Paramount CEO Bob Bakish and CFO Naveen Chopra, speaking on the company’s earnings call Wednesday, have revealed that reducing spending has become a top corporate priority at the studio.
Bakish tells analysts that this year they are “focused on producing content more efficiently and magnifying the impact of our slate”.
Paramount intends to pursue cost savings across film, TV and streaming, with different strategies for each category.
In the film arena, Bakish says the plan is to lower the average cost per title, something that will be achieved by “balancing high-budget tentpoles, with more modest-cost titles like Mean Girls and Bob Marley: One Love”.
The aim is to improve the financial return of the overall slate and sounds like a return to plenty of low-mid budget films at Paramount, something the studio was quite successful with in the 1990s with thrillers and comedies in particular.
On the TV side, the aim will be to “prioritize lower cost formats” including productions that are “unscripted and those shot abroad”.
You can partly blame “NCIS: Sydney” for this – the Australia-set spinoff was produced for a “much more efficient price point”. In addition, the important overseas market for Paramount+ is big on Hollywood hits – especially those that travel.
So the company will lean heavily into offshore production for its global franchises, whilst pulling back on locally-produced programming.
That’s why we’re getting UK spin-offs of “Billions” and “Ray Donovan,” and the French-set “NCIS” spin-off and Clooney-directed “The Department” series.
Even with the cost savings, 2024 will see higher content spend than 2023 because reduced productions during the strikes sank the 2023 total.
The company will reportedly take a writedown of $1 billion on restructuring and content impairment costs in the first quarter of this year. Around $800 million of that is thought to be charges related to content.
Source: THR