text: The mogul reveals plans for international speaking engagements, more scripted shows and why she's passing on Broadway production ' 'night, Mother.' 
   
   Oprah Winfrey and her collection of shows are settling in Hollywood. 
   
   By year’s end, Winfrey’s Chicago-based Harpo Studios will close its doors, with the 26-year-old company's productions transitioning to OWN headquarters in Los Angeles. The news, which Winfrey delivered in person to her Harpo staff on Tuesday morning, comes two months after her burgeoning cable network moved into a new space in West Hollywood. Though the Chicago lease continues through April 2016, Winfrey and her key executives intend to stop the back-and-forth routine they've been balancing for nearly half a decade sooner than that. 
   
   In a phone interview from the Harpo offices in Chicago, Winfrey acknowledges a mix of excitement and nostalgia. "[Chicago has] been everything for me. I've spent more hours in this building than I have any other building on Earth. ... We were here when there was nothing but hoes and rats on the street, and now it's one of the hottest neighborhoods [in Chicago]," she says, noting that OWN will stop shooting shows there as of Tuesday. "The time had come to downsize this part of the business and to move forward. It will be sad to say goodbye, but I look ahead with such a knowing that what the future holds is even more than I can see." 
   
   Winfrey, 61, along with OWN and Harpo presidents Sheri Salata and Erik Logan, emphasize the significance of having their team all under one roof, particularly when the 4-year-old network is still in an early growth stage, expanding both its offerings and its reach. Though it's narrower than many top cable offerings, OWN, co-owned by Winfrey and Discovery Communications, has posted three consecutive years of growth and, in February, ranked as the No. 20 ad-supported cable network among women. It fares even better among its African-American core audience, with ratings up 12 percent year-over-year in that demo. The closure of Harpo, which had produced more than 800 hours of original programming exclusively for OWN, will impact roughly 200 employees, who will remain employed through December. 
   
   While running OWN will remain a primary focus for Winfrey going forward, she has and will continue to pursue interests outside of the executive suite, too, including a cadre of film projects (she acted in Lee Daniels’ The Butler and Selma, which she also produced) and this past fall’s eight-city "Oprah's The Life You Want" arena tour. More recently, Winfrey announced that she'd be moving in front of the camera at her eponymous network, with a recurring role in Queen Sugar, from Selma’s Ava DuVernay. “That’s been my goal,” she says of making her OWN acting debut, calling the drama opportunity a “seminal moment.” 
   
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   In fact, the high-end DuVernay drama, inspired by Natalie Baszile's acclaimed novel of the same name, is key to Winfrey's ongoing scripted push at OWN. DuVernay is set to deliver a pilot draft script to Winfrey in the coming days, having spent her post-Oscar week at Winfrey’s Maui writers’ cottage pulling it together. The drama will chronicle a spirited woman who leaves her upscale Los Angeles lifestyle behind to claim an inheritance from her recently departed father — an 800-acre sugarcane farm in the heart of Louisiana. 
   
   Once a shooting schedule for Queen is set, Winfrey will be able to figure out what more she can — and cannot — do as an actor. Despite recent reports of her circling the upcoming Broadway revival of 'night, Mother, in which she would have played a mother struggling to prevent her daughter from killing herself, she says she has opted against it. “I just didn’t want to be in the space of suicide every night for six months,” she explains, adding: “I’d like something with a happier ending.” 
   
   Without rattling off titles, Winfrey reveals that she will be heading to New York in the next couple of weeks to take a closer look at two other potential plays. Additionally, she’s set to reunite with Daniels for his upcoming biopic, Pryor, in which she’ll portray Richard Pryor’s grandmother Marie Carter. (Her own Los Angeles-based Harpo Films will remain active, too, with a development slate that includes Henrietta Lacks at HBO and Oprah's Book Club 2.0 picks Ruby and The Invention of Wings.) And though she says she has "no plans" to embark on another weekend fan experience tour — an experience she calls "spectacularly rewarding" — she does intend to do international speaking engagements. 
   
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   Among the other things still on her to-do list: more scripted programming at the network. “For all of those years on the Oprah Show, we were able to encapsulate the stories that connected to our audience in a way that nobody else could,” says Winfrey. “I love telling the real stories of peoples’ lives, and now we get to create them, make them up, and I get to be part of them as an actor and producer.” 
   
