While Republican Sen. Josh Hawley got a lot of attention for accusing Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos of advancing a “transgender agenda” through the streamer’s programming during a Senate hearing last week, most corners of Hollywood were paying closer attention to the questions he asked Sarandos just a few minutes prior about the potential falloutof its planned $82 billion acquisition of Warner Bros.
Namely, about how the deal would affect jobs for American entertainment workers, and who the senator invoked as he was asking those questions.
“[The] Teamsters have major concerns about this deal, as does, frankly, pretty much every segment of labor,” the Missouri senator said. “And what they all say is they’re worried that you’re going to cut residuals, which is effectively payments, you’re going to cut production jobs.”
That Hawley cited the labor groups was a sign that the forces organizing to oppose any sale of Warner Bros. are making their voice heard in Washington, according to Writers Guild of America West President Michele Mulroney.
Ensuring they continue to be heard will be critical as the coalition to fight the Netflix-Warner Bros. deal — orany deal, for that matter— takes form to fend off what many believe to be an existential threat to Hollywood. The first step has seen smaller nonprofit groups ally with more established lobbyists and unions, adding their own unique concerns to the mix. Now comes the task of getting in front of the lawmakers, regulators and state officials who are able to throw a wrench in the potential deal.
They’re starting to see momentum pick up in what will likely be a year-long fight to stop Hollywood’s M&A wave from consuming one of its century-old cornerstones.
“The fact that there even was a committee hearing to begin with was hopeful enough,” Mulroney told TheWrap. “It was even more heartening to see Sen. [Cory] Booker introduce our material on how mergers hurt our industry into the record. They started showing more nuanced understanding of how our industry works.”
Since Warner Bros. first went up for sale in September, groups like the WGA and movie theater trade org Cinema United began closely monitoring the bidding process alongside the American Economic Liberties Project, a nonprofit org that pushes for stronger enforcement of antitrust law.
Once Netflix was picked as the winning bid, the response from those groups was swift. Cinema United called the deal an“unprecedented threat”to theaters and sent written testimony to antitrust committees in both chambers of Congress. The Writers Guild, longtime vocal opponents of Hollywood’s M&A wave, took similar measures.
But Jax Deluca, interim executive director of theFuture Film Coalition, said that her organization quickly saw that more voices were needed beyond just unions and trade groups who alreadyhad deep lobbying resources in Washington. The tens of thousands of independent businesses in entertainment needed a voice, too.
Source: Drudge Report
