David Zaslav hates artists

'Coyote vs. Acme' vs. corporate greed

It’s no secret that there are many Hollywood executives who put the bottom line above artistic integrity – I’d venture most studio heads probably consider the art part of cinema a necessary evil on their path to billions. But in a world full of execs who have contempt for artists, Warner Discovery CEO David Zaslav really has contempt for artists. 

This is not new information. Since taking the reins at the once venerable studio, Zaslav has gained a reputation as “the most hated man in Hollywood” (I was going to link to the GQ article that bore that phrase, but it was unpublished shortly after it went up and replaced with something less negative…oh wait, you can still find it). How disliked is he? When he was the commencement speaker at his own alma mater, the crowd booed him. 

The reasons why Zaslav has such a poor reputation are numerous. Warner Brothers didn’t have the best reputation when he took on the mantle of CEO in May 2021; their major comic book universe – a huge part of their output – was sputtering to a halt, and their pandemic decision to release all 2021 releases to HBO Max went over poorly with some of their most revered directors, notably forcing Christopher Nolan to leave his longtime home and head to Universal (which benefited enormously with this year’s Oppenheimer) and call HBO Max “the worst streaming service.” 

Losing Nolan was likely a huge hit for a studio that used to be proud of how it treated its artists, but I’ll also say that Nolan was wrong in his assessment of HBO Max. It wasn’t the worst streaming service; it was actually among the best. It sunk money into originals, many of which were really good. And its library was impressive – all the HBO content, the Turner Classic Movies archive, Studio Ghibli's output, and all of the classic Looney Tunes cartoons. 

Enter Zaslav, who became CEO when Warner Brothers was purchased by Discovery. Among his first actions was to turn the tony HBO Max into a bizarre hybrid of HBO, Warner Brothers and Discovery’s trash reality series. It’s tantamount to artistic heresy that The Sopranos and Veep can be streamed alongside Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and a dozen shows about ghost hunting and flipping houses. And it wasn’t long after that Zaslav laid off the majority of TCM’s staff and contemplated selling nearly half of the Warner Bros film library – eventually, no less than Paul Thomas Anderson, Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg had to sit down the executive to explain the importance of TCM to film history. 

But even that pales next to Zaslav’s most insidious move – flat-out removing content from Warner Discovery’s streaming platforms, including shows like Westworld, made-for-streaming movies like An American Pickle, and hundreds of classic Looney Tunes shorts. Then, he took the DC movie Batgirl – which had already been shot and slated to premiere on the streamer, and notably would have seen Michael Keaton return to his Batman role before he did the same in this summer’s The Flash – and completely shelved it as a tax write-off, denying anyone the chance to see the movie, which he claimed was an unreleasable mess. He did the same with several of the streamer’s TV shows (and opened the floodgates to executives at Netflix, Peacock, Disney and other streamers to do the same). Now, it wasn’t a matter of removing something forever that had gotten bad reviews or didn’t garner numbers – although, let’s be clear, that’s also a bad practice. It was removing anyone’s chance to see the film, for the artists to have their work displayed and showcased for audiences who could make their own decision about its value. 

Well, Zaslav struck again this week, as it was reported that the live action/animation hybrid Coyote vs. Acme, which finished shooting last year and was slated to debut on Max, would not be released and instead treated as another tax write off, prompting director David Green to make the following statement on X (sigh…formerly Twitter): 

Let’s state the most obvious thing: The CEO of Warner Discovery doesn’t care about art or the thousands of individuals making it, and I honestly can’t understand why a person like him is allowed to continue serving in this position (obviously, if he’s making his shareholders money, I know the practical reason for it, but it’s morally indefensible). If you work for a media company that is regularly stopping people from being able to make media, why are you in the job? It’s heartbreaking to see someone so callously treat some of the greatest works of art in the last 100 years like trash he can just throw out if it’s not helping meet his bottom line (I’m not saying that Coyote vs. Acme would be great art or even good – but this extends to Zaslav’s treatment of TCM). It takes thousands of people to make a movie, from the stars, director and writer to the crafts people; all of those people invested months, at the least, into the job, and now will never see the fruit of their labor. And while you could counter with “well, they still got paid,” the whole point of doing anything creative is for that creative project to be seen – even if it’s ultimately rejected by critics and audiences. The podcast The Filmcast ends every review by saying “at the end of the day, it’s impressive that [the director] made a movie,” an acknowledgment that even the most hated piece of trash is still an accomplishment that took the work of thousands working together. 