   At OWN, Queen Sugar will join a quartet of Tyler Perry-scripted series — all of which recently secured additional episode orders — as well as the upcoming two-night Octavia Spencer-led miniseries, Tulsa, already in development. The latter, the network's first in the genre, centers on the story of the largest race riot in U.S. history, in which more than 300 people are believed to have been murdered. OWN will continue to develop projects in other areas, too, including a seven-part event series, Belief, which will explore humankind’s ongoing search to connect with something greater than ourselves when it bows this fall. The remainder of Winfrey's lineup, including Master Class and Iyanla Fix My Life, will now be produced within Los Angeles-based OWN. 
   
   The Harpo move comes nearly a year after real estate developer Sterling Bay Cos. closed a deal for the production company's four building facility, reportedly paying a combined $30.5 million. At that time, Sterling agreed to lease the space back to Harpo for two years. "We have been fortunate to have this spectacular city of Chicago as our home for over 25 years," said Logan and Salata in a joint statement, "and are thankful to everybody who has been a part of this great company.” 
   
   A small group of the Chicago-based Harpo staffers will join the approximately 140 OWN employees who have moved into the network's newly constructed three-floor space at West Hollywood's The Lot. The latter not only offers sound-stages and post-production studios, which OWN's previous Miracle Mile location did not, but also a rich Hollywood history: “The idea of being on the lot where Natalie Wood filmed West Side Story or Marilyn Monroe did Some Like it Hot,” says Winfrey, “you automatically feel like you’re part of a community that’s larger than you.” ||||| It's a wrap for Harpo Studios in Chicago. 
   
   The facility, which Oprah Winfrey opened in 1990 to house her talk show empire, helped turn Chicago into a bustling television center and the West Loop into a resurgent urban neighborhood. But on Tuesday, she came to Chicago to tell employees that Harpo was closing for good. 
   
   Production is migrating to the West Coast, four years behind Winfrey, who left town to start her own cable network, OWN, in 2011. The work, which had dwindled to mostly postproduction editing on a handful of shows, is expected to wind down in phases, leaving about 200 staffers out of a job and Chicago's place in the television industry diminished. 
   
   The lease on the space, where Winfrey's eponymous show was recorded for decades, runs until April 2016. The last day of production will be Dec. 11, sources said. 
   
   Oprah Winfrey is leaving Chicago...and 200 employees behind Oprah Winfrey is bidding her longtime home, Chicago, adieu, now that her Windy City-based Harpo studios are transitioning full-time to their new location in West Hollywood. (Inform) Oprah Winfrey is bidding her longtime home, Chicago, adieu, now that her Windy City-based Harpo studios are transitioning full-time to their new location in West Hollywood. (Inform) See more videos 
   
   Harpo Studios had been at the center of Winfrey's broadcast universe since it opened, hosting her syndicated daily talk show through its finale in 2011. Chicago-based real estate developer Sterling Bay Cos. bought the four-building Near West Side facility in 2014, paying a combined $30.5 million for about 170,000 square feet of space. 
   
   Executives with the Oprah Winfrey Network and Harpo Studios said the Chicago studios will be moved to network facilities in West Hollywood, Calif., by December. 
   
   About 200 people are employed by Harpo Studios in Chicago, doing production work for OWN cable shows such as "Super Soul Sunday," "Oprah's Master Class," "Oprah: Where Are They Now," "Oprah Prime" and "Iyanla: Fix My Life." That work will continue in Chicago for now, but most of those jobs will be phased out as production on the shows transitions to OWN, a Harpo spokeswoman said Tuesday. 
   
   Active filming on the Chicago studio lot, minimal in recent years, ended as of Tuesday, a Harpo spokeswoman said. 
   
   A small group of Harpo employees from Chicago have been offered jobs with OWN in Los Angeles, according to sources. Others may have the opportunity to continue working on the shows on a freelance basis. But by December, only a skeleton crew will remain in Chicago, charged with shutting down Harpo Studios. 
   
   Harpo had about 580 employees and full-time contractors when Winfrey wrapped up her daily talk show, according to studio executives. 
   
   "We have been fortunate to have this spectacular city of Chicago as our home for over 25 years and are thankful to everybody who has been a part of this great company," Erik Logan and Sheri Salata, presidents of OWN and Harpo Studios, said in a statement. 
   
   Winfrey held an emotional meeting at Harpo Studios at 9 a.m. Tuesday, sources said. The agenda was not announced, but it was expected by some employees, especially those who had seen production wane from the studio's heyday, when "The Oprah Winfrey Show" was the hottest ticket in town and the envy of both coasts. 
   
