A proposed merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery could put about 4,500 film and television jobs in Los Angeles County at risk over three years and threaten billions of dollars in regional economic activity, according to a final county report released Wednesday.
The report from the Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity and L.A. County Film Office estimates a total of 10,360 job-years could be at risk, including direct film and television jobs and employment supported by production spending.
A job-year is the equivalent of one full-time job lasting one year, according to the report.
The analysis estimates about 4,500 direct film and television jobs could be lost during the three-year period in which the companies would combine operations. Another 2,661 indirect jobs at small businesses that support production, including prop houses, printers, transportation companies and other vendors, could be at risk, along with 3,204 jobs supported by production spending in the broader economy.
County officials stressed that the figures are not layoff forecasts and that the companies have not announced job cuts on the scale modeled in the report. The estimates represent potential employment effects if the transaction closes and consolidation proceeds along the pathways examined by the analysis.
“This report confirms what we feared: 4,500 direct film and television jobs, more than 10,000 total job-years, and $4.06 billion in business output are at risk,” Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said in a statement. “Los Angeles has already lost too many jobs, too much production, and too many people who make this industry possible. We cannot afford to lose another generation of Hollywood workers.”
David Ellison, CEO of Paramount Skydance, has previously said the merger would honor the legacy of both companies while creating a next-generation media and entertainment business. Ellison is the son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.
The report estimates that $1.26 billion in wages, $2.78 billion in economic value, $4.06 billion in total business output and $547 million in tax revenue could be at risk. The tax figure includes $78.6 million in local tax revenue.
The final report expands on a 60-day interim analysis released in June, which estimated that about 2,495 jobs in the greater Los Angeles region could be affected by consolidation, primarily in corporate, technology, real estate and other overlapping functions.
The latest analysis focuses more broadly on the production workforce and related businesses, including crews, crafts workers, post-production employees and vendors.
The report identifies several ways the merger could affect employment, including a reduction in the number of projects being produced, overlapping below-the-line workforces and exclusive creative deals, decisions to move productions to lower-cost locations and the elimination of duplicative operations.
“Understanding the full scope of these economic and workforce impacts is critical to how we respond,” DEO Director Kelly LoBianco said in a statement. “This data gives us a clearer picture of where workers, small businesses, and the broader entertainment ecosystem are most vulnerable, so we can provide timely information and shape supportive policies, programs, and investments that meet the industry’s changing needs.”
The report was prepared by CVL Economics in response to a March 17 motion introduced by Horvath and approved by the Board of Supervisors.
The proposed merger has faced legal challenges since the county’s interim report was released. The U.S. Department of Justice closed its review and approved the transaction June 12, but California Attorney General Rob Bonta and 11 other state attorneys general subsequently filed a lawsuit seeking to block the deal on antitrust grounds.
Under a court stipulation entered July 24, the companies cannot close the transaction until the earlier of five days after a decision on the merits of the lawsuit or June 1, 2027, according to the county report. A trial is scheduled for March 2027.
The county said it is developing a workforce response plan that would use its 18 America’s Job Centers of California and other workforce programs to assist potentially displaced workers. The effort would include job fairs, expedited access to unemployment insurance and other benefits and possible connections between displaced workers and employers receiving California film and television production tax credits.
Los Angeles County’s creative economy supports more than 312,000 workers, including about 171,155 entertainment-sector jobs, according to the report.
County officials said California has lost 52,016 film and television jobs since 2022, with 99.6% of those losses occurring in Los Angeles County. On-location production activity in the county fell 16% in 2025 compared with 2024, according to FilmLA data cited in the report.
“The global media and entertainment industry is in a period of profound structural realignment, and declining linear television revenue is only one pressure among many,” said Adam Fowler, CVL Economics co-Founder and lead author.
“Our modeling estimates the employment vulnerability this region faces over the next three years. The historic leverage of this transaction will require aggressive shifts in cash flow to service debt, and most of the available levers moving production to lower-cost regions, rationalizing real estate, and eliminating duplicative operations, carry direct consequences for Los Angeles County’s entertainment sector.”
The county said it has also provided $4 million to 363 small and micro businesses through the Entertainment Business Interruption Fund and is pursuing efforts to streamline permitting, improve production conditions and increase access to capital and talent.
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