As if movie fans needed another reason to be wary of new Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav: Deadline reports that the CEO told the hosts of the CNBC show “Squawk Box” that “a love for working” will be what ultimately ends the current WGA writers’ strike. Sure, Mr. Zaslav: very easy to say on a $35 million annual salary (via Gizmodo).
READ MORE: WGA Goes On Strike: What It Means For Hollywood
That’s not what anyone wants the head of a media company to say when writers can’t afford a living wage: to pay rent, child support, or innumerable other expenses; hence the strike. But “Squawk Box” hosts Andrew Ross Sorkin and Joe Keenan prompted Zaslav to address the WGA strike when they said WBD and other studios are “glad” the guilds aren’t working because it will cut costs.
“We’re not glad,” Zaslav shot back. ““In order to create great storytelling, we need great writers. We need the whole industry to work together. Everybody deserves to be paid fairly.” As for a resolution to the strike, Zaslav said it should be done “in a way that makes the writers feel they are valued, which they are, and compensated fairly. And then off we go.” Then Zaslav finished his comments by saying the strike will end due to “a love for the business and a love for working. We all came into this business because we love storytelling. … That’s what’s going to bring us together.”
Sure, writers may love to write and craft stories, but love doesn’t pay the bills, among other things, and that’s what WGA members want to do right now. And the strike will only be resolved not when everyone discovers the “love for working” is the answer, but when production companies compensate its writers reasonably instead of using new loopholes created by the streaming format to skimp them of due wages. Writers–and any exploited worker–shouldn’t return to work simply because they love their job. They should return primarily because the jobs they love provide them with the means to live a fulfilling life and not leave them flailing in desperation to meet today’s cost of living.
Zaslav isn’t the only CEO under fire right now as the strike continues as Paramount CEO Bob Bakish received similar scrutiny this week. But Zaslav got called out on CNN‘s “Adam Ruins Everything” by comedian and host Adam Conover for his substantial annual salary, by far the highest ever for a WBD CEO. Remember that “Adam Ruins Everything” is a show owned by Warner Bros. Discovery; so it’s not as if the studio is unaware of the strange precedent Zaslav’s new leadership sets for those below him.
For reference, Warner Bros. Discovery made $50 million in Q1 2023 alone, and WGA guild members believe they’re entitled to some of that money. Any professional creative (and worker in general) should stand in solidarity with them. Read what the WGA demands as resolution of their current strike here. And always remember that the productive powers of labor will always be more valuable than the creative power of capital and the commodities that capitalism’s exploitation of labor creates.