A new report is putting hard numbers on a fear that has been building in Hollywood for months. If the Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery merger goes through, Los Angeles County could lose about 4,500 direct film and television jobs over the next three years.
The report comes from CVL Economics, working alongside the L.A. County Department of Economic Opportunity and the county’s film office. It was released this week as a final 120-day study on the merger’s likely impact.
The 4,500 figure covers direct jobs on film and TV productions. But the full picture is bigger. The report estimates a total of 10,360 “job years” could be at risk once indirect and induced jobs are counted too. A job year means one full-time job that lasts for one year.
Beyond direct production work, the report points to 2,661 indirect jobs. These sit at small businesses that support film sets. Think prop houses, printers, and transportation companies. Add another 3,204 induced jobs, tied to spending by production workers at local restaurants, shops, and services.
The dollar figure behind the job losses
This is not just about job counts. The report also puts a price tag on the damage. County officials say $4.06 billion in business output is on the line if the merger moves forward as expected.
L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath did not hold back in her reaction. She said the report confirms fears about thousands of jobs and billions in lost output. She added a blunt warning, saying the county cannot afford to lose another generation of workers.
Why the merger would hurt production
The report argues that a combined Paramount and Warner Bros. would face heavy pressure to cut costs. That pressure comes from debt. The new company would carry a large amount of it after the deal closes, and executives have already promised billions in savings.
Those savings are expected to come mostly from trimming duplicate roles, corporate functions, and shared services. Many of those roles are based in Los Angeles, which is part of why the county sees itself as especially exposed.
The report also flags a pattern that already worries local production groups. Out of a batch of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery films set for 2025, only one was mainly filmed in California. Most of the rest shot elsewhere, whether in other states or overseas.
A county already losing ground
This report does not land in a vacuum. It builds on a run of bad years for L.A. production. According to the study, the region has already lost 52,000 jobs over the last four years, even before factoring in this merger.
Separate data from FilmLA backs that up, showing county production activity dropped 16 percent in 2025 compared with the year before. Against that backdrop, another 4,500 jobs would deepen a decline that was already underway.
Two buyers, one company
The report includes a simple line that sums up the core issue: two buyers become one. When companies merge, jobs that once existed twice, once at each company, often shrink down to a single role. That is the basic math driving most of the projected losses.
Not everyone agrees on the damage
Not every study paints the same picture. A separate report from the California Policy Center took a more optimistic view earlier this year. It focused on a pledge from Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison to have both studios release 15 films each per year after the merger, 30 films combined.
If that pledge holds, the report argued it could add close to $1 billion a year to Hollywood’s movie production spending and support around 40,000 jobs tied to production work. That would mark a fifty percent jump from the studios’ combined recent output.
So the debate is not just about whether jobs will be lost. It is also about whether new production spending could offset some of that loss, and whether promises about film output will actually hold up once the merger is complete.
- Paramount
- Warner Bros
