The CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery has expressed his admiration for those striking in Hollywood at the moment—a stark contrast from Disney’s Bob Iger, who called their actions “disturbing.”
During his studio’s financial quarterly analyst call on Thursday, Zaslav said he was “hopeful” that the strikes would be resolved in a way that makes writers and actors feel “fairly compensated” and “valued.”
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) have been on strike since early May while the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) joined them in the middle of July. Both unions are negotiating with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) over the terms of streaming shows, and reassurances for the future of artificial intelligence.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav attends the Los Angeles Premiere of Warner Bros. “The Flash” at Ovation Hollywood on June 12, 2023 in Hollywood, California. Zaslav voiced his support for the writers and actors striking during a Q2 financial call on August 3, 2023. Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
There doesn’t appear to be any indication that the Hollywood strikes will be over imminently, but Zaslav expressed his desire to find a resolution sooner rather than later.
“On the strike, I’m very focused on it because this is our business, this is all we do,” Zaslav said on Thursday’s public Q2 earnings call. “And it’s critically important that everybody, the writers, the directors, the actors, the producers, all the below-the-line crews, everyone needs to be fairly compensated and they need to feel valued in order to do their best work.”
He continued, “Hopefully [a deal is] gonna happen soon, I think all of us in this business are very keen to figure out a solution as quickly as possible […] We are in some uncharted waters in terms of the world today and measuring it all, and so I think, in good faith, we’ve all got to fight to get this resolved, and it needs to be resolved in a way that the creative community feels fairly compensated and fully valued.”
Zaslav’s comments on the writers and actors on strike are strongly juxtaposed to Iger’s.
“It’s very disturbing to me. We’ve talked about disruptive forces on this business and all the challenges we’re facing, the recovery from COVID which is ongoing, it’s not completely back. This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption,” Iger said on CNBC’s Squawk Box on July 13, the day that SAG-AFTRA said they’d also be striking.
Discussing the ongoing negotiations, Iger said: “There’s a level of expectation that they have, that is just not realistic. And they are adding to the set of the challenges that this business is already facing that is, quite frankly, very disruptive.”
Celebrities have voiced their support for those striking at the moment. High-profile names like George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman and Dwayne Johnson donated $1 million or more to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, which provides emergency financial assistance for performers facing economic hardship.
Game of Thrones writer George R.R. Martin recently voiced his support for the writers on his blog, but predicted the current industrial action would be “long and bitter.”
Actor and screenwriter Sylvester Stallone told Newsweek in May that writers aren’t “appreciated” despite Hollywood being built on the written word. “I think it’s changed so much that the writers do have a serious gripe […]. They’re in a grievance that it’s changed. There’s not enough work to keep all these writers going.”
The ongoing strikes have put a number of television and movie productions on hold. Late-night shows were the first to go off the air when the WGA went on strike, then a number of big-budget movies shut down production when SAG-AFTRA did the same. Only a few soap operas, reality TV and game shows are still in production at the moment.