Skydance Investors in Talks to Gain Control of Paramount Global Via National Amusements Takeover

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Paramount Global set a new senior vice president over its efforts to win small-and-medium-sized advertisers, another nod of the growing importance of non-traditional market segments to the business of TV, which has long relied on just Madison Avenue’s biggest residents. Paramount named Emily Huo as its senior vice president of “SMB Advertising.” The category often includes entrepreneurial digital advertisers and regional and local marketers who in the past found national TV too broad or, more likely than not, too expensive. In the streaming era, however, smaller advertisers can run pitches aimed at narrower slices of geography or specific consumer niches.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The CEO of Paramount Global urged staffers at the entertainment conglomerate to focus on their 2024 business goals, even as a handful of industry heavy hitters and investment firms explore a potential acquisition of the company and speculation about looming layoffs intensifies. In a memo issued to employees Thursday and reviewed by Variety, Bob Bakish acknowledged that Paramount’s future “remains a topic of speculation,” a nod to the fact that a group of investors led by Skydance founder David Ellison have engaged in talks with Paramount’s controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone.

Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish said today the company will continue to reduce its global workforce “to operate as a leaner company and spend less.” But there were no further details in a memo to staff obtained by Deadline following a “Bob Live” town hall today.  

David Ellison’s Skydance is said to have made a preliminary offer to buy Shari Redstone’s stake in National Amusements, the family holding company that controls Paramount Global, according to a Bloomberg report.

Naman Ramachandran Revered Indian actor and filmmaker Aparna Sen is the subject of Suman Ghosh‘s documentary “Parama: A Journey with Aparna Sen,” which has its world premiere at International Film Festival Rotterdam‘s Cinema Regained strand. Sen came to notice as an actor with the “Samapti” segment in Oscar winner Satyajit Ray’s “Three Daughters” (1961). She acted in several more films by Ray and also worked with Indian cinema greats Mrinal Sen, Tapan Sinha and Rituparno Ghosh.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent For his fifth and final edition, outgoing Berlin Film Festival artistic director Carlo Chatrian has assembled a promising lineup, rich in prestige, star-driven titles as well as more eclectic films containing the political elements intrinsic to the fest’s DNA. “I am very happy and proud of this year’s lineup,” Chatrian tells Variety. “I think it achieved the balance between highly anticipated titles by filmmakers who are relevant in cinema history and, as always, films that you don’t expect to find in competition.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Paramount Global doesn’t feel it needs Carnegie Hall to make its point to Madison Avenue. The New York owner of CBS, the Paramount movie studio and the Nickelodeon kids-cable outlet plans a second year of individual meetings with media buyers and advertisers for its outreach during the industry’s “upfront” sales market, and will not return to the more formal, glitzy presentation that has long been a staple of the period.

EXCLUSIVE: Amid speculation about its future, Paramount Global is proceeding with a new wave of staff reductions in February, sources tell Deadline. I hear the cuts will impact hundreds of employees across the entire company.

The Offer is the name of a series on Paramount+. Now, it could be the logline for Paramount Global.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Sean Gupta, who has served as senior VP of strategy for Paramount Streaming for more than two years, is exiting the company, Variety has confirmed. Gupta reported to Jeff Shultz, Paramount Streaming’s chief strategy officer and chief business development officer. Gupta took on the role in the fall of 2021 (when Paramount Global was known as ViacomCBS), tasked with helping shape the media conglomerate’s approach to developing and growing its Paramount+ subscription-streaming property and the Pluto TV free, ad-supported streaming TV service.

Former TF1 Group CEO and chairman Gilles Pélisson has gone through a baptism of fire this week in his new role of president at French film and TV promotional body Unifrance as he attends his first edition of its annual Paris Rendez-vous.

EXCLUSIVE: Domhnall Gleeson has joined the cast of Apple‘s Fountain of Youth, a feature film based on an original idea that will be directed by Guy Ritchie and hails from Skydance Media. Also starring John Krasinski and Natalie Portman, the film will be produced for Apple by Skydance, Vinson Films and Project X Entertainment.

Shari Redstone’s Paramount Global is seen as having reached a grow-or-sell crossroads that has the potential to set other transactions in motion — the pinball effect when one sizable company puts the “For Sale” sign out. (For the record, neither Paramount Global nor Redstone’s National Amusements holding company has commented publicly on the matter.) The wave of speculation about the future of Paramount comes as the entertainment industry is working through a massive transition when it comes to the way movies and TV shows are produced, distributed and monetized.

Diego Ramos Bechara editor Paramount Global has chosen the nine writers who will participate in the Paramount Writers Mentoring Program for 2024-2025. Selected in the program’s 20th year are Jamil Akim O’Quinn, Wei Ling Chang, Adrian Colón Jr., Jai Franklin Sarki, Seth Harrington, Natalie Higdon, writing team Dijorn Moss & Trinea Moss and Nick Spates.

With its streaming operations facing scrutiny as 2024 gets under way, Paramount Global continues to pursue a diversified approach to distributing its flagship, Paramount+.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Bille August, the two-time Palme d’Or-winning director, found his creative match with the former Queen of Denmark, Margrethe II, who reinvented herself as a detail-oriented costume designer on his hit Netflix film “Ehrengard: The Art of Seduction.” The film, which took a decade to bring to life, is nominated for three Robert Awards, the Danish equivalent to the Oscars. A playful royal scandal set in the early 19th century, “Ehrengard: The Art of Seduction” was penned by Anders August and based on a 1963 novella by Karen Blixen, the Danish baroness who was played by Meryl Streep in “Out of Africa.” The film revolves around Cazotte, a young portrait painter who considers himself an expert on love matters and is challenged by the Grand Duchess to seduce a young woman, as well as help her secure an heir.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor One of the greatest plays in sports isn’t taking place on any athletic field. Walt Disney Co.

Even though Tom Cruise inked a non-exclusive pact at Warner Bros earlier this week, it looks like he’ll continue to be busy with Paramount for some time. Reports tonight are that Top Gun 3 is in development at Paramount with Top Gun:Maverick co-writer Ehren Kruger currently writing a draft.

EXCLUSIVE: Following the success of The Family Planlast month, Apple Original Films and Skydance are reteaming on another tentpole as Deadline is hearing John Krasinski and Natalie Portman are set to star in Fountain of Youth with Guy Ritchie directing. Skydance Media will serve as the studio, and the film will be produced for Apple by Skydance, Vinson Films and Project X Entertainment.

A new scenario has surfaced in the ever-swirling speculation about Paramount Global’s fate.