Metro Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell on Friday said his office has had no direct contact with Paramount Skydance Corporation, which is reportedly leaving California amid a breakdown in negotiations between Paramount and California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
TMZ reported Tuesday that Paramount officially told California officials it planned to leave, with earlier reporting that it would exit the state if a deal to complete its merger was not in place by October 1. The outlet later reported that negotiations between Paramount and Bonta had resumed.
Though Georgia and Texas are reportedly being considered by Paramount, German-owned Politico subsequently reported the company is looking for about 400,000 square feet in Nashville, while television personality and former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt has claimed that his contacts in the motion picture industry are already buying property in Tennessee and relocating their families to Leiper’s Fork and Franklin.
While reports suggest Nashville may soon be home to one of the world’s largest media companies, its mayor told reporters earlier this month that his office is not in communication with Paramount.
“We have not had direct contact with Paramount officials,” said O’Connell during an early September media roundtable, according to The Pamphleteer. “We have definitely, as we’ve just brought Sarah Childress in as Director of our Office of Entertainment, been sure that we are listening also to our own local entertainment industry on both the creative and business side.”
On Friday, about two weeks after O’Connell confirmed zero direct contact with Paramount, Fox 17 reported that O’Connell made similar comments to reporters during his weekly media availability.
“Our ECD office has talked directly to the state about that,” O’Connell told the press, according to the outlet. “I’d say we’re in a tracking state right now. We know obviously the state is very interested in that. We have not had direct contact with Paramount officials.”
If Paramount moves to the Nashville area without contacting the O’Connell administration, it would appear to be following the footsteps of Elon Musk’s Boring Company, which worked with Governor Bill Lee to plan the Music City Loop without involvement from the mayor’s office.
Emails later showed that O’Connell supported the idea during early discussions but requested “distance” after Musk endorsed President Donald Trump in 2024.
In remarks reported by WVLT 8 on Thursday, Lee seemed to suggest Paramount would decide by January.
“I don’t know what Paramount’s decision will be, but what’s most encouraging to me about that is major global companies, when they make a decision to leave, they look at Tennessee,” the governor reportedly told the outlet.
“We’ll continue to work right up until the middle of January,” said Lee. “There’s a lot of work yet to be done.”
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
