Following the reported threat to move Paramount-Skydance out of California if the anti-trust lawsuit against the studio isn’t settled, both TMZ and Deadline are now reporting that it could well be happening.
The outlets indicate that Paramount top brass have told key officials and stakeholders the company is ‘deadly serious’ about leaving California and potentially relocating its headquarters to Texas, Tennessee, or Georgia as proposed.
They indicate that they have also advised L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and state Attorney General Rob Bonta that a “deposit has been put down on the moving trucks”.
The report comes a week after L.A. County released a document (the Economic Development Corporation) indicating the local Los Angeles economy could see job losses of nearly 28,990-57,980 full-time jobs and between $10.6 billion and $21.2 billion annually in economic output.
A spokesperson for Bonta says: “We cannot comment on a company’s plans. It’s no secret that Paramount has been making this threat, despite its alleged commitment to California and Hollywood. What Paramount decides to do is Paramount’s choice alone. We’ll continue to apply the law without fear or favor and continue to be open to coming to the table for good faith discussions.”
One issue that Ellison faces is that, in order to meet his 30 films a year commitment, the company essentially needs a studio lot ready to go as opposed to spending years and a lot of money building one so it’s not clear where the studio may end up.
While some industry union leaders had endorsed the merger/settlement, if many of their members are going to be unemployed, that could well change.
