Despite the industrial action which is holding Hollywood’s feet to the fire, the studios are continuing to act bullish about matters, due to the completed slate of projects they have at their disposal. On Tuesday, amidst the ongoing writers and actors strikes in Hollywood, Paramount Global conducted its second-quarter earnings call. Following the trend set by other significant media corporations that have already disclosed their Q2 outcomes, the executives of the CBS parent company discussed the work stoppages. They expressed optimism for a prompt resolution while also elaborating on the potential impacts of these strikes on their business operations.
The good news for consumers, though, is that Paramount do have a number of highly-anticipated projects completed and ready for release, albeit with a slightly altered promotional campaign, given that the stars of the projects will not actually be available to talk up their own performances due to contractual limitations within their unions.
High-profile films including Killers of the Flower Moon, an awards contender from Martin Scorsese, as well as Bob Marley, If (from John Krasinski), Dear Santa—the holiday comedy from Jack Black—and A Quiet Place: Day One, a prequel set during the opening hours of the alien invasion established in Krasinski‘s A Quiet Place from 2018.
Paramount CEO Bob Bakish elaborated on Paramount‘s immediate future, saying:
“With respect to our film slate, the good news is we have a significant number of films on which production is complete. That includes ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ ‘Bob Marley,’ John Krasinski’s ‘If,’ as well as ‘A Quiet Place: Day One,’ and ‘Dear Santa’ with Jack Black. We also have the ‘Mean Girls’ musical for Paramount+. Strikes do present some marketing challenges, something we’re working to assess with respect to our release strategy, but again, we’re well stocked.
And you heard commentary on the CBS alternate schedule, that too draws from our global multi-platform asset base and is very strong. So from a content perspective, we’re in pretty good shape. Again, it all comes down to duration. And I want to reiterate that we’re hopeful that we can solve this as an industry sooner rather than later because we’d all like to get back in the content production business. But in the near term, we’re working to mitigate the damage the impact to our consumers, and other constituents.”
The Strike and Why It’s Happening
Since May 2, the Writers Guild of America has been engaged in a strike due to their inability to secure a new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) before the expiration of the previous agreement on May 1. Subsequently, on July 14, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) also joined the strike after facing challenges in reaching a new accord with the AMPTP.
Find out how the strike affects you here.
via Collider