{"id":34136,"date":"2026-08-09T07:29:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T02:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=34136"},"modified":"2026-08-09T07:29:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T02:29:00","slug":"sheryl-lee-ralph-and-janelle-james-on-the-paramount-warner-merger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=34136","title":{"rendered":"Sheryl Lee Ralph and Janelle James on the Paramount-Warner Merger"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAs \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/abbott-elementary\/\" id=\"auto-tag_abbott-elementary\" data-tag=\"abbott-elementary\">Abbott Elementary<\/a>\u201d gears up for Season 6 production in just a few short weeks, stars <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/sheryl-lee-ralph\/\" id=\"auto-tag_sheryl-lee-ralph\" data-tag=\"sheryl-lee-ralph\">Sheryl Lee Ralph<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/janelle-james\/\" id=\"auto-tag_janelle-james\" data-tag=\"janelle-james\">Janelle James<\/a> and Luke Tennie are reflecting on turbulent changes in the industry \u2014 from the pending <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/paramount-warner-bros\/\" id=\"auto-tag_paramount-warner-bros\" data-tag=\"paramount-warner-bros\">Paramount-Warner Bros.<\/a> merger to production struggling in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cAny time there is a consolidation, something shrinks, and right now we\u2019re seeing such attrition when it comes to the entertainment industry,\u201d Ralph told <em>Variety <\/em>on Saturday afternoon at the AAFCA TV Honors held at City Club in Los Angeles. \u201cI don\u2019t want to see too much more shrinking. We\u2019ve lost too many people. We\u2019ve lost too many people outside of this state going to other places.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tJames, who plays Principal Ava on the award-winning comedy, said she doesn\u2019t pay much attention to the noise surrounding the Paramount merger.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cI really have no idea what it means. I know I still got a job. Hopefully, it results in people continuing to keep their jobs,\u201d James said. \u201cI take it as something I don\u2019t need to worry about.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe AAFCA TV Honors honored the likes of \u201cAbbott Elementary,\u201d \u201cParadise,\u201d \u201cSpider-Noir\u201d and \u201cLove Story,\u201d along with actors Tracy Morgan, Sterling K. Brown, Lamorne Morris and Erika Alexander, celebrating the best of Black talent and storytelling over the past year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAAFCA\u2019s strong industry ties were underscored by L.A. mayor Karen Bass\u2019 appearance ahead of the upcoming election. On stage, she commended the work that Black creatives are doing as writers, producers and actors amid struggling production rates.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re looking at how we reduced the costs on set by reducing the number of city staff,\u201d Bass said of her efforts to bring more production to L.A. \u201cSo what I would like to ask you all to do is to tell me, tell our office what more Los Angeles can do, specifically, so that we can continue to flourish.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tReflecting on how \u201cAbbott Elementary\u201d and other Warner Bros. shows provide consistent jobs for local crew, Ralph said: \u201cHollywood, California, is the birthplace of show business, and too many other cities, states around the country and world are claiming it as theirs. I want it to come back. I want it to stay right here. I want us to come back to the development of real stories, real series, and I would like box office to mean something again soon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cAbbott Elementary\u201d not only provides consistent work for its award-winning ensemble but also for the hundreds of young kids who work as extras every season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cI have said this to people in the past, but I know for a fact in 10 years, there are going to be kids that were extras or under five in the cast that I\u2019m going to see making films, making movies, creating their own series from YouTube to network to streaming,\u201d Ralph said. \u201cI\u2019m gonna see it because I\u2019m listening to them when they talk on set. There\u2019s some really smart kids on our show. And it\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAmid an uncertain future, Tennie \u2014 who also stars in \u201cShrinking\u201d and \u201cThe Pitt,\u201d which are all filmed on the <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2026\/tv\/awards\/how-luke-tennie-did-shrinking-the-pitt-abbott-elementary-1236779392\/\">Warner Bros. lot<\/a> \u2014 feels confident that artists will continue finding a way forward.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cThere was some sort of weird, strange death at every point in our evolution as TV and filmmakers,\u201d Tennie said, referencing the introduction of color and sound as past inflection points. \u201cPeople all had their different opinions on where this thing was going to go. And no matter what, whatever people wanted to see most got made. And I truly, in my heart of hearts, believe that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As \u201cAbbott Elementary\u201d gears up for Season 6 production in just a few short weeks, stars Sheryl Lee Ralph, Janelle James and Luke Tennie are reflecting on turbulent changes in the industry \u2014 from the pending Paramount-Warner Bros. merger to production struggling in Los Angeles. \u201cAny time there is a consolidation, something shrinks, and right&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2289639180.jpg?crop=0px%2C85px%2C5833px%2C3282px&resize=1000%2C563","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}