Skydance Says It's Staying in L.A.
Summary
CEO David Ellison told staff "we aren't going anywhere" after the merger settlement left the company's headquarters location undecided, a year after a similar threat helped pressure California into offering bigger production incentives
Skydance CEO David Ellison told employees last week the newly merged company is committed to staying in Hollywood, writing "we aren't going anywhere," according to Variety. The consent decree Skydance reached with state attorneys general bars the company from selling either the Paramount or Warner Bros. studio lots for at least five years and requires increased production volume, but it does not address where the combined company will be headquartered, a question Variety reports was discussed during settlement talks. Ellison's commitment follows a similar pledge he made in a February letter to California Rep. Laura Friedman and Senator Adam Schiff, promising the company would "stay true to our roots" in Southern California, a promise he had appeared to walk back amid the antitrust fight with California Attorney General Rob Bonta. The question of what more is needed to retain film and TV jobs in Los Angeles remains active at both the state and federal level: Congress is weighing the federal production incentive introduced last week, while California lawmakers are expected to take up next year whether to eliminate the $750 million cap on the state's own incentive program and whether to extend it to above-the-line costs.
The Kinolime Lens
A company that threatens to leave and then doesn't still got something out of the threat: Ellison's walk-back came only after it had already shaped the settlement conversation and kept California's incentive expansion on the table as leverage. For below-the-line crews and vendors who depend on where a studio physically operates, Ellison's renewed commitment is reassuring, but it's worth remembering the leverage worked once already and nothing stops it from being used again the next time Skydance wants something from Sacramento or Washington.