Hollywood on the Brink of ‘Absolute Collapse’

IAC chairman and former Paramount CEO Barry Diller issued a grave warning about the writers and actors strike in the entertainment industry.

The media mogul warned that Hollywood is facing an “absolute collapse” if the joint strike progresses into the fall.

At midnight on Thursday, SAG-AFTRA actors joined film and television writers on strike.

Hollywood Shutting Down? ‘We Are In Jeopardy of Being Replaced By Machines’

Negotiations between the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers failed, which reportedly will bring film and television productions to a grinding halt.

Hollywood is essentially shut down.

According to Reuters, studios face their first dual work stoppage in over 60 years.

1960 was the last time writers and actors went on strike at the same time.

“We are the victims here,” SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said Thursday.

“We are being victimized by a very greedy entity. I am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with are treating us,” she added.

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We didn’t want a strike, but we are not afraid of a fight. We are #SAGAFTRAstrong! 💪🪧 #SAGAFTRAstrike pic.twitter.com/QLRME29vMC

— SAG-AFTRA (@sagaftra) July 13, 2023

Diller made his comments Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Actor, writer strikes could lead to Hollywood's 'absolute collapse' if not resolved soon: former Paramount CEO https://t.co/P8rD5Q0JVN

— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 17, 2023

“What will happen is, if in fact, it doesn’t get settled until Christmas or so, then next year, there’s not going to be many programs for anybody to watch. So, you’re gonna see subscriptions get pulled, which is going to reduce the revenue of all these movie companies, television companies, the result of which is that there will be no programs,” Diller said.

“And at just the time, [the] strike is settled that you want to get back up, there won’t be enough money,” he added.

Fox News reports:

Hollywood actors joined screenwriters in their months-long strike against studios, streaming services and production companies represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) last week, marking the first time in over six decades that the two unions have been on strike at the same time.

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Since May, writers, represented by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) have been on strike, asking for a guaranteed number of writers per room, increased pay, and regulated use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the writing process. Actors, represented by Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) want increased minimum pay rates, increased streaming residuals and guarantees from studio and production companies about how, exactly, AI will be used. The strike has impacted the production of film and television series and is expected to cost the industry more than $3 billion in losses.

Diller said Hollywood is in the throes of a “perfect storm,” adding that he doesn’t think there is enough “trust” between the parties to reach a resolution soon.

"Hollywood and film industry could collapse in perfect storm." https://t.co/Bn8TK2OswF

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) July 16, 2023

Read more of the transcript from Diller’s interview provided by Breitbart:

BRENNAN: You know, we were trying to gauge the economic impact of this. And according to the Milken Institute, it could cause $4 billion in economic damage. What do you think the impact will be? And how long will the strikes last?

DILLER: Well, the problem with this particular- all strikes get settled. The issue for this one is, is when. Because you have almost a perfect storm here, which is you had COVID, which sent people home to watch streaming and television and killed theaters. You- you’ve had the results of huge investments in streaming, which have produced all these losses for all these companies who are now kind of retrenching. So, at this moment, this kind of perfect storm, it’s okay if it gets settled in the next month. But I’ll posit what happens if it doesn’t, and there doesn’t seem to be enough trust and energy to get it settled soon. What will happen is, if in fact, it doesn’t get settled until Christmas or so, then next year, there’s not going to be many programs for anybody to watch. So, you’re gonna see subscriptions get pulled, which is going to reduce the revenue of all these movie companies, television companies, the result of which is that there will be no programs. And at just the time, strike is settled that you want to get back up, there won’t be enough money. So this actually will have devastating effects if it is not settled soon. And the problem with settlement in this case, is there’s no trust between the parties. There are existential issues. Obviously, AI, which I think is just overhyped to death, in terms of the worries that there is and writers are going to be replaced rather than assisted, which is what I think will happen. So- but there’s no trust, you have the actors union, saying, “How dare these 10 people who run these companies earn all this money and won’t pay us?” While if you look at it on the other side, the top ten actors get paid more than the top ten executives. I’m not saying either is right. Actually, everybody’s probably overpaid at the top end. The one idea I had is to say, as a good faith measure, both the executives and the most paid actors should take a 25% pay cut, to try and narrow-narrow the difference between those who get highly paid and those that don’t–

BRENNAN: –I want to talk about what you just said in terms of- go ahead.

DILLER: The only other thing I would do, I would call for a September 1 deadline. There’s a strike deadline. I think there should be a settlement deadline. Because unless it happens by September 1, the actions and you know, of course, who cares about Hollywood, who cares about it. But the truth is, this is a huge business both domestically and for-for world export. And if it is- these conditions- it sounds like I’m crying to the skies. But these conditions will potentially produce an absolute collapse of an entire industry.

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“Face the Nation” has the full interview: