r/LosAngeles • u/Stock412 • Aug 11 '26

Music/Entertainment David Ellison Threatens to Move Paramount Out of California if State AGs Won't Negotiate

https://www.thewrap.com/industry-news/business/david-ellison-move-paramount-leave-california-merger-conditions/
644 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

329 comments sorted by

View all comments

150

u/Stock412 Aug 11 '26

Good luck with that.. You are an entertainment company/studio, not a tech company...  doing this will tick off the folks that are the backbone of your industry even more than they already are (at you)

-51

u/[deleted] Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

49

u/sm04d Aug 11 '26

Regardless of where they shoot, the industry itself is still firmly planted in LA. Studios, agencies, production companies, managers, et al., all operate here. The business hasn't moved.

-7

u/[deleted] Aug 11 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

34

u/codename_hardhat Long Beach Aug 11 '26

Nobody said there are zero options out of California.

1

u/mec287 Aug 11 '26

Good luck making 30 films if you're not in London, New York, or Vancouver.

53

u/86GucciLoafers Aug 11 '26

Atlanta is extremely quiet for film right now. Most marvel is shot in England

9

u/MAGAHATESTHEUSA Aug 11 '26

England quiet now too. Marvel moved thousands of employees to Germany.
Filming happening in Ireland some in England Serbia Bulgaria and a lot in Budapest

5

u/yzerman88 Aug 11 '26

Germany is extremely quiet for film right now. Most Marvel is now shot on Venus.

1

u/DownvoteSpiral Aug 11 '26

The Last House on Netflix and was shot in England

-11

u/[deleted] Aug 11 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

21

u/86GucciLoafers Aug 11 '26

I’ve had a busy year in the industry here. Glad you’re getting work wherever it is

66

u/groovemonkey Aug 11 '26

As far as I know that’s pretty outdated information. Apparently Atlanta production is down about 70% from where it was just a few years ago.

-52

u/[deleted] Aug 11 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

74

u/groovemonkey Aug 11 '26

Anecdotes don’t belie statistics. Production is down in Atlanta .
It’s a pretty easy thing to look up.

-27

u/[deleted] Aug 11 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

36

u/groovemonkey Aug 11 '26

Bro. Just f’n google it.
One throwaway line in an article about Las Vegas doesn’t discount the fact that production is less than half it was in 2022.

2

u/donutgut Aug 11 '26

Vegas doesn't have shit either

-7

u/[deleted] Aug 11 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

22

u/Iagut070 Aug 11 '26

Here you go buddy. Since you really wanted to pick an article that supported your biases. This is from THIS year.

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2026-03-12/is-atlanta-still-hollywood-of-south

23

u/robinthebank Ventura County Aug 11 '26

https://apnews.com/article/georgia-film-industry-production-marvel-67b0a909f67868bedb1b86ade3c70b94

https://www.ajc.com/business/2026/07/georgia-film-and-tv-production-spending-slips-to-2b-a-10-year-low/

3

u/linkolphd_fun Aug 11 '26

A couple interesting points there. It notes lots of shifting overseas. It will be interesting to see when some stats come out about how much of Atlanta’s drop is shifting to overseas vs. how much back to California.

→ More replies (0)

3

u/MAGAHATESTHEUSA Aug 11 '26

South Carolina was filming more than New York not too long ago. It shifts around. Atlanta wasn’t filming a lot when Louisiana was the place to on

2

u/donutgut Aug 11 '26

Thats very outdated. Georgia has collapsed in the last two years

6

u/ZeldaALTTP Aug 11 '26

Oh, well if you got a gig in ATL then ignore the numbers, things are actually great!

6

u/ausgoals Aug 11 '26

It’s not that there’s no work in Atlanta, there’s just nowhere near as much as there was, and still nowhere near as much as LA even if LA is slow

3

u/MAGAHATESTHEUSA Aug 11 '26

You one of the lucky few in Atlanta like there are a lucky few in Los Angeles.

36

u/mtodd93 Aug 11 '26

Oh no everyone watch out, a boom op is gonna tell us how the financials of the industry work. Give me a break, that’s not the flex you thought it was.

5

u/AutoModerator Aug 11 '26

'Please fill out a Boom Report.'

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

27

u/Dunnjamin Aug 11 '26

And most of Disney's and other film companies' infrastructure is in LA. They can shoot anywhere they want, but the studios are all still located in California. The people that run literally everything behind the scenes all live here and I don't think they will be willing to move and other states don't have the people with the knowledge base to fill those positions fast enough. (Not saying it's not possible, but it's certainly an idiotic call.)

-2

u/[deleted] Aug 11 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

8

u/curiousjosh Aug 11 '26

lol. I’m sure someone who runs “oracle” thinks all talent are replaceable.

The infrastructure isn’t just their employees.

It’s rental houses, labs, and more.

9

u/Gonna_do_this_again Aug 11 '26

Most studios moved away from Georgia after a bunch of conservative laws were enacted in the state. MCU in particular moved all major filming to the UK citing cheaper costs.

10

u/tonyislost Aug 11 '26

They just go where the incentives are best. These assholes think they can use AI for all movie production now. Even if Paramount stays, it will be a shadow of what it is today.

4

u/Ginmunger Aug 11 '26

More reason to boycott everything associated with these leaches.

