Dozens of protesters rallied outside Paramount Skydance’s Melrose Ave. gate Tuesday morning to criticize the settlement agreement the company reached with California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, arguing that it does too little to protect Hollywood jobs from the company’s impending merger with the impending merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.
The protest, organized by the Block the Merger coalition, came a day after the two sides agreed to settle antitrust claims brought in July by Bonta and 11 other state attorneys general. The settlement clears the way for Paramount’s roughly $111-billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
The settlement agreement requires the combined company to release 30 films in theaters each year, commit at least an additional $1.5 billion to domestic film production and set aside $47.5 million for workers affected by the merger. It also includes stipulations on how basic cable channel negotiations must proceed, creates a board to protect the editorial independence of CBS News and CNN, and bars Paramount from selling or closing its Melrose Ave. lot or Warner Bros.’ Burbank lot while requiring it to operate them “in a manner consistent with past practices.” An independent monitor will oversee the settlement implementation.
The agreement will be in effect for five years and must still be approved by a judge.
Nevertheless, protesters held fake gravestones reading “RIP local business,” “RIP crew call” and “RIP creativity.” Speakers criticized the potential job losses stemming from the combination of two major studios. They cited an August report commissioned by Los Angeles County that estimated about 4,500 direct film and TV jobs in the county could be at risk over three years as the companies combine operations.
“These studios were built on the backs of labor,” actor and SAG-AFTRA member Frances Fisher said during the rally, as passing cars honked in support. “Without labor, they don’t have their billions and billions of dollars.”
Fisher and other speakers also said they felt betrayed by the terms of the settlement, which they viewed as more favorable to Paramount. They specifically called out Bonta, Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass, saying the officials had bowed to political pressure. Overhead, a plane flew a banner that read, “Thank You Bonta.”
“I was hoping Bonta would be a man of his word,” said Elyssa Phillips, a comedian who is a member of the Committee for the First Amendment, the Block the Merger coalition and served as a strike captain for SAG-AFTRA during the 2023 strikes. “He caved.”
Hollywood’s unions have been divided over whether to back a settlement. In August, the Directors Guild of America and IATSE urged Bonta and Paramount to settle, while the Writers Guild of America pursued its own lawsuit to block the merger. The WGA settled that suit Monday but said it still believes the deal will harm writers and the industry.
During a press conference Monday about the settlement, Bonta was quick to say the agreement was “not a vote of support for this merger,” and acknowledged that some may have wanted a “different outcome.” He had originally advocated for structural changes to be part of a settlement agreement.
But ultimately, he said, “when we can find a strong solution that protects competition and consumers, I’d rather resolve the case, the issue, in the boardroom instead of the courtroom.”
During negotiations, Paramount had threatened to uproot the studio from California and move to Texas or Tennessee, a threat Bonta called “blackmail” and Newsom said he took “seriously.”
Newsom, who had pushed for a settlement, has called the agreement a “win for California workers and our creative economy.” Like the protesters, he framed the stakes around jobs, but he reached the opposite conclusion.
“Rather than spending years fighting in court and putting thousands of California jobs at risk, the parties came together and found a practical path forward,” Newsom said in a statement.
Bass had previously cited the uncertainty of the merger as a detriment to Hollywood workers’ livelihoods. In a statement Monday, she said she did not want to see two major studios consolidated, but that she would focus on holding them accountable to the settlement terms.
Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison said in a statement Monday that the combined company would be headquartered in L.A., adding that “this is where our future is being built.” The company declined to comment on the Tuesday protest.
Not everyone outside the gates opposed the deal. Tanner Kelly, founder of the pro-merger organization Neighbors for Strong Communities, said his group had been concerned about job losses if Paramount were to leave California.
“The settlement yesterday gave them that hope that [workers] can continue creating art here in California, that they don’t have to leave the state,” he said.
Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Executive David Zaslav told staff in a memo that he expects the merger to close no later than early October.
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