Local filmmakers and filmmaking advocates rallied outside of federal court in Oakland on Friday to protest a proposed $110 billion merger between two of the largest media companies in the world, Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros Discovery.
On Monday, 12 states including California filed a lawsuit asking the court to block the proposed merger. States are arguing that this merger would reduce competition in the film industry.
The rally brought together the Archival Producers Alliance, the Committee for the First Amendment, Teamsters Local 853, and local filmmakers from the Bay Area.
Organizers argue that further consolidation through this merger would kill mid-budget films, eliminate independent film industries and remove local creative jobs.
Nine-time Emmy winner W. Kamau Bell said the biggest issue with this merger is that it represents how state-sponsored media takes shape.
“Theres a clear chain of events that’s happening right now with media consolidation. I mean, you don’t hear about a lot of great media coming out of Russia,” said Bell.
With the merger, CNN and CBS News would both be under the same owner.
Why the merger matters to Oakland
Bell also talked about how this affects filmmaking in Oakland.
“Anything that consolidates the media makes filmmaking less accessible in Oakland, and filmmaking is already not accessible in Oakland,” said Bell.
Accessibility to filmmaking takes a hit with major media consolidation deals like this, Bell added.
“More accessibility means more choices, more projects, more people working. And if you have media consolidation that’s less choices, less projects, and less people working in a place that’s already less accessible for filmmaking,” he said.
“Anything that consolidates the media makes filmmaking less accessible in Oakland, and filmmaking is already not accessible in Oakland.”
W. Kamau Bell, television personality
Rachel Antell is the co-director of the Archival Producers Alliance. She said that this merger would have a huge impact on indie filmmakers in the Bay Area.
“It means that edgier stories, more unique stories, more politically critical stories are probably not going to be able to find funding. And it really limits the kind of media that’s being made and the kind of stories we get to hear,” said Antell.
States also are arguing that the deal could harm movie theaters and television distributors and raise subscription prices for consumers.