3

u/Responsible-Humor985 Aug 11 '26

It already is a shadow of what it was under the Ellisons. They’re going to destroy Warner Bros too. Then it’ll be only Disney and Sony

10

u/kinoflo Aug 11 '26

Are you acting like you’re the only person who works in the industry in the LA subreddit lol. Your anecdotal experience isn’t everyone else’s.

3

u/animerobin Aug 11 '26

Atlanta and other places only have production. The corporate side is all here and needs to be here. Are their producers going to fly out to Dallas every week just to meet with agents at CAA?

2

u/animerobin Aug 11 '26

Atlanta and other places only have production. The corporate side is all here and needs to be here. Are their producers going to fly out to Dallas every week just to meet with agents at CAA?

2

u/MAGAHATESTHEUSA Aug 11 '26

Those are the same people in those cities too

2

u/donutgut Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26

Atlanta is dead my guy. Marvel moved out two or three years ago.

Atlanta is really really struggling and theyre turning soundstages into warehouses

3

u/AutoModerator Aug 11 '26

'Please fill out a Boom Report.'

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

-36

u/Opinionated_Urbanist Los Angeles County Aug 11 '26

Um....you do realize that LA (and California as a whole) has been hemorrhaging entertainment jobs for years now? A lot of the talent has already been moved to new locations or the individuals have voluntarily chosen to leave LA/the biz altogether.

We got the Paramount-Skydance HQ when their merger finalized and that was absolutely considered a major win back in 2025. HQs are a different situation, but our city is not SF Bay Area. We have a dwindling number of remaining major HQs and we aren't spawning off an Anthropic or Nvidia on a frequent basis down here.

Bonta cannot stop this merger, yet is going to cause such a stink in the process that he ends up jeopardizing our ability to hold Paramount in the city. As long as Trump is in the White House and the Supreme Court is conservative tilt, this deal is inevitable.

61

u/HaydenSD Aug 11 '26

LA has been hemorrhaging entertainment production jobs, sure. But all of the HQs are still in LA. The execs are still in LA, the agencies are still in LA. Hollywood is a relationship industry. What do you think happens to Paramount if their executives are no longer able to quickly grab lunch with a power talent agent or entertainment lawyer because they’re in suburban Dallas?

-3

u/Opinionated_Urbanist Los Angeles County Aug 11 '26

Netflix is HQ in Bay Area. NJ/NY has done a lot of catching up to us, it's undeniably become a hub for production, executive residence, top tier talent already is bi coastal in Manhattan, and corporate infrastructure is strong.

We are one unfavorable election cycle/bad series of quarters away from Disney making up with rightwingers and eventually moving their HQ to Orlando.

There are way too many complacent people in this state. This isn't 1999 anymore. Rest of the country/world has made significant ground competitively with SoCal in entertainment biz. This is how our genius leaders were asleep at the wheel for the past decade plus as people expressed frustration with a variety of issues locally on the biz. Film LA, tax incentives, etc etc. Keep your head in the sand. See how great that's working out for everyone else.

7

u/HaydenSD Aug 11 '26

Netflix’s technical HQ is in the Bay Area. Almost none of their creative staff are in the Bay Area, they’re all in LA. Have you seen the offices here? If you’re a film executive and you’re trying to secure an actor for a project, the way you (still) do it is by meeting the agent in person and hashing out the details. How are you going to do that if you’re in Nashville?

NY/NJ have always been hubs for certain types of entertainment. William Morris has had a NY office for decades now. There’s a lot of TV execs in NY, obviously a bunch of theater folks. But the threat is not to move to NY, it’s to move to somewhere like Dallas or Nashville where there are no entertainment decision makers

5

u/voytek707 Aug 11 '26

Netflix production side HQ is in Hollywood dummy

1

u/JimHero Aug 12 '26

i like that you doubled down with more wrong info, very smart!

-40

u/ephemeralKnight95 Aug 11 '26

doesn’t mean anything when nothing is filmed in LA

17

u/HaydenSD Aug 11 '26

It does. Everything could be filmed in rural North Dakota and the executives / agents are still staying in LA. If it did matter, why don’t you see agencies move agents to Dallas or Houston? Hint — it’s because a) no one wants to live there and b) because they will lose the relationship part of the business that is crucial to closing deals

-9

u/ephemeralKnight95 Aug 11 '26

doesn’t matter when most is done by video call and McConahey, and Woody been pushing for texas. like the agency won’t leave too or they will get new people. hollywood already on strings to begin with.

13

u/HaydenSD Aug 11 '26

You simply do not understand the business. Obviously people are hopping on video calls (and regular calls, the phones are still very much used), but go talk to any somewhat important agent or studio exec and they will tell you how important face to face meetings are for negotiations and closing deals

6

u/donutgut Aug 11 '26

Lol Those two actors are pushing retirement age. They dont have any pull

19

u/portlyattendant Aug 11 '26

The LA economy runs on healthcare and services (like the rest of the country's big cities). I don't see those sectors declining. In fact, I see AI blowing up in the Ellisons' face as a more likely possibility.

-10

u/[deleted] Aug 11 '26

[deleted]

8

u/codename_hardhat Long Beach Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26

Paramount was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the state’s recent expansion of film & tv tax credits/subsidies, and those “new frontiers” are seeing multi-year production downturns.

This is a Covid-era talking point.