   Returning to announce the closing of the home that launched her television empire, Winfrey addressed the remaining staffers, thanking them and telling them the decision did not come lightly. She reminisced about 25 years in the building but said that from a business standpoint, it made more sense to consolidate everything under one roof in Los Angeles. 
   
   "It was kind of surreal for a lot of people," said a 10-year production veteran, who asked that his name not be used. "We all knew it was coming, but we were holding out hope that there would be a smaller crew remaining here, but that's not going to be the case moving forward." 
   
   The exodus of Harpo Studios may be a tipping point for TV production in Chicago, which has seen both wins and losses in recent years. "The Jerry Springer Show" moved from Chicago to Connecticut in 2009, but comedian Steve Harvey began recording his syndicated daytime talk show in Chicago in 2012. Prime time shows like NBC's "Chicago Fire" and "Chicago P.D." also will help keep the city on the TV production map. But staffers are doubtful that there will be enough jobs in Chicago to handle the influx of Harpo veterans. 
   
   "There's going to be a lot of talent on the streets in Chicago. I'm not sure there's enough open positions to absorb everybody here," the staffer said. "I think there's going to have to be a lot of people that are going to have to look to moving out to the coasts, New York or LA, where most of the production is still being done." 
   
   In a statement, Winfrey said: "Harpo Studios in Chicago was not just my home but also my life for nearly 30 years. I've spent more time there than anywhere else. I am so proud of what we created. It has been a blessing in my life and I thank everyone who has been a part of this great run. I am now looking ahead to inhabiting the new space on The Lot in California and carrying on the legacy of Harpo Studios with OWN programming." 
   
   OWN, a venture between Winfrey and Discovery Communications, struggled initially after its launch in January 2011. It has since gained traction, posting double-digit ratings increases for three consecutive years, executives said. OWN is available in 85 million homes. 
   
   Although Winfrey moved West with OWN, Harpo Studios was integral to the cable network's launch. It also was home to OWN's most prominent year-one flameout, "The Rosie Show," a talk show hosted by O'Donnell and filmed in Chicago. Winfrey pulled the plug on "Rosie" in March 2012 after five months of tweaking and downsizing failed to boost anemic ratings. That led to staffing reductions and a lesser role for Harpo Studios, culminating in Tuesday's announced closing. 
   
   Harpo is leasing two of the four buildings on the campus. Sterling Bay remains in discussions with potential tenants and redevelopment partners. A decision about the future of the property has not been made, the West Loop-based real estate developer said. 
   
   Beyond her television legacy, Winfrey leaves behind a monument to the "Oprah Effect" in the form of the massive facility she built, and the West Loop neighborhood she helped revive. 
   
   A large part of her former complex is occupied by 120 Sports, an over-the-top streaming national sports network that employs 150 people and has major backers, including Time Inc., and Bulls and White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf. It is leasing a sprawling 17,000-square-foot space once occupied by O'Donnell's short-lived talk show. 
   
   While the neighborhood surrounding the studio may feel an economic pinch from the loss of Harpo jobs, boosters are hopeful it will continue to thrive. 
   
   Roger Romanelli, executive director of the Randolph/Fulton Market Association, a community organization, said Harpo had "brought so much bounty" to the West Loop. It drew tourists, made people feel safer walking around day and night, and its employees shopped at local businesses.
target: – Chicago is losing a big piece of its broadcasting history—and around 200 jobs—with the closure of Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Studios. Winfrey came to Chicago yesterday to tell staff in person that production work for Oprah Winfrey Network shows like Super Soul Sunday and Oprah's Master Class is being shifted to OWN headquarters in West Hollywood and that the Chicago facility will be completely shut down by December, reports the Chicago Tribune. The West Loop facility hosted Winfrey's talk show from 1990 until it finished in 2011. Chicago has "been everything for me," Winfrey tells the Hollywood Reporter. "I've spent more hours in this building than I have any other building on Earth. We were here when there was nothing but hoes and rats on the street, and now it's one of the hottest neighborhoods" in the city she says, adding that it "will be sad to say goodbye, but I look ahead with such a knowing that what the future holds is even more than I can see." Staffers say there might not be enough TV jobs in Chicago for people affected by the closure and some people are going to have to seek work in New York or Los Angeles, the Tribune reports.