CBS Chief George Cheeks on Writers Strike: “We Have to Figure This Out”

Etan Vlessing
·3 min read
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CBS head George Cheeks addressed Hollywood’s current labor climate as screenwriters and actors hold talks on a new deal with the major studios, with the Writers Guild of America membership on picket lines.

“I still remain very hopeful that we will all find compromises. It’s existential for all of us. It’s just for the studios, for the creative partners, like, we have to figure this out,” Cheeks told a Banff World Media Festival Summit Series session on Tuesday.

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Cheeks, president and CEO of CBS and chief content officer of news and sports for Paramount+, said the aim of the AMPTP was to present a collective front in negotiations with guilds and unions, even though that consortium includes legacy networks and newer streamers like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. “That’s really been the approach and, look, there are challenging issues. We’re not all exactly the same way,” he conceded as negotiations with the WGA stretch well into a second month.

Cheeks argued the fast-expanding streaming model had moved dramatically from a focus on building subscriber bases with pricey content to making profitability a priority. And that was impacting how Paramount Global and other studios have negotiated with Hollywood guilds and unions.

“Now it’s how fast can you get to profitability? If you are profitable already, how do you enhance that profitability? So, it’s forcing all of us to take a step back, really rationalize our content spend and forcing streamers to ask, ‘Is it really a sacrosanct view that we have to have everything on the platform exclusively?’” Cheeks argued.

The executive oversees CBS-branded platforms at Paramount Global, including the CBS Television Network and CBS Entertainment. In March 2020, Cheeks left NBCUniversal after seven years with that studio to join CBS and, more recently, has taken on new duties at Paramount Global as that studio diversifies into streaming.

The CBS chief said a focus on profitability trimmed content investments as a consequence. “It’s the reality that we are trying to program for streaming and for broadcast, but gone are the days when you could read a script you love and say, ‘I’ll take a flyer on that, it’s research and development.’ It’s just too expensive,” Cheeks added.

He also has oversight of other Paramount Global assets like BET, Paramount Television Studios and the company’s free-to-air networks in the U.K., Australia, Argentina and Chile. In Banff, Cheeks also said Stephen Colbert’s contract, hosting The Late Show, which ends this year, has been extended for another three years.

“It’s just a cohesive group that is firing on all cylinders, and Stephen is really enjoying himself,” he said. Cheeks had little to report as Paramount explores a potential sale of a majority stake in its BET business, which includes BET, VH1 and the BET+ streaming service.

“We’re constantly looking for ways to maximize shareholder value,” Cheeks said of a potential BET sale.

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