WBD CEO David Zaslav “Hopeful” For Resolution To SAG-AFTRA Strike As He Touts Studios’ Final Offer; Hints At M&A – “We Could Be Really Opportunistic”

Warner Bros. has denied reports that the upcoming Wonder Woman game will be a live service title.Announced at the end of 2021, the Monolith Productions-developed title was described as a single-player, open-world action-adventure game featuring an original story set in the DC universe.

David Zaslav has a funny way of making friends.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav‘s name graced many a picket sign during the Writers Guild of America’s 148-day strike, with everything from his exec comp to content-cutting choices called out in writers’ anti-Hollywood studios jokes. Now that the work stoppage is over, the writers might consider reexamining their opinion of Zaslav, who concedes the WGA was “right about almost everything.” In a profile published by Wednesday by The New York Times Magazine, Zaslav said he does not regret the concessions that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) made to finally close that tentative deal with the writers union Sept.

Texas congressman Joaquin Castro has taken to X to slam Warner Bros Discovery for axing the $70M Coyote vs. Acme for a reported $30M tax writeoff. That said, as we first reported, the studio is changing course this week and screening the film for potential buyers, i.e. Amazon Prime (a leading contender), Apple and Netflix. This pivot by studio brass was made after a weekend in which the studio’s phone rang off the hook by the creative community over the cancelling of the finished film, as well as an outcry by the pic’s composer Steven Price among others online.

Last week, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav made news, yet again, regarding a controversial move to shelve an already-produced film.

Coyote vs. Acme composer Steven Price has blasted the David Zaslav cost-cutting Warner Bros Discovery administration for axing the animated Looney Tunes hybrid live-action animated film.

Just over a year after scrapping “Batgirl,” Warner Bros. and David Zazlav have killed off another nearly completed feature that was meant to be an HBO Max release and vaulted it instead.

In another maneuver by the David Zaslav-run Warner Bros Discovery to kill movies, we hear on very good authority that Warner Bros will not be releasing the live-action/animated hybrid Coyote vs. Acme with the conglom taking an estimated $30M write-down on the $70M production. We understand the writedown for the pic was applied to the recently reported Q3.

Selome Hailu Hollywood may soon be back in business. SAG-AFTRA has reached a tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). If ratified, the new contract would end the actors union’s historic 118-day strike.

After 118 days of the actors guild being out on strike, SAG-AFTRA and the studios have reached a tentative deal on a new contract that could see Hollywood up and running again within weeks.

This was not how David Zaslav and Bob Iger wanted today to go.

CNN Max is attracting users who are “20 years younger” than traditional TV viewers, according to Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav opened the company’s quarterly earnings presentation with remarks on the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, remaining “hopeful” that the work stoppage will end “soon” following the Hollywood studios’ move to adjust AI language in its “last, best and final offer” to the actors union. “We are hopeful we will reach a resolution to the SAG-AFTRA strike soon,” Zaslav said during WBD’s third-quarter earnings call Wednesday.

The lead negotiators for SAG-AFTRA and the studios are set to meet later today in what could be the final phase to sealing a new deal and the end to the 117-day actors guild strike.

EXCLUSIVE: A deal may not be in the cards tonight, but SAG-AFTRA and the studios could be heading back to negotiations within hours.

ongoing strike to an end. The offer comes at the end of a renewed wave of negotiations between the two groups, which have been taking place over the past 12 days.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The studios told SAG-AFTRA on Saturday that they have made their “last, best and final” offer, as they seek an end to the 114-day actors strike. The offer includes an enhanced residual bonus for high-performing streaming shows. Under the proposal, actors who appear on the most-watched shows on each platform will see their standard streaming residual doubled.

EXCLUSIVE: There’s real movement in talks between SAG-AFTRA and the studios for a new three-year contract,

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer SAG-AFTRA is set to meet again on Wednesday with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers after a “productive” day of talks on Tuesday. The sides continue to project “cautious optimism” about resolving the strike, which is now on Day 110. The studios have warned that they must get a deal this week in order to be able to produce partial seasons of scripted network TV series.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery’s chief people and culture officer Adria Alpert Romm will retire at the end of June 2024, the company announced Tuesday. WPP’s global chief people officer Jennifer Remling has been named as the top HR exec’s successor and will join WBD in January.