Damon Lindelof has done a lot of business with Warner Bros over the years, and today the Watchmen creator has put the business of the pending Paramount and WBD merger in a stark bottom line perspective.
“Hollywood, believe it or not, is a blue-collar town,” the Lanterns EP posted Monday morning explaining why he joined Lost colleague JJ Abrams, Pitt star Noah Wylie, Sopranos kingpin David Chase, Emma Thompson, Don Cheadle, and Jane Fonda in signing an open letter against the David Ellison-owned company’s $111 billion take over of Warner Bros Discovery.
“It’s thousands and thousands of Grips and Gaffers. Drivers and Decorators. Builders and Boom operators. Camera teams and Caterers,” frequent progressive candidates and causes contributor Lindelof noted.
“And they’re all about to get fucked.”
“Hollywood mergers mean fewer movies and fewer TV shows and that means fewer jobs,”
“When two storied backlots are owned by the same company, the outcome is intuitive —one becomes a Ghost Town,” Emmy winner Lindelof added. “I’m scared. But I’m not a ghost. And a fight is already lost if it’s never fought. So I signed. Proudly.”
As “good friend” Donald Trump‘s administration fast tracks the merger, several Blue state Attorney Generals have put Ellison and Paramount on notice they want to take a second look at the deal and its consequences, antitrust and otherwise.
Though the GOP hold all the power in DC, Democrats like Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Cory Booker (D-NJ) and wild man Chris “We are going to break up these anti-democratic information conglomerates” Murphy (D-CT) are raising Hell over the PARA-WBD meld.
Raised voices that could translate into much more if the Dems do well in the midterms.
With that, the Kyle Chandler, Aaron Pierre, Kelly Macdonald and Nathan Fillion starring Lanterns, penned by Lindelof, Chris Mundy, and Tom King, debuts on HBO Max in August. As the powerful Lantern Corps oath says: “In brightest day, in blackest night, / No evil shall escape my sight. / Let those who worship evil’s might, / Beware my power: Green Lantern’s light!”
