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Topic: Warner Brothers Lays Off 800

Jim Cassedy
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1661
From: San Francisco, CA
Registered: Dec 2006

posted 01-20-2009 06:00 PM

Financial Times/WB Story

Warner Brothers Entertainment To Cut 800 Jobs
By Matthew Garrahan in Los Angeles

Published: January 20 2009 20:56
Warner Brothers Entertainment, the Hollywood studio behind The Dark Knight, the biggest grossing movie of 2008, is to shed 10 per cent of all employees as the recession starts to bite in Hollywood.

The entertainment industry has traditionally been relatively immune to recessionary pressures. But with the slump in consumer spending hitting DVD sales – the industry’s most important revenue stream – and Blu-ray, the next generation home entertainment format, still yet to take off, studios are looking to tighten their belts.

In a letter to Warner Bros staff, Barry Meyer, the studio’s chairman, said the cuts reflected “changes necessary for stability and growth going forward”.

“The changing entertainment business landscape, shifting consumer demand and the overall state of the economy have affected companies around the world, and Warner Bros is not immune to these factors,” he added.

The studio also plans to move an unspecified number of jobs to India and Poland.

The cuts come after a year of cost-reduction moves at Warner. New Line Cinema, Warners’ sister company, was merged with the studio, while Warner Independent Pictures and Picturehouse, its two niche labels that specialised in edgier films, were closed.

The studio has also sharply cut the number of movies it releases, falling from a peak of more than 40 a year to about 25 in 2008.

Warners topped the box office charts with The Dark Knight, which has grossed close to $1bn around the world. But it had to share the film’s profits with Legendary Pictures, a production company that has a deal to co-finance 25 films with Warners.

With the Oscars only a month away, there have also been red faces at the studio over its involvement with Slumdog Millionaire.

Slumdog was due to be released by WIP but its future was thrown into doubt when Warners closed the niche label.

However, Fox Searchlight, a division of 20th Century Fox, was brought in as lead distributor, which insured the film received a theatrical release. The film, directed by Danny Boyle, has since become one of the favourites to win the best picture Oscar award.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

(Huh?: WB is outsourcing to India & Poland???? Did I read that right??? I was in an elevator that stalled for a few minutes the other day. When I pushed the 'emergency call' button to find out what was going on, I was actually connected to someone in INDIA!! Isn't technology wonderful? [Big Grin]

-JimC)

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Jonathan Althaus
Master Film Handler

Posts: 435
From: Bedford, TX
Registered: Dec 2008

posted 01-20-2009 06:06 PM

Between Batman and Harry Potter, I thought WB was raking in the dough. With Watchmen on the horizon, plus 3 more Potter films I assumed WB was one of, if not the top dog in the entertainment industry. And box office numbers haven't declined that much, or so we have been told, I thought 2008 was the best summer ever?

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Tony Bandiera Jr
Film God

Posts: 3067
From: Moreland Idaho
Registered: Apr 2004

posted 01-20-2009 06:09 PM

Great. WTF are they gonna outsource to India and Poland?!?

And doing this AFTER DK grossed in excess of $1bil is such typical shitty management actions. How come they didn't lay off some execs or cut the exec salaries before laying off 800 working joes?

With that kind of stupid decision making they deserve to go under.

The original Warner brothers Jack, etc. are spinning in their graves.

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 01-20-2009 06:15 PM

quote: Tony Bandiera Jr
The original Warner brothers Jack, etc. are spinning in their graves.

I don't think so... from what I hear Jack was a similar cuthroat type of guy. Harry Cohen woulda also done the same thing... I agree though, cut the execs saleries and keep the workforce [thumbsup]

.

Mark

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 01-20-2009 06:24 PM

quote: Jonathan Althaus
Between Batman and Harry Potter, I thought WB was raking in the dough. With Watchmen on the horizon, plus 3 more Potter films I assumed WB was one of, if not the top dog in the entertainment industry. And box office numbers haven't declined that much

Just because the movies have done well doesn't mean their expenses aren't high, just like any other company's expenses. They're just cutting corners like everyone else. If you read carefully, you'll see that the sales drop is in the home video market, not the theatrical market.

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Adam Martin
I'm not even gonna point out the irony.

Posts: 3686
From: Dallas, TX
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 01-20-2009 07:24 PM

quote: Financial Times
DVD sales – the industry’s most important revenue stream

And there you have it. In print. [fu]

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Joe Tommassello
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 547
From: Coatesville, PA, USA
Registered: Jan 2008

posted 01-22-2009 03:46 PM

Adam got it...they are going to press their DVDs in India and Poland!

And the Columbia chief was Harry Cohn, not Cohen.

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Bill Gabel
Film God

Posts: 3873
From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 01-26-2009 03:13 PM

quote: Jonathan Althaus
I thought WB was raking in the dough.

Yes, they did well with a few titles. But remember WB is only part of a much larger company Time Warner. So the parent company is cutting jobs in all their other holdings. Paramount (Viacom) and Columbia (Sony) and Universal all cut jobs for their parent companies.

These are from todays news:

Pfizer (8000 jobs)
Sprint Nextel (8000)
Home Depot (7000)
GM (2000)
United Airlines (1000) & (1500 from last year)
Caterpillar (5000 worldwide plus 4000 already let go)
Texas Instruments (1800 layoffs & 1600 through voluntary retirements & departures)

ADD Disney-ABC TV to the list with 400 jobs.
Kodak plans to cut another 3500-4500 jobs in 2009.
ADD another 2110 jobs to the Caterpillar total.

[ 01-30-2009, 10:52 AM: Message edited by: Bill Gabel ]

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Todd Shelskt
Film Handler

Posts: 26
From: Manchester, CT
Registered: Feb 2008

posted 01-26-2009 09:15 PM

Read a couple of good books about the inner workings of Hollywood and you'll see that the operative word is GREED. People keep taking and taking and taking -- until there's nothing left to take. The overall perks for actors, directors and producers could feed Calcutta for 40,000 years.

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Bill Gabel
Film God

Posts: 3873
From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 02-04-2009 03:35 PM

quote: Jonathan Althaus
I thought WB was raking in the dough.

quote: Tony Bandiera Jr
And doing this AFTER DK grossed in excess of $1bil is such typical shitty management actions.

Time Warner reports $16 billion loss for the 4th quarter. The massive hit was caused by a $24.2 billion writedown of cable & other assets. The film studios revenue dropped 11% to $3.1 billion.

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John Hawkinson
Film God

Posts: 2273
From: Cambridge, MA, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 02-05-2009 12:59 AM

However, on the whole, most studios made out pretty well. According to DHD, for instance, WB's movie earnings were up 7%, and industry-wide earnings were up 19%

--jhawk

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 02-05-2009 08:53 AM

I find it amazing that WB even has 800 people working there.

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