(MENAFN- AzerNews) The actors' and writers' strike continuing to cripple Hollywood
has led to Warner Bros Discovery saving in the“low $100 million
range” in three months, according to BANG Showbiz, Azernews reports.
Executives reported their spending has plummeted during the
second financial quarter of the year as they revealed their
earnings on Thursday.
Negotiations are still to resume between the unions and the
studios, but WBD – whose stable includes its flagship Warner Bros
film studio, as well as HBO and CNN Global – says it is currently
projecting an“early September” end to the strikes and return to TV
and film production.
Variety reported Gunnar Wiedenfels – chief financial officer of
Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) – revealed on a call with financial
analysts about the company's results from 1 April to 30 June that
“uncertainty” among studios as a result of the strikes“may have
implications for the timing and performance of the remainder of the
film slate, as well as our ability to produce and deliver
content”.
He added:“While we are hoping for a fast resolution, our
modelling assumes a return to work date in early September.
“Should the strikes run through the end of the year, I would
expect several $100 million upside to our free cash flow guidance
and some incremental downside for adjusted EBITDA (earnings before
interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation.)”
Only Writers Guild of America (WGA) members were on strike
during WBD's second financial quarter, but TV and film productions
were already severely impacted by their work stoppage.
Variety also reported WBD's CEO David Zaslav said on the firm's
call with financial analysts about the strike's impact on its
second quarter:“We're in the business of storytelling. Our goal is
to tell great stories, stories with the power to entertain and,
when we're at our best, inspire with stories that come to life on
screens big and small.
“We cannot do any of that without the entirety of the creative
community, the great creative community. Without the writers,
directors, editors, producers, actors, the whole below-the-line
crew. Our job is to enable and empower them to do their best
work.
“We're hopeful that all sides will get back to the negotiating
room soon and that these strikes get resolved in a way that the
writers and actors feel they are fairly compensated and their
efforts and contributions are fully valued.”
The WGA has been on strike since 2 May after failing to reach a
new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television
Producers (AMPTP.)
And the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television
and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) joined them on 14 July after also
failing to ink a new agreement with the AMPTP.
Mr Zaslav added:“It's critically important that everybody, the
writers, the directors, the actors and producers... everyone needs to
be fairly compensated and they need to feel valued and feel that
they're fairly compensated in order to do their best work.
“And we have to focus on getting that done. I'm hopeful that
it's going to 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 as it is
today and measuring it all. And so I think, in good faith, we 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.”
Writers and actors are demanding studios raise pay rates and
residuals for streaming content and develop guidelines around the
use of AI in TV and film.