Is Paramount heading out of Hollywood? Tennessee offers a bold pitch to move its headquarters

An exodus from Hollywood? Tennessee throws 'a bold love call' at Paramount

California, the beating heart of the U.S. film industry, is wobbling. With 12 states, including California, filing massive antitrust lawsuits against 'Paramount Skydance' (hereafter, Paramount), the Tennessee government has officially asked Paramount to move its headquarters and signaled a major shift in the industry.

On the 15th (local time), according to the U.S. entertainment outlet Hollywood Reporter, Tennessee Lt. Gov. Stuart McWhorter sent a letter to 'David Ellison', Paramount’s chief executive officer, on the 2nd urging Paramount to strongly relocate its studio headquarters from California to Tennessee.

In the letter, McWhorter put Tennessee’s 'business-friendly infrastructure' front and center. He emphasized that it reflects a “strong belief” in “strict fiscal discipline and low taxes, a predictable form of governance, and the firm conviction that government should be a steadfast partner in growth for the private sector,” adding, “The moment you choose Tennessee, you will experience not just a business environment, but a state government committed to your company’s absolute success.”

He went on to say, “At this time, when Paramount is preparing for a new leap forward, we want to present Tennessee as the most attractive alternative,” and added, “We want to share a vision that Tennessee can play a pivotal role in the future Paramount and its capable members will build.”

This is seen as Tennessee’s aggressive and strategic move to remove Paramount Studios—one of the world’s major film production and distribution companies—from Hollywood and transplant it as a new entertainment hub in the South.

Paramount, for its part, acknowledged receiving the letter but avoided giving an immediate answer. Still, an influential aide to CEO Ellison said they are keeping 'all possibilities' open regarding the potential move, leaving room that a California exit may not end as a mere sideshow.

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Tennessee is no unfamiliar territory for CEO Ellison. He has been living in Tennessee for more than 10 years—from 2014 to 2025—forming deep ties with the local community, it is said.

Moreover, CEO Ellison’s father, 'Larry Ellison', the Oracle chairman, is also pushing a mega-project to build a large Oracle campus in Nashville, while Oracle CEO Clay McGuyer—Meaker? remains based in Tennessee as well. On top of that, even 'Warner Bros. Discovery' (hereafter, Warner Bros.)—which Paramount is considering acquiring—has a history of operating a large office complex in Knox ville, Tennessee, up to 2023, suggesting that Tennessee is quickly emerging as a new gathering place for major media and IT players.

Of course, Paramount’s current headquarters is firmly based in Los Angeles (LA) Hollywood in California—the sacred ground of the global film industry.

But California’s hostile stance has emerged as a variable. The state government has continued to block Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery’s merger and acquisition, and most recently escalated pressure to a peak level by teaming up with 11 states, including New York, to file a lawsuit on 'allegations of violating antitrust laws'.

The decisive issue is time. If the acquisition and merger process is delayed beyond Sept. 30 this year due to the lawsuit, Paramount will face a serious financial crisis in which it would have to pay Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders an astronomical 'delay compensation payment'. With California’s judicial risk tightening Paramount’s grip, attention across the global media industry is focused on how Tennessee’s bold love call could reshape the map of power in Hollywood.