Tony Vinciquerra, Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO, issued a warning Monday that the union deals that halted the Hollywood strikes are forcing production out of the U.S.
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Speaking at TV market Mipcom in Cannes, where he received the Variety Vanguard Award, Vinciquerra said that the cost differential between the U.S. and other countries and regions like the U.K., Australia and Eastern Europe meant that Hollywood productions would continue to migrate abroad. He put this down to the lower cost of crew overseas and higher tax incentives there.
“The contract terms are forcing productions out of the U.S. now,” he said. “We tried to talk to the unions about what we thought would happen and now it is happening.”
He added that 15,000 non-union jobs had been lost over three years in the U.S. due to a downturn in the business.
Turning his attention to the proliferation of cable networks around the world, he said: “There will be a shake out there […] In my view, what’s going to happen in the next 18-24 months, it’s going to be very chaotic. There’s going to be mergers, consolidation, sales, or some bankruptcies, potentially.”
He said the cable networks are “on an inevitable decline,” but added an optimistic note: “Once all this happens in the next 18 to 24 months, or whatever time period it takes, the one thing we know for sure, the demand for entertainment is not going away. It’s going to continue to grow. It may change, but it’s not going away. So once we get through this, we’ll be in a very, very good place.”
Vinciquerra, who steps down as CEO on Jan. 2, hinted that he may move back into a private equity role at some point.
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Addressing his decision to step down, he noted that when he joined Sony he had “the intention to go to [the company] for a much shorter period of time. Then we had COVID, then we had the strikes. And, you know, my goal was to do what we did, which was to get the company back on track, to stabilize it, to get it into a very stable position, which I think we’ve accomplished, and then go back and do what I was doing, which was working as a private equity advisor, and that’s what I’ll probably go back to do.”
He added: “I’m not retiring, just changing direction. I already did this once when I left Fox. I think there’s a famous quote out there: Nobody leaves these jobs intentionally. I’ve done it twice now.”
Looking at his future options, he observed: “I like to fix things. I like to build things.”
Describing his approach to management, he said: “When you lead with common sense and logic, things happen. If you lead with ego and want to see your picture on the front page of [Variety] every day, you don’t do well.”
Vinciquerra added: “I want to continue to help people develop and one of the things I feel pride with is seeing people I work with do better and move on in their careers.”
He concluded: “It’s been a fun run, and, you know, it’s time to do something different.”
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