Barry Diller, a former studio executive and head of the media conglomerate IAC, delivered a devastating prediction for the fate of Hollywood.
Appearing Sunday on CBS's "Face the Nation," Diller stated that if the SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strike does not resolve soon, the results could ultimately result in the collapse of the entertainment industry.
At the beginning of the interview, Diller said the COVID-19 pandemic led to a "perfect storm" for the strike, with theaters closing and heavy investments in streaming being hedged. But now, he said, if the strike — which was spurred in part by artificial intelligence — doesn't get resolved by "Christmas or so, then next year, there's not going to be many programs for anybody to watch."
"So you're going to see subscriptions get pulled, which is going to reduce the revenue of all these movie companies, television companies, the result of which is, there will be no programs. And at just the time the strike is settled — that you want to gear back up — there won't be enough money.
"So this actually will have devastating effects if it is not settled soon," Diller said. "The problem with settlement in this case is there's no trust between the parties. There are existential issues."
Among the existential issues Diller mentioned were inequality in pay and artificial intelligence.
One studio executive who spoke to Deadline said, "The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses."
But according to filmmaker and author Justine Bateman, the strike represents a hill to die on for those in the film industry.
"I believe this is the last time any labor action will be effective in our business," Bateman wrote in an op-ed for Newsweek. "If we don't make strong rules now, they simply won't notice if we strike in three years, because at that point, they won't need us.
"If the studios and streamers that hold the purse strings that enable our work are set on destroying this incredible business that brings so much to society, I want it known that on our watch, we opposed it. We defended human-made films and series," the filmmaker added, writing in opposition to AI-generated movies.