“Frankenstein” producer Scott Stuber has spent the last lap of award season fielding questions from industry insiders about his thoughts on the future of Warner Bros. and HBO amid “Succession”-level drama unfolding about its future.
Stuber has perspective on running one of the largest Hollywood film studios, from his time at Universal Pictures and from his seven-year run steering the expansion of Netflix’s original movie ambitions. He explained why this megabucks merger deal has sparked such an emotional response from the creative community and related sectors.
“The overriding feeling we all had was that for those of us in our 50s who grew up with HBO and Warner Bros. being a gold standard. So to have those things change is very difficult. It’s emotional. It’s a big change,” Stuber told Variety‘s Marc Malkin on the Actor Awards red carpet at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
The promise of large-scale layoffs to come as Paramount Skydance takes possession of WBD will make the coming months difficult for staffers at both Paramount and WBD as well as those doing business with them. But he thinks it will also stir a burst of entrepreneurial activity.
“It’s a really tough time in the sense that people will lose their jobs. Nobody wants to see that happen,” Stuber said. “I’m hoping that there’ll be new companies that rise up that are entrepreneurial. I think when things consolidate and things get difficult, it’s incumbent on all of us to find new ways and new paths. And I hope there’s all kinds of new places. And you look over the last 50 years, companies like New Line, A24, Miramax — they came out of the spirit of new entrepreneurial spirits. And I hope a bunch of people who unfortunately may lose their job, band together and create something great together.”
David Ellison has been in the Hollywood fishbowl for the past year ever since his company completed the acquisition of one of Hollywood’s oldest brands. Stuber has hope that Paramount can make the integration work, should the deal win regulatory approval and be completed. Paramount Skydance is hoping to close the transaction by the end of September. Stuber gave a hat tip to Warner Bros. Pictures chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy and HBO chief Casey Bloys.
“The thing that I do like about David is he likes storytelling. And anytime a corporation owns our studios, and what we all try to do for a living, you want the head of that person you know being someone who likes stories, and David does,” Stuber said. “It’s an incredible executive staff at Warner Bros. and HBO. I hope all those great people continue to tell the stories Mike and Pam and Casey and their teams, but we’re in a transitional time. And I think it’s incumbent on all of us to make sure we hold on to really what matters, and that’s great storytelling.”
Why did Netflix drop out of the chase for Warner Bros. and HBO so quickly once Paramount added more dollars to its bid? Stuber said he wasn’t surprised by the decision made by the board and his former boss, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos.
“He’s an incredibly smart businessman,” Stuber said. “As a company, they’re really disciplined and really thorough. And once it got to a place where they thought either they were going to go further than they wanted, they had the discipline and the balance sheet to say, ‘This is not the right deal for us right now.'”
(Pictured: “Frankenstein” producer Scott Stuber with his wife, actor and entrepreneur Molly Sims, at Sunday’s Actor Awards)
