions have finally waded into the war between Paramount and California Attorney General Rob Bonta over the studio’s proposed merger with Warner Brothers Discovery.
Their message: Figure out a deal.
The Director’s Guild of America and IATSE, the union representing below-the-line crew members, fired off a letter to Bonta and Paramount CEO David Ellison urging a resolution to the standoff over the attorney general’s bitter antitrust suit.
The unions said a prolonged legal battle over the merger would only harm their members and pleaded for both sides to “engage directly with each other to negotiate a resolution that ameliorates the anti-competitive aspects of the proposed merger.”
If they can’t come to some kind of settlement, the letter continues, the unions want the trial date currently scheduled for next March moved up. Ellison had pushed for a November start date.
“While we have been consistent in our view that mergers, such as this one, historically offer few benefits to workers, we are also particularly concerned about the negative impact a delay in the decision regarding the proposed merger will have on our members and the industry at large,” adds the letter, which was signed by IATSE president Matthew Loeb and DGA executive director Russell Hollander.
“We further believe the benefits and detriments of the proposed merger should be measured against the alternative outcomes if it is not approved, especially if the anti-competitive impacts of the proposed merger can be mitigated by a binding agreement.”
Of the conditions suggested by the DGA and IATSE, one of them is a commitment that Paramount would remain in Los Angeles. Hollywood has been rocked in recent days amid the news that Ellison is considering moving Paramount out of the Golden State over Bonta’s antitrust lawsuit.
The letter, a source says, should not be viewed as a rubber stamp for the merger. But both unions are concerned about the impact of lengthy litigation that could essentially freeze operations for at least one studio for potentially almost a year.
Even so, it puts the two unions on opposing sides from Hollywood’s two other major unions, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA.
The WGA has separately sued to block the deal and their lawsuit is proceeding in tandem with the states. Last month, SAG-AFTRA adopted a resolution that supported the WGA’s lawsuit.
