Layoffs Strike Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group
Layoffs are currently underway at the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group as the storied movie studio attempts to streamline its structure and save costs.
The layoffs will reduce the staff by about 10 percent. The operation, which does business around the globe, had a total head count of under 1,000 employees, according to insiders.
Motion Picture Group chairmen Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy announced the layoffs in an internal memo to staff on Wednesday morning. The duo had come under intense scrutiny earlier this year after a string of box office misses, only to be followed by a dazzling winning streak, led by A Minecraft Movie and Sinners.
The layoffs, which will impact production, marketing, distribution and live theater ventures, come amid larger changes at Warner Bros. Discovery.
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Read it in full below.
Team Motion Pictures –
Earlier this year, in collaboration with leaders across the film division, we undertook a thoughtful assessment of our current structure and began the work to transform our business as we transition from a US Home Office/International model toward a fully global structure.
The exploration led to important conversations and insights to better understand how we reach audiences, what fundamental shifts should be implemented as teams work together across the world to collectively engage today’s moviegoers, and what the division needs to be successful.
In partnership with our P&C colleagues, and with these new learnings, we spent a lot of time thinking about how we evolve our teams to ensure films made here at Warner Bros. continue to receive world class release campaigns, and we engross audiences with the kind of memorable in-theater experience only the big screen can offer.
Adapting how we work often calls for evolution, and the future of how we run this business has required us to make some very difficult decisions, including staffing adjustments that will impact members of the Motion Picture Group. This week, your department leadership will share what these strategic changes mean for you and your teams. In the coming weeks and months, we will work with leaders around the world to shape and implement this global operating model in a way that reflects local needs and realities.
