On Tuesday, Paramount officially acquired Warner Bros. Discovery in a $110 billion merger, combining the two companies into one major company called Skydance Corp. The deal not only promised an annual output of 30 films a year, but $6 billion in cuts over the next three years, raising many concerns for those planning to start their careers in the film and television industries.
“It felt like an inevitability that we were just slowly crawling toward,” said Ricardo Del Castillo, a sophomore business of cinematic arts student. “And now that we’ve hit that point, it’s like, I don’t know how to say, a sigh of disappointment and relief at the same time.”
Del Castillo says he is trying to stay optimistic about what this merger could mean for filmmakers. With more resources under one company, he hopes there will be more financial support for independent creators.
This could prove true, as the merger agreement brought forth a $5 million-per-year Independent Film Fund. However, according to the agreement, the fund is expected to support the acquisition of only 4 independent films per year.
“If you want to make it big, it’s going to require a lot more luck,” Del Castillo remarked.
Robert Gibbs, Warner Bros. Discovery chief communications and public relations officer, spoke to USC Annenberg students on Monday. He described the merger as a new chapter for both companies and said that in the long term, this could be a catapult for entertainment companies competing with big tech companies like Apple or Amazon.
“I think it’s an exciting time. I think there’s a lot that can be created inside of this combined company. It’ll have the scale to compete in a way that the two other companies didn’t have,” Gibbs said. “I think there’s a lot in each [company] that can be unlocked into something even greater than what the two were individually.”
On the other hand, some students, like business of cinematic arts sophomore Alero Mack III, worry that the push for profit will lead studios to rely on proven franchises, rather than taking chances on new and fresh stories.
“It just reaffirms the idea that… people don’t want originals. ‘Let’s just dig into our endless pit of intellectual property!’ [they say],” Mack said.
For Mack, these changes have made students like him more eager to take ownership of their own films, rather than continuing to rely on studios to see their visions come to life.
“You could go the risky route, which is exactly what we are doing, and own a slice of Hollywood for yourself so that you obviously get to work in tandem with these studios,” said Mack. “But you know you are a studio…you get the credibility, you get the freedom, and it’s much more worth it.”
Steve Caplan, USC Annenberg professor of political communication, advertising, and media strategy, noted that the merger should highlight to students just how closely Hollywood is tied to policymaking and politics.
“This merger was an example of high-level, high-stakes political decision-making…it’s not just about the movie business and the media business; it’s about power and access to power,” Caplan said.