Hollywood’s Sky-High 2025 Pay: Stock Awards Drive Mega Packages

Hollywood’s 2025 executive pay jumped well above the corporate median, led by Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav at about $165 million (with a potential $550–$887 million golden parachute), while Paramount’s David Ellison and Comcast’s Michael Cavanagh also ranked among the top earners, largely through stock awards. The entertainment sector shows much higher CEO-to-employee pay ratios than the broader market (Equilar notes a 341:1 ratio at some Equilar 100 firms), and unions posted roughly 10% raises for leaders such as SAG-AFTRA’s Crabtree-Ireland, DGA’s Hollander, and WGA West’s Stutzman in 2025, alongside policy wins like a $750 million California tax credit for film/TV.