While Marvel fans the world over are thrilled that Disney bought most of the 21st Century Fox media empire, not everyone has felt that way. Worry has come from changes to future stories, potential cancellation of current X-Men films, and now The Writers Guild of America has gotten in on the complaints.
Only, there criticizing of this deal might be one of the most valid. With Disney paying out $52 billion dollars to acquire Fox there are a couple things to keep in mind. The first off is that they’ll want to turn this venture into making things as profitable as quickly as possible which could mean trying to cut costs in production areas. The second is that it will make Disney so powerful that creatives who work in the industry will have less of a chance to get fair wages let alone competitive ones.
Here is the statement that the WGA issued:
In the relentless drive to eliminate competition, big business has an insatiable appetite for consolidation. Disney and Fox have spent decades profiting from the oligopolistic control that the six major media conglomerates have exercised over the entertainment industry, often at the expense of the creators who power their television and film operations. Now, this proposed merger of direct competitors will make matters even worse by substantially increasing the market power of a combined Disney-Fox corporation. The antitrust concerns raised by this deal are obvious and significant. The Writers Guild of America West strongly opposes this merger and will work to ensure our nation’s antitrust laws are enforced.
We’ve seen multiple writers’ strikes over the years in both film and TV as there has been a constant uphill battle to try and keep fair wages going as digital distribution and other areas have chipped away at them.
With all of this power coming under one media banner, it is easy to see why anyone who has to work for them would suddenly become uneasy. How can you say no to working for the main major studio but how do you negotiate wages against such a behemoth.
Do you feel that The Writers Guild of America has a valid concern here? Will the House of Mouse use their increased influence to try and raise profits by lowering costs and paychecks when it comes to writing? Or, will they know that by not paying their talent they would be shooting themselves in the foot and eventually lose their market share when no one wants to see a poorly written movie? Sound off in the comments below!
Source: Entertainment Weekly