Warner Bros TV axes 125 positions, merges some animation and unscripted teams
Warner Bros Television Group (WBTVG) is cutting around 125 positions – 26% of the total – as part of ongoing corporate restructuring at parent company Warner Bros Discovery (WBD).
The division, led by chairman Channing Dungey, laid off 82 people on Tuesday and will not fill another 43 vacant positions, adding up to 125 jobs across scripted, unscripted and animation.
“As many of you have already learned, some of our treasured colleagues will be leaving the company because of restructuring and realignment within our group,” said Dungey in a memo to staff.
“This was strictly a business decision, made as thoughtfully and compassionately as possible by studio leadership. But understanding that doesn’t make this moment any easier.”
On the animation side, Sam Register will continue to lead as president of Warner Bros Animation, Cartoon Network Studios and Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe. Under a newly implemented structure, the development and production teams for Warner Bros Animation and Cartoon Network Studios will merge, while Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe will continue to operate with a separate team. The three animation entities already share teams for current programming, casting and business affairs.
Under the new animation structure, the development team for kids and family series will be led by Audrey Diehl, adult animation development will be led by Peter Girardi and animated longform series development by Sammy Perlmutter, with Bobbie Page heading main production. Ed Adams will continue as executive VP and general manager.
There is a strategic realignment underway at WBTVG’s unscripted group, which includes Warner Horizon Unscripted Television, Telepictures and Shed Media, and is overseen by Mike Darnell, president of Warner Bros Unscripted and Alternative Television.
Following the recent news that Warner Horizon head Brooke Karzen is leaving the company, Bridgette Theriault and Dan Sacks will now lead Warner Horizon. Some of the creative development and programming roles at Warner Horizon and Telepictures will be combined, according to Dungey’s memo. David McGuire will continue to lead Telepictures while Lisa Shannon and Dan Peirson will still run Shed Media.
The creative leadership at WBTVG’s scripted operation will be unchanged. It will continue to be led by Brett Paul, president of Warner Bros Television, with Clancy Collins White as head of development, Vicki Dummer head of current programming, Sue Palladino head of production, Mele Nagler head of casting and Adam Glick head of business affairs.
Elsewhere, WBD is set to close its shortform content studio Stage 13 and its TV workshops for writers and directors.
Stage 13, a studio and production company under WBTVG, has created content across scripted and unscripted with a focus on elevating underrepresented voices since 2017. It produced more than 200 episodes of television including Special (Netflix), It’s Bruno! (Netflix), March (The CW) and Family Style (HBO Max).
Projects that are currently being developed under Stage 13 will be absorbed into WBTV.
Warner Bros Writers’ Workshop, which has been in operation for more than four decades, will close after its 2022/23 edition. The programme includes separate workshops for writers and directors and was often used by emerging creative talent looking to climb the ladder in the industry.
“Both workshops have been instrumental in training the next generation of creative talent in the industry. While we will no longer have these formalised programmes in place, we remain committed to developing and mentoring emerging talent and preparing them for careers in television,” said Dungey.
The new round of job cuts comes less than two months after WBD axed around 70 positions at the HBO Max and HBO teams under Casey Bloys.
David Zaslav-led WBD has been looking to find around US$3bn in cost savings within a couple of years and lowering the head count has been a key part of that. More layoffs are likely, with the film group also expected to be affected before the end of the year.
“These are challenging times in the world at large and a tumultuous time in our industry,” said Dungey.
“For this kind of change to hit so close to home is incredibly difficult. But my hope is that these changes, made with an eye to a more focused business strategy, will strengthen and stabilise our company, maintain our great creative output and better position us for continued future success.”
