Hollywood is already concentrated. Prior waves of consolidation have already eliminated the mid-budget film, eroded independent distribution, collapsed the international sales market, eliminated meaningful profit participation for creators, and weakened screen credit integrity. The industry that employs tens of thousands of workers in small businesses and independent companies embedded in local economies across the country is under severe strain. And now Paramount wants to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, which would reduce the number of major U.S. film studios to just four.

Over 1,000 filmmakers, actors, writers, directors, and producers, including Bryan Cranston, Glenn Close, J.J. Abrams, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Denis Villeneuve, signed an open letter Monday expressing unequivocal opposition to the deal. Many of them work for one or both of the studios seeking to merge. They signed anyway, because they understand what further consolidation means in practice, not for executives and shareholders, but for the creative community and the audiences it serves.

It means fewer opportunities for creators. Fewer jobs across the production ecosystem. Higher costs. Less choice for audiences. And increasingly, a small number of powerful entities determining what stories get made, on what terms, and for whom. The kinds of stories that get financed and distributed will narrow further. The workers who build sets, operate cameras, write scripts, and cut film will have fewer places to bring their skills. The independent companies that have long served as the incubators of American cinema's most original work will have fewer viable paths to sustain themselves.

This is not a dispute between competing visions of Hollywood's future. It is a dispute between the interests of a small group of powerful stakeholders and the broader public good. Paramount has promised to release 30 films per year theatrically and argues the merger strengthens competition. But the creators who have lived through every previous round of consolidation, who have watched the mid-budget film disappear and the independent distribution ecosystem collapse, are not persuaded by those promises. They have heard them before.

American film and television is this country's single most significant cultural export. It shapes how the world sees America and how Americans see themselves and each other. The health of that industry is not a matter of concern only to the people who work in it. It is a matter of national interest. And the antitrust tools that exist to prevent dangerous concentrations of market power exist precisely for moments like this one.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and his counterparts in other states are reportedly scrutinizing this deal. Federal regulators must do the same. The question is not whether further consolidation would harm competition, jobs, and cultural diversity. The evidence that it would is documented, lived, and being stated publicly by more than 1,000 of the people who know the industry best. The question is whether regulators will act on that evidence before the deal is done.

Sign this petition to call on the Department of Justice, the FTC, and California Attorney General Rob Bonta to block the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger on antitrust grounds, protect the jobs and livelihoods of the tens of thousands of workers whose careers depend on a competitive studio landscape, and preserve the cultural diversity and independence of American film and television for audiences at home and around the world.