If California’s radical Attorney General chases Paramount Studios to Texas, there will be a loss of tens of thousands of jobs, but even if Paramount stays, its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery will still mean a loss of thousands of jobs in Hollywood over the next three years.
It’s a common practice for mergers between two large companies to result in some job loss as the new conglomerate sorts through its divisions to put redundant or duplicate jobs on the chopping block. And according to The Wrap, even if this merger does go through, it will mean a loss of at least 4,500 jobs for Los Angeles.
Also, along with the jobs lost inside the newly united studios, there will be a loss of upwards to 5,800 jobs cut from related businesses in LA, as the Paramount-Warner Bros. operation tightens its belt. from prop houses, caterers, and other industry services, to local restaurants, clothiers, and other businesses who serve the people who will likely be fleeing L.A. after losing their jobs, the losses will mount.
“Overall, the economic impact of losing these jobs would be $1.26 billion in wages, $2.78 billion in economic value, $4.06 billion in total business output and $547 million in tax revenue, including $78.6 million in local taxes — most of which (63%) comes from property taxes,” The Wrap reported.
The analysis by CVL Economics and the Department of Economic Opportunity found that 73 films between Paramount and Warner Bros. were shot in California and only one in L.A. From 2023 to 2025, 8.2 percent of the two companies’ films were shot on the Golden State — a rate similar to the rest of the industry.
As to TV and streaming shows, the two studios shot 30.3 percent in California, slightly higher than the 25.4 percent industry average. And the combined tow produced in L.A. for 85.4 percent of those California-based productions.
The report was ordered and submitted to the L.A. County’s Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, to answer questions on the likely results of a completed Paramount-WBD merger.
While it is obvious that jobs will be phased out after the merger, the loss will be even worse for California if Paramount follows through with its plans to move to Texas or Tennessee if the state’s radical, left-wing Attorney General Rob Bonta continues his lawsuit to try and stymie the merger.
If Bonta continues his lawsuit and Paramount fulfills its threat to leave, then tens of thousands of jobs will be lost to L.A. as Paramount moves the operations of two giant studios out of state.
Regardless, this is all of a piece with the collapse of the entertainment industry in the first place. Warner Bros. is selling out because it cannot stay afloat. Jobs are being lost because film and TV production is fleeing the extreme costs of doing business in Democrat-controlled California. And other states and even other countries are benefiting.
The days of Hollywood just printing money for itself by simply being in operation are long over and those good times are never going to return.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: Facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston, or at X/Twitter @WTHuston