Skydance to Create Paramount and Warner Bros. Bundles specializing in film and television

TV and streaming are ready for a major upgrade – getting a whole historic bundle all to themselves. The settlement in the state AG’s lawsuit forces Skydance, the combined company of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, to retain the Paramount and Warner Bros. lots. for at least the next five years.

At a press event on the Paramount lot on Tuesday, hours after the merger closed, Skydance CEO David Ellison revealed that the two lots, each historically and currently home to film and television, would be organized differently.

“We will absolutely keep both lots, and you’ll probably see us doing film on one, TV/streaming on another, and we’ll go back and forth between the two, as well as the East Coast if necessary, as well as our Santa Monica offices for animation,” he said of himself and Skydance co-CEO Ynon Kreiz.

Ellison wouldn’t elaborate further, but based on sizes alone – Warner Bros in Burbank being significantly larger than Hollywood-based Paramount – the film would likely be based on the Paramount lot and television and streaming on the Warner Bros lot, I’ve heard.

Such a delineation would also be consistent with the fact that Paramount – and its iconic arches – are rooted in cinematic history and symbolize the golden age of cinema as the only major studio still located in Hollywood.

The division would mean status quo for Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, co-presidents of the motion picture group, based at Paramount; and Channing Dungey, head of Warner Bros. Television Group and basic cable networks Skyance, which works at Warner Bros.

RELATED: Channing Dungey Ready for Expanded Post-Merger Role in Overseeing Paramount and WBD Cable Networks – The Dish

That would require a move across town for George Cheeks, co-president and chief content officer of Skydance TV; JB Perrette, Co-President and Chief Commercial Officer, Skydance TV and DTC; Casey Bloys, co-president and chief content officer, DTC; as well as CBS Studios President David Stapf and Paramount TV Studios President Matt Thunell and their teams.

Consolidating all television operations would bring CBS Entertainment, CBS Studios and CBS Media Ventures into one studio after the divisions left CBS Studios Center (Radford) when it was sold in 2022 to move to the Sunset Gower offices in Hollywood that also house other Paramount units.

Then there are the combined streaming operations which will benefit greatly from the move to one location as they are currently scattered across multiple locations between HBO Max and Paramount+, including HBO’s offices in Culver City, the Paramount lot, and Nickelodeon’s West Coast headquarters in Burbank.

Skydance’s Direct-to-Consumer division, led by Bloys and Perrette, could move to Warner Bros. Second Century Development, adjacent to the Warner Bros. lot, where HBO had planned to move before the WBD sales process put the process on hold.