Paramount representatives will sit down with California Attorney General Rob Bonta's office on Tuesday, Aug. 25, to discuss settling the antitrust lawsuit blocking the studio's $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, according to TheWrap.

The stakes are enormous for Los Angeles. Starting Oct. 1, Paramount CEO David Ellison must begin paying a 25-cent-per-share ticking fee to Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders, totaling $650 million per quarter. Ellison has threatened to move Paramount's operations out of California if no deal is reached by then, with the company's board approving a contingency plan to relocate from Hollywood to Tennessee or Texas as early as this fall.

An LA County report released Aug. 19 projects 10,360 total job-years at risk in the county over three years if the merger closes and consolidation proceeds, including 4,500 direct film and TV positions. The county has already lost more than 52,000 film and television jobs since 2022.

Bonta, who leads a 12-state coalition plus the Writers Guild of America in the lawsuit filed in July, set a hard line on Friday, Aug. 21. "Any potential discussions about the Paramount–Warner Brothers merger will be unproductive absent robust structural remedies on the table that address our concerns," he told Politico. His office rejected Paramount's proposed behavioral pledges, like committing to 30 theatrical releases per year, as unenforceable. When Paramount filed a motion Aug. 17 demanding the plaintiff states post up to $1.9 billion in bonds, Bonta's office called the tactic "blackmail."

The political pressure to settle is building from multiple directions. Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday he takes the exit threat "seriously" and acknowledged the process is "unfolding in real time." Mayor Karen Bass held a press conference the same day calling for all parties to negotiate, saying any resolution must include "meaningful and enforceable commitments" to keep both studios in L.A.

Not everyone agrees. The WGA West rebuked Bass on Aug. 21, accusing her of joining "Paramount's pressure campaign on public enforcers to push through a merger that is being rightfully challenged as illegal." City Councilmember and mayoral candidate Nithya Raman also opposed settlement, telling TheWrap on Aug. 21: "This is a bad deal for entertainment workers and a bad deal for Los Angeles."

SAG-AFTRA, the Hollywood Teamsters and more than 5,000 actors, including Jane Fonda and Mark Ruffalo, have signed letters opposing the deal. If approved, just four studios would control 86% of movies widely released in more than 3,000 theaters, according to the states' lawsuit.

Whether Tuesday's meeting produces anything concrete remains unclear. A federal trial is scheduled for March 2, 2027, in Oakland, and the WGA would need to sign off on any global settlement. Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin has asked both sides to identify potential magistrate judges for mediation by Aug. 27.