Sen. Adam Schiff and Rep. Laura Friedman are seeking assurances from Netflix and Paramount Skydance that they will protect Hollywood jobs if allowed to acquire Warner Bros.
In a letter to the heads of both companies, the Democratic lawmakers cited a dramatic decline in domestic production, and noted with alarm that both companies have pledged to cut billions in costs as part a potential merger.
“We’ve continued to watch as these jobs, and many companies, have left the United States altogether for foreign venues abroad,” they wrote. “We expect and look forward to your companies’ public commitments to protecting, growing and reassuring the hundreds of thousands of industry workers and their families in your respective bids.”
The letter follows a Senate antitrust hearing on Tuesday, at which Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos promised to increase domestic production levels, focusing in particularly on the development of its new studio in New Jersey.
Both Schiff and Friedman hail from a San Fernando Valley district where much of the industry’s below-the-line workforce resides. The letter seeks commitments specifically to Los Angeles, which has seen a sharp downturn in production since 2022.
“How will your company ensure that Hollywood and California remain central to your production and investment strategy?” the lawmakers wrote. “What concrete steps will you take to preserve and expand good-paying film and television jobs in Los Angeles?”
Schiff and Friedman also noted that they are working on bipartisan legislation to create a federal film incentive, which would augment state-based tax credits.
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They wrote that the bill — yet to be introduced — will be “modeled after successful state programs in California, Louisiana, Georgia, and many others, so that the United States can remain competitive in the global market. We view this as a tool to not just protect but encourage more domestic filming and sustainable job creation on American soil.”
They invited Sarandos and David Ellison, CEO of Paramount Skydance, to offer their support for such a measure and explain how it would help them keep production jobs in the U.S.
The letter also seeks commitments that the studios will continue to employ union labor and that they will use AI in a way that does not displace workers.
Netflix has agreed to buy the Warner Bros. film and TV studios business and HBO Max for $83 billion. Paramount has pursued a hostile bid — which has been repeatedly rebuffed — for all of Warner Bros. Discovery. Either deal would have to win the approval of the Justice Department to move forward.
From Variety US