Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav admits striking writers were 'right about almost everything' - but says they might now be OVERPAID

Warner Bros. Discovery Boss David Zaslav has said striking writers might now be overpaid, but he has no regrets as they were 'right about almost everything'.

The writers and actors strikes brought the industry to a standstill over the summer with production halting on all projects. 

On September 24, industry bosses finally reached an agreement with union representatives - giving into their demands on almost all fronts. 

And now, in an interview with the New York Times Magazine, Zaslav has said he does not regret anything about the deal, but suggested the writers may be overpaid.

He said: 'They are right about almost everything. So what if we overpay? I’ve never regretted overpaying for great talent or a great asset.' 

The suggestion that writers may now be being overpaid might not be looked upon kindly in the industry after it emerged that Zaslav himself was paid $246 million in compensation in 2021. 

WGA board member Adam Conover called out Zaslav on his salary on his own network, CNN, at the time saying: 'That’s about the same level as 10,000 writers are asking him to pay us collectively, all right?'

Eventually studios agreed to minimum staffing requirements for writers’ rooms, viewership-based residuals for streaming shows and limitations on the use of artificial intelligence in the writing process. 

And despite Zaslav now asserting the writers were 'right' to ask for those things, it took the industry 148 days to reach the agreement with increasingly bitter negotiations. 

In May, as the strikes ramped up Zaslav was booed and met with chants of 'pay your writers' while speaking during Boston University's commencement ceremony.

Video from the graduation shows Zaslav, speaking to the large crowd while loud boos and jeers ring out from the crowd throughout his 20-minute speech. 

One clip in which Zaslav - a Boston University law school alum in 1985 - is introduced shows the crowd screaming as some faculty clap behind him. 

Overhead, a plane carrying a banner reading 'DAVID ZASLAV - PAY YOUR WRITERS' circled over the commencement ceremony throughout the event. 

On the Monday after the Warner Bros. Barbie film was released in July, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined a crowd of protesters at a SAG-AFTRA rally outside Warner Bros. global headquarters in Manhattan. 

She said: 'This is a fight against the endless pursuit of more wealth. How many private jets does David Zaslav need?'

In August, Zaslav said he was 'hopeful' that the end of the strikes was near, saying: 'We're in the business of storytelling. 

'Our goal is to tell great stories, stories with the power to entertain and, when we're at our best, inspire with stories that come to life on screens big and small.

'We cannot do any of that without the entirety of the creative community, the great creative community. Without the writers, directors, editors, producers, actors, the whole below-the-line crew.

'It's critically important that everybody, the writers, the directors, the actors and producers… everyone needs to be fairly compensated and they need to feel valued and feel that they're fairly compensated in order to do their best work.'