TCM Cuts: Trio Of A-List Directors Expected To Voice Opposition To David Zaslav In Phone Call
As studio head honcho David Zaslav keeps making cut after cut within Warner Bros., three of the world's biggest directors are coming together to speak out against the CEO's lack of care towards the preservation of classic cinema.
According to an exclusive report by Indiewire, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Paul Thomas Anderson all intend to call Zaslav together to tell him that gutting things like Turner Classic Movies — which, under Zaslav's regime, lost many of its own executives on June 20 — won't end up attracting any directors of their caliber. As Indiewire and others have reported, executives and vice presidents in charge of things like marketing, programming, content strategy, partnerships, and more were laid off, as well as the director of studio production (Anne Wilson) and the president of the TCM film festival Genevieve McGillicuddy.
These three directors, in particular, have personal dies to TCM. Scorsese famously keeps it on in the background while he's editing his films alongside Thelma Schoonmaker, Spielberg has appeared at the festival and in TCM documentaries, and Anderson once referred to the festival — which he also attended — as "holy ground" while speaking to the Los Angeles Times. Clearly, they have personal and professional stakes in keeping things like TCM alive, and their combined power could be enough to talk Zaslav down... hopefully.
Turner Classic Movies was an important part of Warner Bros. — and still could be
For fans of classic movies and famous directors alike, the fact that pretty much all of TCM's top brass is out on Zaslav's orders is definitely discouraging. For years, the channel has produced documentaries and served as a home for some of the best movies in cinematic history; as Indiewire points out, Warner Bros.' last investor presentation included a clip from "Casablanca," the "crown jewel" of the studio and a staple of TCM.
Filmmakers like Mel Brooks and Francis Ford Coppola have also championed the channel over the years, and major actors like Tom Hanks have recorded intros and outros for various movies aside classic nepo babies like TCM's own host Ben Mankiewicz (if that name doesn't sound familiar, perhaps google "Citizen Kane"). TCM hasn't been shut down just yet, but it's now without any major leadership — and as Scorsese, Spielberg, and Anderson will undoubtedly tell Zaslav, it would be an enormous mistake for Warner Bros. to lose the long-time home of all of its most beloved classic films.
David Zaslav could drive away major directors... who were already leaving WB
To say that David Zaslav has been undermining his own studio as of late would be an enormous understatement, honestly. From cutting an entire movie — "Batgirl" — that cost $90 million and had already been filmed to wiping titles from the service en masse, Zaslav has shown a fair amount of disregard for the overall quality of Warner Bros. Discovery. Even renaming HBO Max as simply "Max" feels like a strange move, taking away the part of the name that indicated prestige and brought award-winning shows to mind and hoping it wouldn't matter.
After Jason Kilar, the president who preceded Zaslav, ticked off filmmakers like Christopher Nolan by moving things to streaming services during the pandemic, Zaslav and his crew have indicated that they want big prestige directors like Nolan to ink new deals with Warner Bros. Spielberg, Scorsese, and Anderson's phone call is a dire warning to the executives, though, that people want high quality, fewer shows they view as "fluff," and a solid cost point — and axing things like TCM certainly wouldn't be the way to go.