Paramount is poised to be the new owner of Warner Bros. Discovery with a vote by WBD stockholders taking place in late April to approve or reject the deal. Paramount will spend a proposed $111 billion to take over the company that includes HBO, HBO Max, Warner Bros., DC Comics, and more. The deal is unlikely to face scrutiny from the federal government, Paramount’s Ellisons are close with the Trump administration, but is facing pushback elsewhere. California Attorney General Rob Bonta and colleagues in other states are pushing against the deal, likely opposing the federal government who will approve the deal. There’s also the chance of stipulations for European approval, but an outright block of the deal is unlikely.

Now, over 1,000 performers, creatives and other industry professionals signed a letter, which was organized by groups including the Committee for the First Amendment, the Future Film Coalition, the Writers Guild of America and the Democracy Defenders Fund, to oppose the merger.

The letter states the deal would:

• Consolidate an already concentrated media landscape, reducing competition at a moment when our industries—and the audiences we serve—can least afford it. The result will be 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.
• It would reduce the major U.S. film studios to four.
• Media consolidation has accelerated the disappearance of the mid-budget film, the erosion of independent distribution, the collapse of the international sales market, the elimination of meaningful profit participation, and the weakening of screen credit integrity.

The Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery deal has a direct impact on the comic industry which has yet to organize against it. The purchase would include DC Comics as well as whatever deal the comic publisher has with Milestone Media and Wonder Comics.

It’s unknown what the exact impact would have on the publisher but it would consolidate television and film, limited avenues for comics to see their creations to come to the big and small screen.

Paramount also currently licenses some of its property to IDW Publishing, it’s unknown if this would continue with the company now directly owning a comic publisher. The loss of the properties by IDW would negatively impact a comic publisher which has been one that has a history of indie releases.

The deal also puts Paramount deeply in debt creating an even shakier future for the company. It’ll need to bring down its debt and that could impact some of the purchased assets like DC.

Comic creators can sign the “Block the Merger” open letter to make sure their names are included. But, this is a merger that has the potential of major reverberations within the industry and opens up numerous ethical questions for creators that have yet to be discussed by the industry.

Paramount has released a response to the letter:

We hear and understand the concerns that some in our creative community have raised and respect the commitment to protecting and expanding creativity.

Importantly, as creators we know firsthand that this is also a moment when the industry has been facing significant disruption—and the need for strong, creative-first and well-capitalized companies that can continue to invest in storytelling has never been greater.

This transaction uniquely brings together complementary strengths to create a company that can greenlight more projects, back bold ideas, support talent across multiple stages of their careers, and bring stories to audiences at a truly global scale—while strengthening competition by ensuring multiple scaled players are investing in creative talent.

We have been clear in our commitments to do just that: increasing output to a minimum of 30 high-quality feature films annually with full theatrical releases, continuing to license content, and preserving iconic brands with independent creative leadership —ensuring creators have more avenues for their work, not fewer.

We understand the concerns raised as a result of the disruptions caused to our industry by COVID, entry of big-tech, and changes in consumer behavior, but we promise this: Paramount remains deeply committed to talent, and this merger strengthens both consumer choice and competition, creating greater opportunities for creators, audiences and the communities they live and work in.