• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, Yesterday

More legacy media merger talk has given rise to warnings from those in the creative field about what it will mean to their business -- especially the Writers Guild of America.

Consolidation of TV and movie production studios, with a heavy focus on cable TV networks, points to one potential Paramount and Warner Bros. deal -- possibly also factoring in Comcast’s NBCUniversal into the mix, with a groundswell of deal-making not seen in decades. This could have massive effects on creative costs.

These deals could affect three of the six major movie/TV studios -- which also include Universal Pictures, Walt Disney, and Sony Pictures. Some analysts believe this will be an earthquake of sorts when it comes to future spending on production -- at least when it comes to current/old-school creative production processes.

On top of big merger news, this comes after a major writers' and actors' strike in 2023 that lasted five months, causing a significant decline in TV and movie work, which then extended well into 2024.

And there’s more. Artificial intelligence (AI) and all its deeper iterations are being prepped to make more inroads -- with alarm bells ringing over whether performers could be replaced by AI platforms.

This was something writers fought over during the strike. But that was then and this is now -- with even more progress and creative potential coming under its new AI platforms.

And if that doesn’t loom large, consider those billions that major TV and movie content companies -- including newbies such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV -- currently spend now.

A mature streaming market has yet to see a real slowdown in TV/movie production spend, which some analysts believe is coming at some point -- including filtering its way to those legacy media companies and their digital first companies.

This all means more of a crunch for writers -- but will it also mean less fresh content for streamers AND movie theaters? Is that possible?

More importantly, will creativity lose the thread as well?