Another Corporate Exit From California Is on the Table, This One From Hollywood

North Texas has absorbed a long run of corporate relocations from California. The next candidate is an unusual one: a movie studio founded more than a century ago.

Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison told senior executives he is prepared to begin moving the company out of California as soon as October if its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery has not closed by Sept. 30, Variety reported. The company is considering Georgia, Texas and Tennessee, and has not made a choice.

What is driving it

The merger's remaining obstacle is an antitrust case filed by 12 states. Under the timeline Ellison described, if California Attorney General Rob Bonta does not agree to negotiate a settlement by the end of September, Paramount begins its exit Oct. 1.

Ellison said the company's board has approved the move, according to Variety, and told his leadership team the motivation was cost, specifically lower taxes and more business-friendly policies. He also floated selling the company's Los Angeles studio lots.

Bonta called the threat an "attempt to blackmail the state into letting an illegal deal through," adding that "Paramount has lost the plot as it continues to lose in court." Paramount declined to comment.

The local footprint that already exists

Whatever happens to the headquarters, Paramount's production business has been working in this area for months. The Paramount+ series "Frisco King," starring Samuel L. Jackson and written by Taylor Sheridan, filmed at locations across North Texas this spring, Plano among them, after production began in Fort Worth in late March.

That activity follows Texas Senate Bill 22, which took effect Sept. 1, 2025, and commits about $1.5 billion over ten years, with rebates up to 31% for productions that shoot primarily in the state and hire Texas crews.

The distinction worth keeping

A corporate headquarters decision and a production incentive are separate things. Texas has clearly won a share of the second. The first remains undecided, and its timeline depends on a courtroom in California rather than anything happening here.

Source: Variety.

Sources

https://variety.com/2026/film/news/david-ellison-move-paramount-out-of-california-1236573000/