Hollywood strike impact ‘far more severe’ for the US than people realize, says Sony Pictures boss

Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman and CEO Tony Vinciquerra has said the impact of last year’s Hollywood strikes is “far more severe” for the US industry than has been appreciated.

“It’s really still impacting us, both on the film and the television side,” the outgoing executive said during a keynote talk at the Mipcom programme market in Cannes on Monday.

Vinciquerra said  the length of the actors’ and writers’ strikes as well as their renewed contract terms have forced productions out of the US. “We tried to talk to the unions about what we thought would happen,” he said, ”and now it’s happening – it is pushing production out of the US.”

Attractive international tax incentives have lured productions outside the US. “The cost of the crews are significantly less outside of the US – in Australia, in England, in Eastern Europe, places like that. So there is a very significant difference.”

By comparison, California “just hasn’t responded to what’s going on in the world”, Vinciquerra said, adding: ”The incentives and the cost of doing business in California is so high that it is very difficult to price out a film. There are a lot of TV productions going on in California, but not as many big budget films.”

The executive also noted that the next 18-24 months are going to be “very chaotic” for US studios grappling with the decline of legacy cable channels, echoing similar remarks he has made in the past month or so.

”There will be a shake-out there,” Vinciquerra said. ”There’s going to be mergers, consolidation, sales or some bankruptcies, potentially.”

He said Sony had sold off or closed most of its cable channels as part of a company restructure which began six years ago, which has provided the studio a measure of stability. “We don’t have to worry about getting rid of cable channels. All of our competitors do right now. They have all these cable networks that will not recover.”

Vinciquerra announced last month that he planned to step down as CEO of Sony in January 2025, but will stay on as non-executive chairman until December 2025. Vinciquerra will be replaced by Ravi Ahuja, Sony’s chairman of global television studios.

Vinciquerra joined Sony in 2017, having previously worked in private equity and before that as president and CEO of Fox Networks Group.

Discussing his future plans, he said he was mulling a return to private equity having spent longer at Sony than he originally intended to – but that he had stayed on in the wake of Covid and the strikes.

“My goal was to do what we did – to get the company back on track, to stabilise it, to get it into a very stable position, which I think we’ve accomplished. And then go back to do what I was doing when I was working as a private equity advisor. And that’s what I’ll probably go back to do.”

Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman and CEO Tony Vinciquerra has said the impact of last year’s Hollywood strikes is “far more severe” for the US industry than has been appreciated.

“It’s really still impacting us, both on the film and the television side,” the outgoing executive said during a keynote talk at the Mipcom programme market in Cannes on Monday.

Vinciquerra said  the length of the actors’ and writers’ strikes as well as their renewed contract terms have forced productions out of the US. “We tried to talk to the unions about what we thought would happen,” he said, ”and now it’s happening – it is pushing production out of the US.”

Attractive international tax incentives have lured productions outside the US. “The cost of the crews are significantly less outside of the US – in Australia, in England, in Eastern Europe, places like that. So there is a very significant difference.”

By comparison, California “just hasn’t responded to what’s going on in the world”, Vinciquerra said, adding: ”The incentives and the cost of doing business in California is so high that it is very difficult to price out a film. There are a lot of TV productions going on in California, but not as many big budget films.”

The executive also noted that the next 18-24 months are going to be “very chaotic” for US studios grappling with the decline of legacy cable channels, echoing similar remarks he has made in the past month or so.

”There will be a shake-out there,” Vinciquerra said. ”There’s going to be mergers, consolidation, sales or some bankruptcies, potentially.”

He said Sony had sold off or closed most of its cable channels as part of a company restructure which began six years ago, which has provided the studio a measure of stability. “We don’t have to worry about getting rid of cable channels. All of our competitors do right now. They have all these cable networks that will not recover.”

Vinciquerra announced last month that he planned to step down as CEO of Sony in January 2025, but will stay on as non-executive chairman until December 2025. Vinciquerra will be replaced by Ravi Ahuja, Sony’s chairman of global television studios.

Vinciquerra joined Sony in 2017, having previously worked in private equity and before that as president and CEO of Fox Networks Group.

Discussing his future plans, he said he was mulling a return to private equity having spent longer at Sony than he originally intended to – but that he had stayed on in the wake of Covid and the strikes.

“My goal was to do what we did – to get the company back on track, to stabilise it, to get it into a very stable position, which I think we’ve accomplished. And then go back to do what I was doing when I was working as a private equity advisor. And that’s what I’ll probably go back to do.”