When the antitrust trial over the planned $111 billion merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery was scheduled for March 2027, the delay was viewed as a major blow to studio CEO David Ellison and his team.
It turns out the leaders of the Directors Guild of America and IATSE unions think the prolonged timeline is a disaster for them, too. In a letter sent to California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Ellison on Wednesday, union heads projected the lengthy timetable would harm workers and called for a settlement or, at the very least, an expedited trial.
This pro-settlement approach put them at odds with their compatriots at the Writers Guild of America, which has not only supported the attorneys’ general suit but has launched its own lawsuit to block the merger, presenting another hurdle to a quick resolution.
SAG-AFTRA is seemingly splitting the difference by supporting the state regulators’ suit and opposing the deal unless “enforceable safeguards” are put in place, theoretically through a settlement. The Teamsters previously called for the Department of Justice to block the deal unless specific conditions were met and, in a statement, motion picture division head Lindsay Dougherty called on Paramount Skydance to “stop playing games and show us more of your commitment to the workforce.”
Why the divided front in Hollywood’s solidarity-obsessed labor world? To understand the split, it’s helpful to look at the exposure that each of the unions have to production fluctuations, as well as the roles they typically play in the high drama of entertainment labor relations.
The triple whammy of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes and the ensuing pullback in content spending from major companies hit all Hollywood workers hard. But combine that with additional outsourcing of production from California, not to mention the U.S. all together, and union members dependent on freelance production work in their areas have had little reason for hope the last few years. Work has begun to rebound, but not nearly fast enough for many. IATSE, which represents an array of crew members including gaffers, grips, camera assistants and costume designers, has reported that hours worked by members in 2025 were down nearly 36 percent from 2022.
While the Directors Guild certainly counts in-demand helmers as members (its president: Christopher Nolan himself), it also represents plenty of rank and file crew workers, such as unit production managers, assistant directors, associate directors and stage managers. The union has seen a 40 percent decrease in employment since 2022, a union source tells THR.
According to DGA and IATSE leaders, they’ve already seen a retreat in jobs as a result of the uncertainty swirling around the future of Warner Bros. Discovery. And it’s spooked them. “We cannot overemphasize how damaging the current timeline for the trial … is to an already struggling industry,” Russell Hollander and Matthew Loeb wrote in their letter to Ellison and Bonta.
Contrast their position with that of the Writers Guild of America, whose members don’t depend on the short-term fluctuations of physical production happening in their areas. The WGA is also vulnerable to studios trimming their slates and buying fewer ideas and scripts, and saw a significant downturn in jobs following their 2023 strike. Still, their labor can’t be easily outsourced and the greater threat to them, perhaps, is in the long term: the reduction of five major studios, or major buyers of scripts and employers of writers, to four.
“The Merger would eliminate competition for buying film and television writing, resulting in suppressed compensation, worse deal terms, and reduced programming volume and diversity,” the Guild argued in its lawsuit to block the deal. It added that the transaction “threatens the economic and creative health of the American entertainment industry.”
Then there’s the matter of union personality and track record. Make no mistake, the writers like to shake things up. The WGA did it in 2019 with their war against talent agencies and again in 2023 with their battle against streaming-era economics. Time and time again, the WGA has demonstrated a high tolerance for risk, most recently through their decision to go into negotiations with studios and streamers while much of their own staff was on strike, and an interest in remaking the entertainment industry on a grand scale. They’ve faced the wrath of studio heads before and always claim, at the very least, that they’ve come out on top. Who’s afraid of David Ellison?
The DGA hasn’t historically shown that same appetite. The union prides itself on its pragmatism, careful research and selectivity in its battles with management (which typically take place outside the public eye). Its leaders believe power lies in diplomacy, not war — and appear to be suggesting that more uncertainty and another production downturn, however short, could present an existential risk to their members’ professions.
This time, it appears IATSE leaders are in the same camp as the DGA. The crew union has been no stranger in recent years to talking tough when they feel they can gain an edge. But with crew members so battered by the production downturn in recent years, the prospect of more short-term pain appears to be anathema to Loeb.
SAG-AFTRA and the Teamsters also seem open to a settlement with binding promises on production, though they haven’t yet gone so far as to plead with state attorneys general to devise one. The actors’ union, a mix of superstars and unknown performers, has supported the antitrust suit but called for “enforceable safeguards against reduced production by the studios with guarantees of increases in the percentage of productions made in the USA.”
In her statement to THR, Teamsters leader Dougherty says her union has yet to see any data illustrating how the merger would be good for the industry and its workers. And she faulted Ellison for claiming the merger would benefit workers while also threatening to leave L.A. if his suit isn’t settled by Oct. 1. ”Touting worker prosperity, without commitments, while simultaneously threatening their livelihood in the press as a bargaining chip begs the question — what is in this deal for American film and television workers?” she asked. “Fast-tracking corporate greed often leads to the creative and skilled workforce losing.”
Both Teamsters and SAG-AFTRA members rely heavily on localized production, but both unions have also proven that they’re open to a fight in recent years.
That’s not to say any of the unions are jazzed about the merger. “We have been consistent in our view that mergers, such as this one, historically offer few benefits to workers,” the DGA and IATSE leaders conceded in their letters. Some labor groups are simply arguing their members may not have the stamina required to fight it.
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