Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer on increasing production and control costs as Hollywood ‘returns to producing great content’

Jon Feltheimer, CEO of the first media company to report quarterly results since SAG-AFTRA struck a deal with studios, said Thursday he was so happy that “now we can all get back to producing great content for a global audience .”

Speaking to Wall Streeter after the company’s second-quarter results, Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Barge estimated that the strike’s impact on fiscal 2024 would be about $30 million — less than originally forecast, almost entirely at the television group and mostly in fiscal 2024, the September quarter. There could be a continuing loss of $15 million to $20 million in the future due to episode deliveries and higher costs for productions that had to stop during the work stoppage.

Executives discussed where the company is positioned as production restarts everywhere at the same time and what impact that will have on long-term costs.

TV boss Kevin Beggs said it would happen quickly. “We have two network comedies [Extended Family, Ghosts] which will go back into production on Monday. We sprint to get there Power Book IV back into production [and] We try to limit costs where we can. There are some costs associated with series delays, and there are definitely some losses to the series because of the strike… but we actually mitigated it pretty well.

Lionsgate will do its best to “manage increased costs on both the writing and performance side.” [and] pass the cost on to the buyers. Everyone is in the same boat, so everyone knows the cost is coming.”

Film chairman Joe Drake said the studio “was able to get some waivers and really get our productions in order so we can compete once we come out of the strike.” The Michael Jackson biopic directed by Antione Fuqua opens in January. Now you see me 3 and a Highlander The reboot with Henry Cavill will also be released next year. “We have made very good progress.”

Regarding the new overall costs associated with enhanced contracts that writers and actors have been fighting for, Feltheimer said, “There’s no doubt there will be costs associated with this. But it’s okay. We may have to work a little harder to take some of the costs out of the business, things we can handle.”

Beggs and Starz CEO Jeff Hirsch, for example, are “really working to be really smart about the Starz plans that they’re putting together.” We just have to continue to think very carefully about the business … about the way we pay for things. And again, I think they’ve come up with something that’s really fair to all participants. And that’s why we all need to find a smart way to pay for it.