Paramount was said to be closing in on a deal with California AG Rob Bonta and 11 other states on Friday to settle a bruising lawsuit against the studio’s acquisition of Warner Bros.
But by Sunday night, insiders said that the negotiations were at a stalemate as the states disagree on what they want from David Ellison.
The Wall Street Journal reported late last week that the two sides were in “advanced talks” to settle, while Reuters reported that the agreement could come “as soon as this weekend.”
By Sunday evening in LA, a well-informed source told Page Six Hollywood: “Yesterday afternoon, I thought a deal probably gets done. Today, I think there is a ways to go. Anything could happen at anytime: A deal, calling off talks or they continue talking for days.”
But the insider added: “Negotiations like this are complicated. Usually they take a while,” and that there are still, “many issues big and small.”
One issue holding up the process is that the 12 involved states allegedly can’t agree on their top priorities in the negotiations.
Reports throughout the weekend have mentioned numerous concessions that may or may not be on the table as the deal terms take shape. Those have ranged from independent content monitoring of CNN and CBS News and keeping Warner Bros. and Paramount as separate entities for a period of time to financial penalties for falling short of Ellison’s promise of 30 films a year and commitments ranging from remaining in California to production spend.
“Bonta doesn’t care about CNN, but other AGs do,” said a source familiar with the talks. “It seems [Paramount CEO] David [Ellison] may be willing to divest much of the cable assets, but he wants to keep CNN.”
But other states are more focused on the relationship between Paramount and Warner Bros. as a combined entity.
“The AGs need to agree on their position,” said the source. “Plus the WGA — who are notoriously difficult to deal with — before there is a deal.” (The Writers Guild of America is also suing to block the deal, and its case is being tried concurrently with the states. A settlement doesn’t necessarily end the WGA’s case, but it could drastically muck up the guild’s plans, especially if this week’s hearing over Paramount’s push for the states and the WGA to put up nearly $2 billion in bonds goes Ellison’s way.)
As far as the other states, high-profile New York Attorney General Letitia James, “cares about more job protections, and CNN, as do other states,” said a source, while some others are, “trying to push [for] keeping the studios bifurcated until financial triggers are hit.”
As the talks bogged down, a source said, “I don’t know what Bonta is doing… he has the leverage.”
This weekend’s settlement push marked the latest twist in the deal drama that will decide the fate of one of Hollywood’s oldest studios. Last week, it appeared that Bonta called Ellison’s bluff when the Paramount boss reportedly backchannelled a threat to the offices of Bonta and LA Mayor Karen Bass that he’d imminently announce the relocation of his studio out of California — which never ended up happening.
Bonta’s office has so far not confirmed or denied whether settlement talks were even occurring. “It’s no secret that Paramount has been making this threat, despite its alleged commitment to California and Hollywood,” read a statement to P6H last week. “What Paramount decides to do is Paramount’s choice alone. We’ll continue to apply the law without fear or favor and continue to be open to coming to the table for good faith discussions.”
The AG’s office did not respond to our latest request for comment on Sunday. Paramount has declined to comment at all on the alleged talks.
While the Yom Kippur holiday will likely table any settlement talks on Monday — at least until sundown — next week’s Oct. 1 deadline for Paramount to avoid paying an extra $7 million per day (and the supposed date Ellison would begin to move Paramount out of California) is barreling down on the calendar.
