Speculation About Paramount+ Scripted Originals Team, CBS Studios & Paramount TV Studios Synergies Heat Up – The Dish

Three weeks after the exit of David Nevins left a hole in the oversight of Paramount+ scripted originals, the void is yet to be filled. However, chatter about a restructuring of the operations along the lines laid out in Deadline’s piece on the day of Nevins’ departure announcement has been gaining momentum.

Also growing is speculation how CBS Studios and Paramount TV Studios will align now that both are under the purview of George Cheeks, President & CEO, CBS and CCO, News & Sports, Paramount+. Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish stressed on the day of Nevins’ exit announcement that Paramount TV Studios “will continue to operate as a studio alongside CBS Studios,” but finding synergies is inevitable in cases like this one.

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We should expect a clearer picture on both Paramount+ and CBS Studios/Paramount TV Studios in next couple of weeks, and it will likely involve layoffs.

As we reported earlier this month, the three studios supplying Paramount+ with scripted series — CBS Studios, Paramount TV Studios and MTV Entertainment Studios, where Taylor Sheridan is based — are expected to each take charge of their development for the streamer and oversee their Paramount+ shows in collaboration with Tom Ryan, President and CEO of Paramount Streaming, and Tanya Giles, the company’s Chief Programming Officer of Streaming, who is shepherding the rollout of content.

There has been a lot of speculation about the fate of the Paramount+ development team led by Paramount TV Studios President Nicole Clemens in her role as President, Paramount+ Original Scripted Series. The consensus is that that team will be dissolved. The question is what happens to the executives, and the latest rumor is that they may be absorbed into the ranks of PTVS. That would make sense as top Paramount+ scripted executives, including Clemens and Head of Current Cheryl Bosnak have dual oversight of PTVS and Paramount+. While the Paramount+ group in question is relatively small, there could be some layoffs as it is disbanded, we hear.

As to how greenlight decisions on Paramount+ scripted series will be made, we hear there is a plan for a committee comprised by half a dozen or so senior executives across the studios and other Paramount Global TV divisions that would be in charge of that. We hear plans are still being finalized for the new structure, which resembles the studio-focused, decentralized model employed by Disney+.

As Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish said in his memo announcing Nevins’ exit, “this change has also given us the opportunity to more closely align our studios, networks and streaming operations as we execute on our vision and strategy for the future.”

The alignment of CBS Studios and Paramount TV Studios is probably inducing the most anxiety at the company these days, with longtime employees possibly getting flashbacks to the 2004 merger of CBS Productions and Paramount Network Television.

Cheeks and Clemens moved in quickly to assuage merger fears on the day Paramount TV Studios joined CBS Studios in Cheeks’ portfolio with a memo, assuring the PTVS team that “Paramount TV Studios and CBS Studios will both continue to have their own leaders and separate creative teams that will operate independently in the market.”

Still, media corporations always find redundancies, especially in backlot operations and services that can function across labels, so headcount trims at the studios are expected.

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