"They laid me off on my baby’s due date during maternity leave"
"My division had a bunch of people (my team included) laid off and the positions moved to Argentina."
"We used to deliver a dozen shows to them, that dwindled down to two in the past year therefore my entire department got axed."
This is what happened when David Ellison bought Paramount last year. Now, he wants to buy Warner Brothers Discovery for 13X that amount, load it down with $79 billion in debt (you read that right)... and cut $6 billion in what he calls "synergies."
If Paramount does buy WBD, it'll bankrupt thousands of writers, drivers, make-up artists, camera operators -- and hundreds more small production houses, post-production studios, caterers, independent movie theaters, you name it. And not just in Burbank. It'll happen across California and New York and New Jersey and Georgia and beyond.
But people aren't talking about that... yet. So what are we going to do about it?
Well, I'm hitting the road with the @econliberties team, we're joining arms with our friends at @DDAction_ , @FilmCoalition, @1ACommittee, @freepress (*the other one), and the giants @WGAWest and @WGAEast to hold three listening sessions where working people and small businesses can speak, on the record, about what this merger will mean to THEM.
We start *Saturday* in Los Angeles where the one and only @adamconover, Commissioner @AGomezFCC, and WGAW president @MulroneyMichele will join documentarian @Marj Safinia and I for a MAIN STREET VS. THE MERGER town hall.
Then we head to NYC on Saturday, June 13 where we'll be joined by antitrust subcommittee ranking member @SenBooker, James Schamus (of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Brokeback Mountain" fame), and WGAE executive director Sam Wheeler for a roundtable at WGAE headquarters to talk about the merger.
And finally we land in Atlanta on Tuesday, June 16, where @GabeLezra and I will be joined by @RepHankJohnson and other luminaries in Georgia's extraordinary film and TV scene to hear from the small businesses and workers in Georgia who will be affected by the merger.
RSVP link for Los Angeles is in the comments. And if you're in the press or you are a worker or small business owner worried about the merger, write me at [email protected] for a link to join the smaller NYC and ATL events.
“Johnson responded to the post, saying in a statement, "Chicagoans have had more than enough of Trump's blasphemous war in Iran. Someone should explain to the president that he's only making it harder for working families to make ends meet."
https://t.co/pO3NGHdjxL
And I will be offering an amendment in the committee itself to strip section 224 out, @RepThomasMassie.
Trump can't kill the Massie/Khanna partnership no matter how much he posts on Truth Social.
"At a time when the American public is expressing unprecedented levels of distrust in the Israeli government, Congress just proposed tying the U.S. to the Israeli military more than ever before."
Here's the story: 🧵
Steyer is his own man Beccera owes his candidacy to Oil and Gas and Tech Bros. Beccera is beholden to his donors and Steyer is beholden to the people of CA.
https://t.co/DKKrlbxARO
Fight the machine that is dehumanizing Americans. Monopolization and consolidation kills good competition, destroys diversity in the market, drives down working wages and only works for CEO and shareholders.
HUGE: The California legislature is officially closer than it's been in a quarter century to banning illegal monopolization.
The COMPETE Act, AB 1776 (Aguiar-Curry), passes the Assembly by a vote of 44-16. The most lobbied bill of the session moves to the Senate.
Sign up to find out how to save our industry from a consolidation that will cause mass firings, less creative autonomy, consolidated news media and higher cable bills.
Fight the machine of dehumanization and optimization.
https://t.co/ZkTkM6G0fu
NEW: Sharyn Alfonsi goes scorched earth on Bari Weiss:
"Over the weekend, my contract with CBS News expired, drawing to a close nearly twenty years with the network, including more than a decade at 60 Minutes.
Following an intense editorial dispute over our CECOT story, repeated attempts by my representation to establish a path forward were met with absolute silence from network executives. The message could not be clearer: my time at 60 Minutes is apparently over.
In the coming days, network leadership may attempt to hide behind corporate euphemisms like "modernization" and “restructuring” to explain away my departure. Don't be misled. This was not a routine corporate transition; it was a deliberate choice to penalize a journalist for refusing to sanitize factually accurate reporting, and it sends a chilling message to the entire newsroom.
Fearless, independent reporting has always been the defining standard at 60 Minutes. Today, CBS management is abandoning that mission, choosing access journalism over accountability and protecting power rather than scrutinizing it.
The wall between editorial independence and corporate interest at CBS is being methodically torn down. Journalists willing to challenge authority are being pushed aside in favor of those who will not. If this continues, the result will be a broadcast that looks like 60 Minutes but lacks the courage and character to produce journalism that matters.
To my colleagues, who became family - working beside you has been the privilege of a lifetime. You are second to none. I’ve learned exactly what it costs to hold the line right now. Hold it anyway. Viewers and the people who trust us with their stories deserve nothing less."
Backstory:
- January: https://t.co/l518elnE4b
- April: https://t.co/8pWTTjOIbk
- May: https://t.co/LfKHnm18nF
BREAKING: In a stunning moment, watch this Texas wife correct her husband and remind him that Ken Paxton is a crook. Even conservative families don't want to support him. Wow.
Paramount is apparently trying to suppress copies of "Only in Monroe" from appearing on other social platforms by filing frivolous copyright notices, even though the show was produced by a public access TV channel and doesn't use their intellectual property...
Don’t want to pay higher cable bills, have CNN become See BS,, have your favorite sport bundled with a bunch of others you will be forced to pay for to watch it, have your movies and television choices be decided by a couple of rich guys who never had to struggle for anything in their lives…? #BlockTheMerger Call your AG.
https://t.co/gBzht8gqWv
It starts… one of many challenges coming for this monopoly by consumers, film makers, journalists, and European regulators. #BlockTheMerger#BreakUpTheMonoplies
Bruce Springsteen appeared on Stephen Colbert’s show tonight and COOKED Trump and his goons
“I’m here in support tonight for Stephen, because you are the first guy in America who lost his show because we got a president who can't take a joke…. and because Larry and David Ellison feel they need to kiss his ass to get what they want. Stephen, these are small minded people. They got no idea what the freedoms of this beautiful country are supposed to be about”
https://t.co/pDHSOYG0ZK
“At least 15 cases of sexual assaults, including rape. Shot with rubber bullets at close range. Tens of people’s bones broken,” organizers of the Global SumudFlotilla posted on the Telegram social media app.
“While the world’s eye is trained on the suffering of our participants, we cannot emphasize enough that this is a mere glimpse of the brutality Israel imposes daily on Palestinian hostages.”
Writer and comedian @adamconover called the Paramount megadeal “the death of Hollywood.”
“It would be a disaster,” he told our @DanielNMiller. “This is like Ford buying Chevy and shutting down half of the plants in Detroit.”
🔗 https://t.co/6JNeh1Yh02
"The pending Paramount-WBD merger “raises national security alarms,” according to the senators, led by U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. The group sent a letter May 20 to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr outlining their concerns."
Bruce Springsteen appeared on Stephen Colbert’s show tonight and COOKED Trump and his goons
“I’m here in support tonight for Stephen, because you are the first guy in America who lost his show because we got a president who can't take a joke…. and because Larry and David Ellison feel they need to kiss his ass to get what they want. Stephen, these are small minded people. They got no idea what the freedoms of this beautiful country are supposed to be about”