Hollywood Week: Paramount Layoffs, Streaming Moves, Aubrey Plaza Talks Grief, Menendez Brothers

Details

Category: Entertainment News

Published on Saturday, 23 August 2025 11:14

Written by Janet Walker

Paramount, a Skydance Corporation, announced this week they will be slashing the payroll by up to 3000 workers over the next three months, with the bulk of the cuts arriving at the beginning of the holiday season.

Paramount Prepares for Major Layoffs

The new Paramount will continue to confront the same challenges as the old Paramount, and the same obstacles that every studio is confronting, and that is how to keep the living room experience, or streaming, from swallowing up the entire theatrical business, and how to transition its iconic brands into long-term revenue generating properties.

Hollywood Week: TIFF, Kennedy Center Honors, Priscilla Presley, Kelly Clarkson, Texas Band Together, WGA

For CEO David Ellison, the first move are the expected layoffs, which were announced this week, and are expected to take effect late November, 2025. This will cut the global workforce from 18,600 employees, to closer to 15,500, with a savings of $2 billion.

Divest, Shift, Sell, or Keep

The Paramount portfolio includes brands such as "SpongeBob SquarePants," "South Park," and "Yellowstone," to name a few. Also included in the portfolio are networks such as BET, MTV, Smithsonian, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon among others.

George Cheeks chairman of TV media at Paramount Skydance and former co-CEO of Paramount said, "We're all seeing the pay cable business shift over to streaming, so there will be a lot of conversations about what iconic franchises we want to continue, maybe shift to streaming, etc." Jeff Shell, Paramount Skydance's president, echoed Cheeks' sentiments but framed the cable channels not as "declining linear assets" but as "brands we have to redefine." This approach suggests a strategic pivot to reposition these networks for a streaming-dominated future, leveraging their established audiences and intellectual property to remain competitive. Shell's comments reflect an optimistic vision for revitalizing these assets rather than divesting them, according to Cordcuttersnews.com.

These comments also put to rest the much circulated rumor that BET would be sold off once the merger was completed. Ellison explained early that there were no plans to sell BET and from the comments made by both Cheeks and Shell, this asset will be repositioned for maximum leverage through the streaming dominated market.

The concept of tapping into specific demographics and markets to reposition streaming assets or building a lineup, essentially builds up the streaming platform, and if there is more content available, the greater the chance the audience will remain loyal.

As competition in the streaming market continues to dominate decision-making, packaging these brands under the Paramount plus streaming arm will boost viewership, competition, and revenue. Bringing these brands into this sphere will introduce viewers to many viewing opportunities as it continues to market the Taylor Sheridan franchises and other Paramount Originals series such as "MobLand," "Tulsa King," "The Lioness," and "The Agency."

Hollywood Week: The New Paramount, NFL/Disney Deal, Fran Drescher/SAG, Trump/LA Olympics, Kelley Mack

"Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere" To Open AFI Fest 2025 Presented By Canva

Aubrey Plaza Talks About Husband's Suicide

Actress Aubrey Plaza, who has been dealing with the death of her husband, Jeff Bana, from suicide in January, talked about her grief on a recent podcast of "Good Hang with Amy Poehler."

Plaza who brought her support animal to the podcast, and as she begins to talk about the death of her husband, can be seen actively petting the dog. She explains while she is active, and "in it" meaning she is dealing with life and doing things, the grief is still very present.

"Um, I'm feeling, I mean right in this very present moment, I feel happy to be with you, overall, I'm here, I'm functioning, I feel really grateful to be moving through the world. I'm okay. It's like a daily struggle, this is really a dumb analogy, but it was kind of a joke at a certain point, but now I mean it,"  

She also described the movie, "The Gorge," which has two mountain tops surrounded by a deep gorge, a V-shaped obstacle, and she explained, "I watched it, I was like, 'That what this feels like, what my grief is like — or what grief could be like.' At all times there's like a giant ocean of awfulness that's like right there, and I can see it. And sometimes, I just want to dive into it and be in it. And then sometimes, I just look at it. And then sometimes, I'm just trying to get away from it. But it's always there. It's just always there. And the monster people are trying to get me," reported The Hollywood Reporter.

The interview, which can be seen on YouTube, is casual, light hearted, banter with surface level depth, and information gathering through humor, which during the interview with Ms. Plaza, overshadowed the subject, as the topic, and Ms. Plaza's personal revelations dissolved into an empty meaningless exchange which may have been Ms. Poehler's way of handling the difficult topic, but it negated the moment, glossing over the depth of the honesty.

Rebecca Zlotowski's "A Private Life" To Open 29th Annual American French Film Festival

Menendez Brothers Denied Parole

Lyle Menendez, 57, and Erik Menendez, 54, who were convicted in the brutal 1989 shotgun slaying of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, have each been denied parole, in their first parole hearing since the reversal of their original sentence, in May, of Life without the possibility of parole.

In both hearings, the brothers were asked to speak candidly about the murders, and as it was the first parole hearing for each, they had no previous understanding of how the hearings would be conducted, what questions would be asked or if the parole board had already reached a decision prior to the hearings.

As it was the first parole hearing, both Erik and Lyle returned to the scene of the crime and were questioned on their actions. Especially of concern, by California Parole Board Commissioner Garland and Commissioner Barton, were the overkill of their parents as they were shot a total of 16 times, six shots for Jose, including a fatal execution style shot to the back of the head and their mother, Kitty was shot ten times.

SFiFF To Honor Iconic Actor Edward James Olmos With The Lifetime Achievement Award

"As for Lyle Menendez, Garland said shooting Kitty Menendez one final time was extremely "callous." She also highlighted his actions in covering up the crime, such as lying to the police and trying to avoid prosecution," the APnews.com reported.

The salacious details of the crime, which has intrigued the true crime community for decades, have been polished for the parole board hearings. While the brothers have maintained years of abuse drove them to commit the crimes, the post crime spending spree elevated the suspicion that the original story told by the brothers that Jose was murdered due to his Mafia connection was a lie. The bombshell truth that the brothers planned the crime, implemented it and profited from it, believing they were entitled to exact justice for years of abuse ultimately led to a guilty verdict.

The California parole board also brought up the minor infractions each of the brothers have incurred during their three decades of incarceration. Which for the amount of time they have been behind bars, was relatively light, but still as the parole board concluded, each of the brothers still operate with an "ends justify the means" mentality and "the rules don't apply to them."

While friends and family members are continuing to petition for the brother's release and have been supportive of them, the harsh reality is that they are giving them false hope, believing in the expectation of parole will cause them to act out when denied. The Menendez brothers will never be paroled, and if by chance the board grants them parole, it will be overturned by the governor.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She has also published "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," and "Days, Times, Seasons, and Events: A Collection of Poetry & Prose," which can be purchased here. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a member of the International Federation of Journalists.