The proposed merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery could wipe out nearly 4,500 film and TV jobs in Los Angeles County over three years and drain $2.8 billion from the local economy, according to a county-commissioned study submitted to the LA County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday, Aug. 19.

The 120-day analysis by CVL Economics and the LA County Department of Economic Opportunity paints a stark picture for an industry already reeling. Motion picture employment in the county hit a low of 93,263 in 2025, down 36% from 2022, The Hollywood Reporter reported. The merger, the report warns, would pile on.

Beyond the 4,500 direct job-years at risk, the study projects another 2,661 indirect job-years lost at businesses that support production, including prop houses, printers and transportation companies, plus 3,204 induced job-years at restaurants, retailers and service providers where entertainment workers spend their paychecks.

The total: 10,360 job-years.

The dollar figures are equally blunt: $1.26 billion in lost wages, $4.06 billion in reduced business output and $547 million in vanished tax revenue, including $78.6 million in local taxes.

The report, first obtained by TheWrap, identifies $6.7 billion in potential annual cost reductions across overlapping operations that the merged company would target to reach investment-grade debt levels within three years. Of that, $5.3 billion would come from corporate and infrastructure functions and $600 million from content and production support.

The study points to the 2019 Disney-Fox merger as a warning: Fox's film releases dropped nearly 65% afterward, compared with a roughly 26% decline among peer companies. Together, Paramount and WBD handle about 25.7% of all overall deals with creators.

Paramount threatens California exit

The economic analysis lands as the $111 billion deal faces its most contentious stretch. Twelve state attorneys general, led by California AG Rob Bonta, and the Writers Guild of America have sued to block the merger. Trial is set for March 2, 2027, before U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín.

Paramount CEO David Ellison has threatened to move the company's operations out of California if Bonta doesn't reach a settlement by Oct. 1, when a 25-cent-per-share ticking fee kicks in. That fee amounts to $7 million a day. On Aug. 17, Paramount filed a motion asking the judge to require the states and WGA to post a bond of nearly $1.9 billion or dissolve the order preventing the deal from closing.

Bonta, speaking on journalist Jessica Yellin's show "News Not Noise" on Aug. 14, called the exit threat "blackmail" and "extortion," adding: "That seems like what someone with too much market power would do."

A Paramount spokesperson told TheWrap the report underscores that the entertainment industry is in decline, with production down and jobs being lost. The company said it plans to invest $30 billion annually in production and release at least 30 films a year to reverse the trend.

A spokesperson for Bonta's office said the study provides one snapshot of the merger's potential impact and reiterated that it would result in higher costs, less competition, lower wages, job cuts and fewer movies and TV shows if approved.

The DEO, led by director Kelly LoBianco, is coordinating with the Employment Development Department and the California Film Commission on an action plan for job training, placement and unemployment services for displaced workers. The merger deal expires June 4, 2027, when Warner Bros. Discovery can demand a $7 billion breakup fee. The Oct. 1 ticking-fee deadline is the next pressure point.