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Paramount Studios struggling

Botany Bay

Botany Bay

Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Missed this one :
http://www.wsj.com/articles/viacom-seeks-minority-investor-for-paramount-film-studio-1456250123

Looks like Paramount Pictures is in quite a bit of trouble unfortunately. A string of movie flops and a failed cost cutting program have left them scrambling for cash. Parent company Viacom wants to sell part of it.

Would be ironic if Desilu studios got carved back out again.

Would be sad if major changes occur. I love walking through Paramount...its like something from the 1920s frozen in time. All those TOS filming locations...the original series writers' offices...it's barely changed since TOS was filmed there.

I guess this means more pressure for Star Trek 3 to sell some serious popcorn.
 
Try this link, since that one wants me to subscribe before I can read the article: http://www.wsj.com/articles/viacom-...stake-in-paramount-pictures-studio-1458253912

If this really does become an issue, Star Trek 3 may actually be pivotal in Paramount's future, especially in light of this story: http://variety.com/2016/film/news/paramount-draws-interest-from-skydance-fox-1201742127/

Variety said:
Skydance Media and 21st Century Fox are interested in Paramount Pictures, but aren’t willing to be passive investors.

That could be a major obstacle to Paramount parent Viacom Inc., which is not looking for a synergistic partner but rather investors to provide an infusion of cash. Both Skydance and Fox would be looking to have a controlling voice in Paramount’s operations, and would each prefer to acquire the Hollywood studio outright, according to individuals brief on the situation.

Although Fox has signaled its interest, first reported by the New York Post, Viacom has not entered into any discussions with the company.

Viacom’s interest in attracting a passive investor to buy a minority stake of 20%-40%, is supposedly drawing interest from more than three dozen parties, including DMG Entertainment.

Skydance, backed by producer David Ellison, has had a long-term pact with Paramount, having backed many of the studio’s films including “True Grit,” last summer’s “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” and the upcoming “Star Trek Beyond.” Earlier this week, the company announced it had raised $700 million in new financing.
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Since this is not specific to TOS, I'm moving it to TV & Media. Hold on.
 
Jedi_Master said:
I wonder how much value the portfolio of Star Trek material adds to Paramount's value?
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Star Trek is definitely one of their cash cows, along with other "franchises" like Transformers, Terminator & Mission Impossible. Franchises are the "safe money" for these guys.
 
Yep it's a "banker". One that's been grossly underexploited for too long. Let's hope, now that Abrams has moved on from his vision of multiple series' spawning from his 2009 film, we can start seeing a lot more Trek coming out of Paramount. For a cash strapped studio it's a no brainer with such a solid in built fanbase.
 
Hmmm...seems like, in light of this news, it would be an idea for the PTB to consider the above-mentioned "Cash-Cow Franchises" as ripe for "expanding", as Marvel has done with the the various characters in "The Avengers". Perhaps MI could focus on other teams with other missions, Star Trek with other crews and ships, even Transformers could explore lighter, more domestic fare, with toasters and refrigerators transforming and creating highjinks and shenanigans; "Home Alone" meets "Short Circuit"?

These ideas, I believe, have been mentioned before, maybe The Mount should take them to the next level...
 
Botany Bay said:
Yep it's a "banker". One that's been grossly underexploited for too long. Let's hope, now that Abrams has moved on from his vision of multiple series' spawning from his 2009 film, we can start seeing a lot more Trek coming out of Paramount. For a cash strapped studio it's a no brainer with such a solid in built fanbase.
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The problem with that notion is Trek remains a divided property. Ever since Viacom's split into seperate CBS and Viacom companies, the Trek TV shows went to CBS, while the movies became part of the new Viacom. So even if there were to be a dozen new series spun off from the current films, the way I understand it is these would only financially benefit CBS, not Paramount/Viacom.
 
cardinal biggles said:
The problem with that notion is Trek remains a divided property. Ever since Viacom's split into seperate CBS and Viacom companies, the Trek TV shows went to CBS, while the movies became part of the new Viacom. So even if there were to be a dozen new series spun off from the current films, the way I understand it is these would only financially benefit CBS, not Paramount/Viacom.
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The devil is in the detail, could Paramount do a series of direct to DVD movies which form a series.
 
