The Writers Guild of America has filed for its own preliminary injunction to further pause the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger until the courts can determine whether the $110 billion deal is unlawful or not. This is in addition to the separate proceedings from a dozen state attorneys general.
“If the transaction closes, the combined company will be the largest buyer of screenwriting services on blockbuster films in the United States, eliminating head-to-head competition between two studios that have competed against each other for talent, projects and audiences for more than a century,” the WGA wrote in its early Wednesday filing. “These competitive harms are distinct from those described by the coalition of State Attorneys General, but are no less dire or urgent.”
“Writers, the people who transform blank pages into unforgettable stories, will be some of the first to bear the harms of that loss of competition,” the guild continued. “To preserve the competition essential to creative opportunity and fair compensation, the WGA respectfully moves for a preliminary injunction prohibiting Paramount and Warner Bros. from closing or otherwise consummating the transaction before the court determines whether it is unlawful.”
The update comes two days after U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín granted the 12 state AGs’ temporary restraining order, pausing the merger for at least 14 days (with another 14 days as a possibility). A hearing has been set for Aug. 3 regarding that preliminary injunction motion.
The WGA also requested that its case be handled simultaneously with the state AGs from California, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington — “only if it can be done without altering the States’ litigation schedule.” If not, the union lawyers noted that they will request a “separate but similarly expedited schedule” or even their own TRO.
Last week, WGA West and East filed a lawsuit against Paramount Skydance in another effort to block its planned acquisition of WBD: “With fewer competitors, the merged Paramount-Warner Bros. entity would have both the incentive and the ability to lower costs by suppressing writers’ wages and reducing output. Writers will be paid less and have fewer employment opportunities.”
“A stronger Hollywood only means something if it’s stronger for the writers who power it,” a Paramount spokesperson shared in a prior statement. “A combined Paramount-WBD will have the scale and resources to reverse the current trends in our industry and expand opportunities for writers, not shrink them: more development slates, more series and film greenlights, and our continued strong commitment to working with the guild’s writers across our brands.”
