The Paramount–Skydance Merger, Through the Eyes of the Lowest Rung

A former page interviews others about Oracle VIP tours, layoff trauma and the pressure of an $8 billion deal while making $100 a day

BREAKING IN One alum of the Paramount page program describes it as “old Hollywood, like paying your dues. Like, ‘You know, everybody would kill for this job.’” (The Ankler illustration; Zhihao/Getty Images)

After a year and a half of will-they-won’t-they tension, Paramount Global’s $8 billion merger with Skydance was completed in early August 2025. All it took was three rounds of layoffs affecting more than 20 percent of the company, a possible quid-pro-quo firing of Stephen Colbert maybe to appease the Trump administration and secure FCC approval for the deal or not (depending on whom the public believes) and the end of Sumner Redstone’s Succession-inspiring family drama over ownership.

Now Paramount Skydance rises from the ashes, a new company that promises the best of the legacy studio’s 100+ years of history and CEO David Ellison’s well-funded, tech-forward vision (and a growth mindset, as the company is reportedly eyeing an acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery).

Since the deal closed Aug. 7, Paramount Skydance has been quick to announce what’s coming, including another massive round of layoffs affecting up to 3,000 expected by early November. But it’s building as well: The company secured first-look and exclusivity deals with the likes of Will Smith and James Mangold, stole the Duffer Brothers away from Netflix and is now in development on a Call of Duty film. Hollywood also has high hopes for Cindy Holland as the company’s new head of streaming after her impressive run at Netflix; she’s already hired several of her former colleagues.

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But if you want to know how any sausage is made, you ask the people grinding the meat. And in Hollywood that’s often the assistants, pages and coordinators who hustle to keep everyone from execs to busloads of tourists happy — while also striving to grow their own careers in a presently impossible marketplace.

I spoke to half a dozen Paramount pages and assistants (some of whom remain at the company) who worked at the studio during the long months while the merger was being contemplated, negotiated and completed. (I also once worked as a page at Paramount, in 2023, and left the role around the time of Ellison’s first offer to buy the company in early 2024.) The stories aren’t pretty — most aren’t particular to Paramount Skydance per se, but more so reflective of how the lowest-rung workers on any lot bear the brunt of layoffs, executive anxiety, fear, and uncertainty as the industry endeavors to survive another 100 years.

As Shari Redstone’s merger drama dragged on, it dragged the morale of workers down with it. Whether it was applying to be an assistant on the team of marketing and distribution chief Marc Weinstock, only to see him disappear post-merger, hearing about Bob Bakish’s pessimism about the deal (then seeing him exit right after) or taking Skydance and Oracle execs on lot tours (and learning what they were most interested in), the pages, assistants and coordinators have seen it all.

Now willing to talk, they wonder with both optimism and dread what kind of industry they have ahead of them: “When everybody feels like the boat is shrinking,” says one page, “you’re gonna try and push people off so you can get a seat.”

These are their stories and what they saw:

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