’tis the season of earnings calls, full-year results, analyst circle jerks, and big, fat bonuses. So of course we are going to join in. Our earnings are nothing, our full-year results are limited to repetitive strain injury, there has been zero interest from analysts, and as a bonus…. well, it is Friday! Still, it could be worse, we could be a Hollywood studio right now! Like Paramount.
CEO Bob Bakish and CFO Naveen Chopra were on the company’s earnings call earlier this week and showed that Hollywood might finally be catching up with Outposters and our thinking on costs. They are too high! What? You don’t say.
They said that reducing spending has become a top priority at the studio. Or, to put it in corporate-speak as per Bakish, they are:
“…focused on producing content more efficiently and magnifying the impact of our slate”.
Paramount will tackle costs in film, TV, and streaming as three separate entities. Starting with film, the aim is to reduce the average cost per title by:
“…balancing high-budget tentpoles, with more modest-cost titles like Mean Girls and Bob Marley: One Love”.
On the TV side, they will look at overseas production cut costs, and look at lower-cost formats – I think that means more reality shows to you and me.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the company will reportedly take a writedown of $1 billion on restructuring and content impairment costs in the first quarter of this year with $800 million of that related to content.
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