HOLLYWOOD
Paramount CEO says viewers won’t notice an impact of writers strike ‘for a while’
The Paramount exec intends to pull talent offshore, while Canada and Australia join WGA in solidarity.
The Hollywood writers strike is in full swing, complete with picket lines and late-night reruns.
Yet while writers are wondering if they will have jobs in the future or if they will be taken over by AI, and late-night talk show hosts are coming up with their own material, production giant Paramount reckons they are well-prepared for the creative drought.
The writers’ labor strike went into effect Monday, May 1 at midnight.
Paramount saw this coming
Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish says that the company isn’t all that concerned about the impact of the strike.
He says they already have “levers to pull” such as a storehouse of new releases, a large library to source from, and that they prepared for this scenario well in advance by moving production offshore.
“Writers are an essential part of creating content that our audiences enjoy, really across platforms,” the Paramount CEO said. “And we hope we can come to a resolution that works for everyone fairly quickly. But it’s also fair to say there’s a pretty big gap today.”
“So obviously, we’ve been planning for this. We do have many levers to pull and that’ll allow us to manage through this strike, even if it’s for an extended duration. In terms of those levers, we have a lot of so to speak content in the can. So, with the exception of things like late night, consumers really won’t notice anything for a while.”
International talent may not be so responsive
Meanwhile, with Paramount’s main solution to outsource talent internationally, Canadian and Australian Writers Guilds have been told to put down their pens in solidarity.
The Hollywood directors union and the International theater employees union have also already boycotted the industry to support the WGA.
The Writers Guild of Canada has asserted they will support the Hollywood writers “to the fullest extent possible”, and implemented a fresh set of guidelines for Canadian writers during the time of the strike, as per Deadline.
Australia made a blatant statement to underline the important role of writers in a vibrant entertainment industry.
“The Australian Writers Guild supports our fellow writers of the WGA in their current negotiations and in their decision to take strike action,” the AWG said in a statement. “The rights and conditions of screenwriters underpin any healthy and vibrant screen industry.
“With strike action now in force,” the statement continued, “the AWG advises members not to work on active projects within the jurisdiction of the WGA, to pitch new projects designed for production within the jurisdiction of the WGA, or to cross picket lines, actual or virtual, for the duration of the strike.”