US screenwriters have filed a lawsuit against the merger of Paramount and Warner Bros.

Hollywood found itself in the middle of a new large-scale conflict. The Screenwriters Guild of the USA (WGA) has filed a lawsuit demanding to block the merger of media giants Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery. According to the union, the deal will create an unprecedented concentration of influence in the film and TV series production market, as well as significantly weaken the positions of screenwriters in negotiations with employers.

The lawsuit became another obstacle to the deal, which has already been opposed by the attorneys general of several American states. Why the merger of the two largest film studios caused such serious resistance and what is at stake for the entire industry is in the Izvestia article.

A deal that could change the whole of Hollywood

Plans to merge Paramount Global and Warner Bros. The company announced Discovery in the summer of 2026. If the deal is approved by regulators, one corporation will manage a huge portfolio of assets, including Warner Bros. Pictures and Paramount Pictures studios, CBS, CNN, MTV, Nickelodeon and Showtime TV channels, streaming services HBO Max and Paramount+, as well as dozens of cable channels, news, sports and entertainment projects.

The merger is supposed to be a response of traditional media companies to the increasing competition from streaming platforms. The entertainment market has changed significantly in recent years: audiences are increasingly choosing online services, and major players such as Netflix, Amazon, and Disney continue to actively invest in their own production of films and TV series. At Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery believes that the merger will make it possible to compete more effectively with digital platforms, reduce costs and increase content production.

However, almost immediately after the deal was announced, it caused a wave of criticism. Opponents of the merger believe that such a large-scale consolidation could lead to reduced competition in the market, a decrease in the number of independent content producers and an increased influence of one company on the entire film and television industry. That is why the attorneys general of 12 American states have already opposed the deal, and they have appealed to the court to prevent its completion, citing possible violations of antitrust laws.

For Hollywood, this story is of particular importance also because the industry continues to recover from the large-scale strike of screenwriters in 2023. Then the WGA achieved a revision of the terms of remuneration, regulation of the use of artificial intelligence and changes in the remuneration system for projects for streaming platforms. Against this background, the union considers the new merger of the largest employers of screenwriters not as an ordinary corporate deal, but as a potential change in the balance of power in the entire labor market in the American entertainment industry.

Why are the scriptwriters demanding that the deal be blocked?

The main initiator of the new trial was the WGA, which unites more than 20 thousand authors of film, television and streaming projects. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Los Angeles. The union asks that the deal be recognized as violating US antitrust laws and that its completion be prohibited. According to the Screenwriters Guild, the merger of Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery will lead to excessive market concentration and significantly weaken the position of screenwriters in negotiations with the employer.

In the lawsuit, the union claims that the new company will become the largest buyer of scripts and an employer for authors of feature films, television series and projects for streaming platforms. Because of this, according to representatives of the WGA, it will become more difficult for screenwriters to negotiate the amount of fees, working conditions and the number of orders. According to the union, reducing the number of large studios will inevitably reduce competition for creative staff, which means it will strengthen the negotiating position of the employer.

WGA pays special attention to the fact that the consequences of the deal will affect several market segments at once. According to the trade union, the combined company will become one of the largest customers of scripts for feature films, television series and original content for its own streaming services. The authors of the lawsuit believe that with this scale of business, management will be able to more easily reduce production budgets, reduce the number of projects and put pressure on the conditions of hiring creative workers.

Disney allowed neural networks to use their characters. Why is this important?

WGA East President Tom Fontana called the merger a threat to the entire profession. According to him, if the deal is approved, the new corporation will gain unprecedented influence on the labor market of screenwriters, and this will inevitably affect the number of jobs and the level of pay. The union also recalls that Hollywood has already experienced large-scale production cuts and a wave of layoffs in recent years, so further consolidation of the industry, according to its representatives, will only strengthen these processes.

At Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery does not agree with this assessment. The companies argue that the merger is necessary to remain competitive in a rapidly changing media market. In their opinion, increasing the scale of the business will allow us to produce more films and TV series, invest more effectively in content production and compete more successfully with the world's largest streaming platforms, primarily Netflix, Disney and Amazon.

What will happen next and why this process is important for the entire industry

The WGA lawsuit is just one of several obstacles to the deal. The attorneys general of 12 American states, which are already challenging the merger, believe that it could lead to excessive market concentration and violate antitrust laws. In addition, the relevant regulators will have to study the deal, since we are talking about combining companies with assets in several countries and in different media markets at once.

For Hollywood, the outcome of this process can matter far beyond a single corporate deal. If the court supports the WGA's arguments, it will be one of the most notable cases in which a trade union has been able to influence a major merger, relying not only on the interests of employees, but also on antitrust laws. If the deal is approved, the American film industry will receive a new media giant that will combine film production, television, cable channels and streaming services under the management of one company. That is why the current dispute is seen not just as a conflict between the union and the studios, but as a process that can determine the direction of Hollywood's development for many years to come.