• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, June 22, 2023

Tuesday’s news that Warner Bros. Discovery was laying off veteran Turner Classic Movies/TCM executives, including its longtime GM Pola Chagnon, resulted in a deluge of social media postings by devoted TCM fans worried about the network’s future.

WBD CEO David Zaslav apparently anticipated similar concerns among Hollywood players, as he called a meeting with directors Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Paul Thomas Anderson prior to announcing the network’s restructuring.

On Wednesday evening, the directors issued a joint statement saying that while they “understand the pressures and realities of a corporation as large as WBD, of which TCM is one moving part,” their mission is to ensure that TCM’s programming is “untouched and protected.”

“Turner Classic Movies has always been more than just a channel,” they wrote. “It is truly a precious resource of cinema, open 24 hours a day seven days a week. And while it has never been a financial juggernaut, it has always been a profitable endeavor since its inception.”

The directors also said that they were “heartened and encouraged” by their conversations with Zaslav about TCM thus far, adding that they are “committed to working together to ensure the continuation of this cultural touchstone that we all treasure.”

Topics discussed included giving filmmakers greater involvement in curating TCM programming, according to The Wrap, which reports an insider saying that the restructuring of TCM is meant to bring the network more fully into WBD’s overall U.S. Networks Group so as to leverage the group’s cross-promotion and other resources.

In April, when Zaslav joined Spielberg and Anderson at the TCM Classic Film Festival (above), he reiterated that he is a big fan of the network. “If I wasn’t here, I would be sitting with you [festival attendees],” he said. “I watch Turner Classic Movies all the time. It’s the history of our country.”

Following the TCM news, entertainment journalist Christian Blauvelt posted an open letter to Zaslav warning that “gutting TCM will not help you win filmmakers back to Warner Bros.”

“If TCM is neglected, or God forbid, shuttered, it would be a massive loss to cinema culture,” he asserted. “It would devalue Warner Bros.’ own legacy — if they don’t care about this unique way of putting their history on display and in context, why should filmmakers believe that Warner Bros. values cinema beyond the bottom line?”