Hollywoodmay not be dead after all, if a proposed $110 billion mega-merger of Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros Discovery goes through.
A new report from theCalifornia Policy Centersuggests that themerger between the two huge studioscould mean 40,000 jobs and provide a “boost to the industry” equal to billions of dollars.
The merger would combine Hollywood studios Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., streaming services Paramount+ and HBO Max and news outlets CNN and CBS, among others.
In a letter to Congress, Paramount-Skydance CEO David Ellison promised that both studios, Paramount and Warner, would make 15 movies each every year.
“My promise to you is to build a stronger Hollywood, by keeping both of these legacy studios operating separately, thereby preserving and potentially increasing jobs.,” Ellison said.
In contrast, when major studios have merged in the past they have shrunk in size, the report noted. However, Ellison is promising the opposite.
“A post-merger slate of 30 films would be a 50% increase on their recent output and represent a 14% increase in the total output of the big five studios,” the report read.
This promise could also generate $660 million a year on production.
“Assuming an average movie industry wage approximates to some $100,000 a year, we can estimate that this movie slate will generate 6,600 production jobs a year,” it read.
If this holds true, additional jobs created for every project could be a boost of tens of thousands of jobs.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