Botany Bay said:
Would be ironic if Desilu studios got carved back out again.
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That already happened a decade ago, essentially. Desilu was a TV production company that got merged in 1967 with the movie studio Paramount Pictures, essentially becoming its TV arm, Paramount Television. They eventually ended up being acquired by Viacom, and in 2005, Viacom split into two companies, CBS (for TV properties) and Paramount (for movie properties), and Paramount Television was renamed CBS Studios. So in a real sense, CBS Studios is Desilu, or its inheritor. This article is about Paramount Pictures, the movie studio that's been separate from CBS since 2005.

MacLeod said:
The devil is in the detail, could Paramount do a series of direct to DVD movies which form a series.
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No, because CBS owns Star Trek. Paramount licenses the movie rights for Star Trek from CBS. So it couldn't do a Trek series without CBS's involvement.
 
cardinal biggles said:
The problem with that notion is Trek remains a divided property. Ever since Viacom's split into seperate CBS and Viacom companies, the Trek TV shows went to CBS, while the movies became part of the new Viacom. So even if there were to be a dozen new series spun off from the current films, the way I understand it is these would only financially benefit CBS, not Paramount/Viacom.
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Excellent point. But I assume Paramount/Viacom would get at least a rental fee from CBS for making potential new series/films at Paramount.
 
As Christopher pointed out in the post above yours, it would be exactly the opposite. For Paramount to do a new series, even a series of direct-to-video movies, they would owe a license fee back to CBS.

Paramount really got the shit end of that deal. I wonder if there's a similar arrangement with CBS for Mission: Impossible?
 
I was thinking that Paramount could rent out their movie soundstages for a fee to CBS just to keep the facilities running. Better than the continual layoffs that have been happening this year. Whatever the case, it's a messy situation to have something like Trek with multi-format potential to be fragmented like this, and here's hoping it can be entirely placed into one of the companies. It needs an overall guiding hand.

If I were a Viacom shareholder I'd be pretty annoyed with how under-utilised the Trek brand has been for years now.

My mail, for what it's worth, is that some kind of agreement with Abrams was the impediment to more content, but apparently he's no longer interested in being the guiding force for Trek, and things can finally get moving again.
 
Interesting solution, Botany, and also the notion of an Agreement with Mr. Abrams. I hope you are correct on both counts!

I know another Entity The Mount could rent their movie sound stages to...???
 
Botany Bay said:
I was thinking that Paramount could rent out their movie soundstages for a fee to CBS just to keep the facilities running. Better than the continual layoffs that have been happening this year.
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Interesting suggestion, since that's pretty much how Desilu stayed in business in its dry years pre-1966 -- by renting out its facilities to other production companies.

Still, I get the impression that's largely what Paramount already does. I read an article -- although it was a few years old -- saying that Paramount didn't really have much in the way of in-house producers anymore, that it had become more of a financer/distributor for other production companies.

Whatever the case, it's a messy situation to have something like Trek with multi-format potential to be fragmented like this, and here's hoping it can be entirely placed into one of the companies. It needs an overall guiding hand.
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CBS owns Star Trek. Period. Every bit of it belongs to them. Paramount just has a license from CBS to make ST movies, in much the same way that Pocket Books has a license to do ST novels. CBS Consumer Products has approval over all licensed ST output. Even Paramount, Bad Robot, or whoever can't do anything with the franchise that CBS doesn't sign off on.


If I were a Viacom shareholder I'd be pretty annoyed with how under-utilised the Trek brand has been for years now.
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Viacom is currently the name of the company that owns Paramount; the old Viacom is now called CBS Corporation. So only the Trek movies would matter to a Viacom shareholder, and we'll have gotten three movies in seven years, which isn't a bad output rate for a film series. It's faster than the output for the Mission: Impossible franchise, whose movies have tended to come out from 4 to 6 years apart.
 
Thanks. Well explained. And you're right, "CBS Corporation" shareholders have been the losers, but I'm sure there would be plenty of people holding both companies from holding Viacom stock before the split.

I bet its a split they wish they'd never made. Content is king now, not the distribution platform.

Fair point about Trek's movie output. But the lack of an integrated whole is what's hurting Trek. Think movies as a core with limited 10 episode Netflix style series to expand upon it, with novels to expand upon that. A TV show on traditional cable channels...action figures and cosplay...the revenue opportunities are endless, and you can't help but feel enough hasn't been done. We need a "Mr Star Trek" at the centre of it all, mapping it out.

Hopefully the 2017 series is a smash hit and things really crank up from here.
 
Their (correct) strategy is all about content first...and you can bet they ran the numbers on Trek at some point! But SW such a better fit for their theme parks.
 
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