The Hollywood strikes may be over, but the industry that workers are coming back to is going through turmoil.
On top of the writers’ and actors’ walkouts that shut down almost all film and TV production for several months, the entertainment business is going through a retrenchment that started in 2022 when Netflix lost subscribers for the first time, causing Wall Street to sour on streaming. The box office hasn’t fully recovered from the pandemic, and advertisers are cutting back, leading companies from Disney to Netflix to make wide headcount cuts.
The motion picture and sound recording industries shed 44,000 jobs from May to October, when employment stood at 436,000 jobs, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“Netflix missed their numbers, and Wall Street woke up,” said Paul Hardart, director of NYU Stern’s entertainment, media and technology program. ‘The narrative fundamentally shifted. Now we’re going into this contraction.”
A wide range of companies and employees were impacted, from entertainment giants to independent production companies to Hollywood talent agencies.
There’s no guarantee that companies are done cutting. Growth prospects are uncertain, but companies are sure to please Wall Street when they slash expenses.
Consider: Disney’s share price got a bump after a November earnings call where CEO Bob Iger raised his target for cost cuts to $7.5 billion. Warner Bros. Discovery’s stock plunged 19% after it reported greater than expected losses and admitted it wasn’t sure when the advertising market would recover.
More consolidation among the legacy media companies and independent production companies is widely expected, which often entails job cuts.
Joanna Sucherman, who places high-level execs at the likes of Disney, NBC, and Fox through her company JLS Media, expects hiring to resume in 2024, but slowly. Entertainment companies will get back to staffing up, but the jobs will be in stronger growth areas like gaming, streaming, and advertising, more than in filmed entertainment programming. “The business is going to look different,” she said.
Here are the Hollywood companies, listed alphabetically, that have made layoffs since the summer.
Amazon: October
Prime Video
Amazon laid off under 1% of its global communications staff, which included roles in Amazon Studios, Prime Video, and Music, Deadline reported. The move followed a reduction of about 100 at Studios and Prime Video in April. Companywide, the tech giant has announced 27,000 in cuts in the past year.
Anonymous Content: October
Talent management and production company Anonymous Content laid off 8% of its staff, or around 13 people, in October, Variety reported. Areas impacted included representation, television, motion picture, literary, media rights, and branded entertainment. Anonymous is known for shows including HBO’s long-running “True Detective,” Rami Malek-starring “Mr. Robot,” and Emmy-winning comedy “Schitt’s Creek,” and such films as “The Revenant” and Oscar-winner “Spotlight.”
Earlier in the year, Anonymous CEO Dawn Olmstead and COO Heather McCauley exited the company.
CAA: August
CAA, arguably Hollywood’s starriest talent agency, laid off 60 staffers in August, Deadline first reported, with cuts coming from multiple departments and many junior agents impacted. Sources told Deadline that strategic decision-making about cuts began before the Hollywood strikes halted dealmaking as well as production; they came one year after CAA closed its acquisition of ICM Partners, a combination that eliminated about 100 jobs.
DreamWorks Animation: October
About 70 positions, representing 4% of staff, were cut at DreamWorks Animation in October. The move was part of a strategy shift away from producing all films fully in-house, Cartoon Brew reported. The iconic studio has “Trolls Band Together” opening in theaters November 17 and has family-oriented series “Curses!” streaming on Apple TV+.
Fifth Season: August
YANNIS DRAKOULIDIS/NETFLIX © 2021
The film and TV production company formerly known as Endeavor Content laid off 30 people, or about 12% of its workforce, across executive and administrative roles. The company cited the twin Hollywood strikes for the cuts. Fifth Season is known for films “In the Heights” and “Just Mercy” for Warner Bros., Oscar nominated “The Lost Daughter” for Netflix, and 14 Emmy-nominated “Severance” for Apple TV+.
NBCUniversal: November
NBCUniversal cut close to 50 staffers in November, Variety reported, with the majority of the layoffs hitting the company’s streamer, Peacock. A company insider told Variety the cuts were part of a strategic restructuring and that many of the roles would be filled. NBCU has seen pockets of layoffs over the past two years, cutting from its ad sales teams in January and previously eliminating roles at E! Entertainment and other divisions.
Netflix: November
The leading streamer hasn’t been immune to layoffs, most recently cutting a handful of drama and overall deals execs in November, Deadline reported, following a reduction in its animation department and restructure of its business division, leading to the departure of senior lawyers. The streamer cut around 450 people in 2022 after its subscription growth stumbled early that year.
Roku: November
Reuters
The streamer and device maker laid off more than 300 people, or about 10%, after reporting a net loss of $108 million in 2Q, TechCrunch reported. The cuts followed a staff reduction of 200 in March. The company, which is driven by advertising, also lost its ads chief Alison Levin to NBCUniversal in November.
Starz: November
The premium cable network and streamer laid off more than 10%, or about 67 people, and exited the UK and Australia as it prepares for its future as a standalone company, CNBC reported. Lionsgate acquired Starz for $4.4. Billion in 2016, but the company is planning to spin LIonsgate off as its own publicly traded entity this year.
UTA: October
Talent agency UTA saw a small round of layoffs in October, representing less than 1% of staff, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The cuts followed a similar headcount reduction in February at the company, which has been on a big run of acquisitions in recent years, scooping up talent and literary agencies Curtis Brown and Fletcher & Company, strategic advisory firm MediaLink, and executive search firm James & Co.
Warner Bros. Discovery: August
HBO
The entertainment giant laid off marketing pros at its Max streamer, the latest in a series of widespread headcount cuts that WBD has enacted to justify the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery. Reports put the latest reduction in the double digits.