DGA & IATSE Urge Fast Track On Paramount

Key Points:

• The Directors Guild of America (DGA) and IATSE, representing nearly 200,000 film and TV workers, urged California AG Rob Bonta and Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison to resolve their legal dispute over the Warner Bros Discovery merger promptly, either through court or settlement, to avoid prolonged delays.
• The unions expressed concern that the current March 2027 trial date would harm the struggling California film and TV industry, which has seen production drop by over 40%, and worsen employment uncertainty for their members.
• They proposed enforceable conditions to allow the merger to proceed without harming competition, including maintaining separate studios and operations for Paramount and WBD, minimum film production quotas, preserving HBO as a linear pay TV channel, and commitments to U.S. production levels and third-party content licensing.
• Ellison threatened to relocate Paramount out of California starting October 1 if no settlement is reached, coinciding with a $7 million daily penalty fee if the merger does not close by then, while AG Bonta has rejected this as blackmail.
• Other Hollywood labor groups, including the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA, have expressed skepticism or opposition to the merger, emphasizing concerns about its impact on workers and production guarantees.