David Ellison looks on during the BNP Paribas Open on March 13, 2026 in Indian Wells, California. His father, Larry Ellison, owns the tournament. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images Logo text David Ellison indirectly answered lawmaker questions about how the combination of two of Hollywood’s five remaining historic studios would impact California in a letter obtained by The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday.
The Paramount studio chief was responding to Sen. Adam Schiff and Rep. Laura Friedman, L.A.-area lawmakers who previously asked Paramount and former Warner Bros. suitor Netflix to address widespread concerns about a mega-merger’s consequences for Hollywood workers.
“I firmly believe that uniting Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery presents a unique opportunity to build a true champion for the creative community, one that can and will bring more stories to life, support filmmakers and talent with real scale, and compete effectively on the global stage as an independent media leader,” Ellison said in response to a question about the merger’s impact on California and Hollywood specifically. “That is the true legacy of Hollywood, and my promise to you is to build a stronger Hollywood, by keeping both of these legacy studios operating separately, thereby preserving and potentially increasing jobs.”
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The studio head touted previous commitments he has made as further evidence that the corporate marriage will improve the lot of Hollywood workers. Those include promising that Paramount and Warner Bros. will each have a 15-film annual slate, that they will license their work to third parties and pick up third-party projects for their platforms and that they will maintain a theatrical window of at least 45 days.
Ellison also talked up preserving HBO and having the “intention” of establishing 60 to 90-day (or longer) VOD windows for successful films after their theatrical runs.
But he wasn’t specific about how the mega-deal would preserve jobs in Los Angeles. “The Los Angeles area provides some of the most talented and well-trained film and television workers in the world, and it is my expectation that the commitments I have made will preserve and expand good-paying film and television jobs in the area,” he said.
One of his commitments to help Hollywood, he said, was his team setting up shop on the Paramount studio lot in mid-L.A. after the Skydance-Paramount merger was completed and stepping up Paramount’s film slate from eight to 15 films a year. His plan to continue licensing content “means there will be additional opportunities available for creative talent in Los Angeles.”
Still, he’s in favor of regulatory reform to keep more production in the U.S. Ellison said he was a supporter of restoring Section 181 of the tax code to further incentivize studios like his not to offshore their productions to other countries. Section 181 of the Internal Revenue Code allows productions that shoot in the U.S. to deduct production costs sustained in the same year.
He also spoke in favor of a federal tax incentive, which Schiff and Friedman are attempting to get off the ground: “America already has the world’s leading entertainment workforce and world-class production faciliaties,” he wrote. “It now just needs a federal film tax incentive to close the competitive gap with the rest of the world, and again attract the biggest film and TV projects, activate its highly skilled workforce, and utilize its infrastructure.”
In a statement, Friedman told THR that she asked for “concrete commitments” and said some were offered, like the promise to release 30 films a year, the 45-day theatrical window and support for the incentive. “Those are measurable, and I intend to measure them,” she added. “The thousands of workers on our sound stages and backlots need to see these promises show up in our lives, not just in a letter.”
Read Ellison’s full letter to Schiff and Friedman below.
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