Hollywood panics as Paramount-Netflix battle for Warner Bros

Disaster, catastrophe and nightmare. That's how Hollywood creatives are describing the fall of once-mighty Warner Bros. as Netflix and Paramount battle to buy the historic studio and a tinsel town bracing for more turmoil and job losses.

Warner's demise and impending sale – whether to Paramount Skydance as a whole or to Netflix split into pieces – are being mourned in Hollywood, where a historic production decline has already hit the entertainment industry. Losing the studio behind iconic films from “Casablanca” and “Goodfellas” to “Batman” and “Harry Potter” likely means even more job cuts and certainly means one less buyer for film and TV projects.

BBC interviews with dozens of actors, producers and crews show the industry trying to weigh the lesser of two evils: control from a tech giant accused of killing cinemas (Netflix) or billionaires seen as too friendly with President Trump (Paramount).

“David Ellison is a right-wing billionaire Trumper,” a camera assistant said of the Paramount Skydance CEO, who is the son of billionaire Oracle co-founder and close Trump ally Larry Ellison. “Netflix has historically been more willing to not micromanage production.”

If Netflix gets the deal it wants, it will buy Warner Bros.' crown jewels – the 102-year-old HBO studio and its vast archive of films and TV shows – leaving Warners' legacy TV channels such as CNN, TNT Sports and Discovery to another buyer.

Meanwhile, Paramount Skydance earned $108bn (£81bn). hostile takeover Warner Bros' bid includes backing from Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Qatar and a foundation founded by Jared Kushner, son-in-law of US President Donald Trump.

This raised concerns about the possibility of censorship and government abuse.

President Trump added fuel to the fire when he declared that “CNN needs to be sold.”

The deal with Warner Bros is the latest in a long line of major upheavals in Hollywood since the pandemic.

Film and television production stopped in 2023 due to simultaneous strikes by actors and writers. It would seem that everyone was working in Hollywood in 2022, as studios and streaming services experienced creative overload following the Covid shutdown. But when the strikes ended, the production boom never resumed.

The fallout from this has meant that many media companies have had to close their doors or merge. David Ellison's Skydance Media acquired by Paramountanother legendary Hollywood studio, led to the loss of thousands of jobs earlier this summer.

When Warner Bros put up a sale notice, Paramount began an aggressive campaign to buy the company. But the studio ultimately announced a tentative deal with Netflix. Rejected, Paramount then went directly to Warner Bros Discovery shareholders with a hostile takeover bid that they said was “superior” to the Netflix deal.

Whether they're rooting for Paramount, Netflix or another potential buyer, the one thing people in Hollywood seem to agree on is the villain of the story – Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who earned $51.9 million last year while Warner Bros lost more than $11 billion and saw the company's shares fall nearly 7%.

“I've watched Warner Bros struggle since David Zaslav became CEO and brought the company to its end,” says the actor, who lost his home after his work dried up. He did not want to give his name because he still hopes to work for Netflix and Paramount.

Many have compared Mr. Zaslav to the fictional movie character Gordon Gekko, who proclaimed that “greed is good” in the 1987 film “Wall Street.”

Mr. Zaslav took over in 2022 as a result of another major merger of Discovery, Inc., which he led, with AT&T's WarnerMedia, creating Warner Bros Discovery. The consolidation resulted in several thousand job cuts and generous pay packages for Mr. Zaslav.

“Zaslav is just Gordon Gekko: he came, broke and sold everything,” says a producer who worked on the Warner Bros. lot. “He said I'll make all the shareholders rich and who cares about the history of the place.”

Warner Bros objected to this characterization.

“Under David's leadership and the talented team at WBD, over the past three and a half years, the studio has regained its leadership position with a unique slate of original content films, witnessed the relaunch of the DC Universe under a unified leadership team with a ten-year plan, and launched a streaming service globally to become profitable for the first time in history,” Warner communications chief Robert Gibbs said in a statement to the BBC.

For many film workers, the question of who is buying Warner Bros seems almost unimportant. Instead, they are focusing on how to reinvent themselves as the industry shrinks amid consolidation and the growing use of artificial intelligence in entertainment.

“Every morning, no matter how much I tell myself to stay positive, I wake up feeling like I've failed on every front,” says the actor, who is now homeless with his wife and two children, relying on the kindness of friends and food banks while he works odd jobs. He asked not to be named for fear it could affect future work.

“I would rather see Netflix bought by Warner Bros than foreign money,” he says.

Others aren't so sure. The tech giant has arguably become the industry's greatest disruptor since Warner Bros first released “talkies” in 1927.

“I think it's a disaster,” says the film distributor, who asked to remain anonymous because he works with Netflix. “This company openly and proudly declares that theaters are no longer needed. It's scary. It's a nightmare.”

Many theaters in the US are refusing to show Netflix films due to their streaming-centric strategy.

“At least with Paramount we know the films will make it to the big screen. They didn't destroy the theaters,” said one producer who worked for all three companies.

Netflix attempted to allay those concerns, saying they expect to “maintain Warner Bros.' current operations.” and build on its strengths, including releasing films in cinemas.”

Many in Hollywood want to believe them.

John Evans, a sound engineer who specializes in acting, writing and producing, points to Netflix's loving restoration of the Egyptian Theater on famed Hollywood Boulevard as a sign of its goodwill.

The Egyptian Theatre, a classic 1922 theater, was the site of the world's first premiere of Robin Hood, starring Douglas Fairbanks. It fell into disrepair before Netflix bought the building in 2020 and renovated it for $70 million.

“I think that’s a good sign,” Mr. Evans said, adding that streaming is how much film workers are consuming movies and TV shows, just like the rest of the world.

In the Warner Bros backyard, tourists take selfies in front of the Central Perk cafe from the TV series “Friends” and stroll past building facades that stand in for New York or Los Angeles. In the offices and writing rooms, for those still working, everything is as usual.

“I've been through seven mergers,” said a producer working on the Warner Bros. lot while developing the new show, explaining that it was sad to lose the studio because it meant it would be even harder to make and sell a show with one less client. “But if you do good things, you do good things.”

The producer spoke on condition of anonymity on the day Paramount Skydance announced its hostile takeover bid. They said they were too busy to worry about a sale because they were trying to get the show on the air – and they wouldn't be surprised if another billionaire or trillionaire made another offer to the studio by the end of all this.

“I joke that Elon came in and did it, but he could have,” they said of the Tesla and X owner. “When you have people worth a trillion dollars, there are no rules.”