Read This: The Good Place’s Mike Schur says the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger creates bad place for creatives

In a recent column for the Hollywood Reporter, acclaimed writer and showrunner Mike Schur expresses his concerns about the pending merger between media conglomerates Paramount and Warner Bros. According to Schur, this consolidation could have disastrous consequences for creative professionals, even those who have enjoyed successful careers such as his own.

Schur emphasizes that his positive professional experience is not an exception but rather a clear indication that the negative impacts of media consolidation affect everyone, with some experiencing much worse outcomes. While briefly touching upon the controversies surrounding the right-wing Ellison family's increasing control over the media landscape, Schur primarily focuses on the consequences of creating a new media company.

He stresses that this new entity will inevitably lead to job losses, reduced opportunities for innovative programming, and a shrinking buyer's market. Schur draws parallels to the 2019 Disney-Fox merger, which resulted in the folding of Fox's television development operation into Disney's, prioritizing Disney's interests over Fox's. This consolidation led to the elimination of Fox's studio and a halving of its wide-release film output, ultimately causing over 4,000 job losses.

Furthermore, Schur highlights the effects of the Disney-Fox merger on the feature film business, emphasizing the significant reduction in the number of wide-release films. He also notes that more than 4,000 Fox employees lost their jobs as a direct result of the merger.

Schur praises the efforts of the Writers Guild and 12 state attorneys general in challenging the merger, as well as Paramount CEO David Ellison's threat to relocate his company should the deal not go through. He calls upon other industry professionals to join the objection to the merger, stating that it is their responsibility to defend the struggling but still thriving creative industry. The complete column by Mike Schur can be accessed here.