And I get it: As CEO, Zaslav has an ultimate responsibility to his shareholders and the bottom line. And this should serve as a cautionary tale to what we lose when our media companies get in bed with billion-dollar conglomerates. But what stands out is that it also seems like a very dumb business move. The film features the iconic Looney Tunes character Wile E. Coyote, and while that IP isn’t as popular today as it was when I was a teen wearing Taz shirts, it’s still one of their biggest gems. People know Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner; last year’s Space Jam: A New Legacy may have been an abomination (that Zaslav had no part in, to be fair), but it got eyeballs. The film was also produced by James Gunn, who’s heading up Warners’ current largest cash cow, the DC Universe, and it stars John Cena and Will Forte, both of whom have strong fanbases. And you’re telling me the best-case scenario for this movie was a tax write-off? The movie was apparently also testing really well. I’m sure there would have been curious Looney Tune and John Cena fans checking this out; I’m sure another studio would have also been willing to pay to take it off Warner Discovery’s hands. I think they would have easily made more on this without taking a tax write-off – and in a year when they have the highest-grossing film of the year, Barbie, I think they’re going to be okay. 

But that’s the kind of short-sighted leadership Zaslav has shown. He acts without thinking of the wider repercussions, and his decisions only seem to make things worse. Sure, he shelved Batgirl…but doing that and also announcing changes to the DC Universe, coupled with Ezra Miller’s legal woes, only created an ecosystem that set The Flash – and probably this Christmas’ Aquaman 2 – up to fail (and while it’s no masterpiece, I didn’t hate The Flash). His disregard for the TCM library has made him an enemy of some of Hollywood’s most beloved directors. And when you’ve set a precedent that any piece of art your studio creates might not even be seen – that you could devote a year or more of your life to something that never sees the light of day – you set up a system where people simply decide to make art elsewhere. That’s how you lose Nolan or Clint Eastwood, the only other big WB-entrenched director. It’s how you end up playing second fiddle to Disney, Universal and Paramount. It’s how you’re left so the only viable franchise option you can think of is to just redo Harry Potter but make it TV. 

Warner Brothers hasn’t had a disastrous year, from a financial or even creative perspective. They’ve put out some movies that I really liked. I can’t imagine Barbie doesn’t wind up very high on my best-of list this year, and I gave good reviews to Creed III and Evil Dead Rise. They’ve had hits like those movies and The Nun II, and their most embarrassing failures all seem to fit into the DC narrative. They’ve made some money this year. 

And that makes this even more insidious. Because there’s a world in which Zaslav’s commitment to the bottom line over the art makes sense to shareholders. After all, he’s making them money right now (even if, like I say above, I think his actions ultimately set up a situation that could backfire on him). And it emboldens other studios to do the same thing. Disney+ recently pulled many of their original shows – including the remake of The Spiderwick Chronicles – from the platform. Others have done the same. And yes, many of those will be shopped around and sold to other platforms, just as Warner Discovery did with Westworld, and Disney did with Spiderwick. 

But it still continues the devaluation of art and champions the rise of “content,” treating the hard work of all these artists as a commodity to buy and sell in a way that cheapens the whole endeavor. And then, in the cases of films like Batgirl or Coyote vs. Acme, the work might not be seen at all, an even more depressing and enraging thought. 

I don’t root against people too often. I try to be positive. But man, I will celebrate the day when Zaslav loses his job or WB is sold out from under him. 

Note: I was going to have a bit more writing this week before Angry Chris made an appearance. I’ll try to fit another piece in for later this weekend or early next week.