Why Hollywood heavyweights oppose the Paramount and Warner Brothers deal
Consider This from NPR
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🗓️ 14 April 2026
⏱️ 8 minutes
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Summary
Backlash against a possible merger between the media companies Paramount Skydance and Warner Brothers Discovery increased this week when more than 2,000 actors, writers and directors signed a letter opposing the deal.
The letter warns that the merger will result in “fewer opportunities for creators, fewer jobs across the production ecosystem, higher costs, and less choice for audiences in the United States and around the world.”
Damon Lindelof created "The Leftovers", "Watchmen" and helped create the hit series "Lost." He was one of the artists to sign the letter, and he explains his decision to NPR's Mary Louise Kelly.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You may have heard there's a Hollywood merger afoot after a lot of back and forth. |
| 0:05.7 | As Netflix has backed away from their deal to acquire Warner Brothers Discovery, essentially paving the way for Paramount to take over its Hollywood rival. |
| 0:17.5 | That is Andy Mack of Live Now from Fox. And here's the president weighing in from |
| 0:22.7 | the South Lawn in June. Ellison's great. They'll do a great job with him. The studio that brought |
| 0:27.9 | Maverick back to the big screen in 2022. Good morning, aviators. This is your captain speaking. Welcome to |
| 0:34.5 | basic fighter maneuvers. And gross nearly a billion and a half dollars worldwide. |
| 0:40.3 | That studio is on track to buy the studio that brought you Barbie. Hi Barbie. Hi Barbie. Hi Barbie. Hi Barbie. Which also |
| 0:48.5 | grossed nearly a billion and a half dollars worldwide. Consider this. Two powerhouses of entertainment and media are likely to become one. |
| 0:58.0 | So why aren't the artists happy about it? |
| 1:05.4 | From NPR, I'm Mary Louise Kelly. |
| 1:10.1 | Music I'm Mary Louise Kelly. |
| 1:17.5 | It's Consider This from NPR. |
| 1:25.0 | More than 2000, actors, directors, producers, writers, editors, composers, and costumers have now signed an open letter, a letter opposing Paramount Skydances |
| 1:30.2 | takeover of Warner Brothers Discovery. Now, that deal is expected to close later this year if it |
| 1:36.6 | wins approval from regulators and shareholders, but the letter out yesterday contains a warning. |
| 1:43.0 | It says a merger will result in, quote, fewer opportunities |
| 1:47.5 | for creators, fewer jobs across the production ecosystem, higher costs, and less choice |
| 1:54.1 | for audiences in the United States and around the world. One of the people who signed the |
| 1:58.7 | letter is Damon Lindelof, creator of the the tv series watchmen also co-creator of |
| 2:04.6 | lost and the leftovers damon lindelof welcome to all things considered thanks so much for having me |
| 2:10.7 | so you posted uh on instagram yesterday um and walked through how you decided to sign this letter openly opposing |
| 2:20.5 | the merger. You said your first thought was, yeah, I do oppose the merger. And the second was, |
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