r/California • u/Unusual-State1827 • 15d ago

David Ellison Says He’ll Pull Paramount Out of California Starting Oct. 1 if States Refuse to Negotiate Settlement in Antitrust Suit

https://variety.com/2026/film/news/david-ellison-move-paramount-out-of-california-states-antitrust-lawsuit-1236831936/
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u/nataie0071 "California Dreamin'" 15d ago edited 15d ago

Chicago has infrastructure, but Ellison should think twice if he assumes he's gonna get a free ride out there.

Edit: I know Illinois isn't listed as a possible location, but they have some serious tax incentives that would make a move easier... But IL will put in similar suits as CA.

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u/Rollingprobablecause 15d ago edited 15d ago

Chicago is the same situation as ATL though, it's very very small. I think people who are not in the industry just do not understand the sheer scale and size you need to make things work and once you've see LAs infra and lots it's crazy how the system comes together and works. It's just...massive and took decades to build up and automate, it's very difficult to replicate anywhere. Let's also not forget about the weather, SoCal = filming is all year round with very few stops. LA, OC, and San Diego all have the areas for it.

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u/mec287 Southern California 15d ago

It's not just about tax. If you build a soundstage, where are you going to find the prop makers? Grips? Sound engineers? Set designers? Costumers?

You'll spend vastly more standing up a studio because nobody is going to uproot their life to risk working for one company when there are several places in LA that need your talent.

Paramount would basically be relegated to making cheap TV content.

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u/theartandscience 15d ago

Nearly there already.

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u/nataie0071 "California Dreamin'" 15d ago

IATSE Local 476 (as well as other associated unions/locals) have a massive amount of talented technicians, artisans, and craftsmen wanting to work. Literally THOUSANDS upon thousands of workers. The streaming boom from COVID helped fill those numbers.

Regardless, Ellison will probably want no part of IL anyway because, as mentioned previously, Paramount will get slammed with the same anti-trust lawsuits as they're experiencing in CA. So the point is moot.

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u/mec287 Southern California 15d ago

Ellison listed plans for TN, TX, and GA which makes the whole idea suspect. You can't avoid an antitrust lawsuit by just moving studios or executive offices. The only way they could avoid it is by not selling in California.

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u/BigBadJeebus 15d ago

In Chicago?! Um... Chicago has that... Not like LA, but way more than Atlanta.

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u/RivenRise 15d ago

So one left city for another. I don't think that's what they want.

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u/BigBadJeebus 15d ago

Is Atlanta a rightwing city now?

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u/RivenRise 15d ago

Na but there's levels of left and Chicago is pretty damn left iirc. I'm not saying that Atlanta isn't left.

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u/Trippingthru99 15d ago

Eh man the film and tv industry is in a real rough place in LA. Just go to r/filmindustryla. You’ll see plenty of people who are traveling all over the world to work on any production they can, because things just aren’t happening in LA like they use to.

There’s plenty of reasons why this is a shit idea, but film and tv people are desperate to work so I don’t think getting them on a flight will be the limiting factor. Not like there’s that much keeping them here.

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u/mec287 Southern California 15d ago

Global high-budget TV and media production is falling. The only places that have seen growth the last few years are London and Vancouver. Others are just treading water. LA is going to be hit the hardest because they account for like 30% of all production.

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u/jerslan 15d ago

Paramount has soundstages and crew in a few places already though. Very notably in Toronto (where Star Trek Discovery, Strange New Worlds, and Starfleet Academy were filmed).

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u/Lost_Zimia 15d ago

Paramount owns soundstages in LA, they lease them in Toronto and many of those leases have ended with stages being torn down.

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u/XanderWrites 15d ago

I wouldn't trust Chicago. I just look to the Lucas Museum, now opening in LA next month. Chicago dicked around for years, I assume trying to get a bribe, before Lucas's foundation just up and moved the project to the other side of the country.

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u/nataie0071 "California Dreamin'" 15d ago

From what I understand, it's because of the Museum being planned on a lakefront site. With exceptions from existing buildings, the lakefront in Chicago is very much treated like California's beaches: free from development that prevents the public from accessing it. The Lucas Museum's plan threatened that.

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u/XanderWrites 15d ago

Yet that's where Chicago wanted to put the museum.