Hollywood is seeing a wave of staff reductions from the corporate suites to the theme park turnstiles as entertainment giants including the Walt Disney Co. and Endeavor implement layoffs and furloughs in response to the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.
Just how bad is the carnage? In Los Angeles County alone, 14,000 entertainment-related workers saw their jobs evaporate in less than two months, according to a new report from tech news outlet dot.LA. Meanwhile, Tinseltown could see even more bloodshed in the second quarter, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Endeavor — the largest Hollywood talent agency, as well as a studio — recently said that it will lay off or furlough up to a third of its staff. Disney has furloughed more than 100,000 employees worldwide, mostly in the company’s parks division.
Hollywood has been hit on multiple fronts, including the closure of cinemas and the suspension of live sports, which is usually a cash cow for broadcasters. The L.A. office of Fox Sports Productions saw 3,595 people temporarily laid off at the end of April, according to dot.LA.
Obama once urged Black men to back Harris — then he, Democrats reversed race rhetoric legacy in 2025
House GOP civil war ignites over ‘ludicrous’ bill to defund NYC while Mamdani is mayor
WWII Vet Stuns UK TV Anchors by Telling Them the War Wasn’t Worth It – The Freedom He Fought for Is Gone
OutKick chief: Trump’s legacy has legs like Reagan’s
Feds Battening Down Hatches as J6 Pipe Bomb Revelation Nears – ‘Biggest Scandal of My Lifetime’ Says Glenn Beck Who Has Inside Track on Story
House Democrat sides with Trump officials on air traffic cuts amid shutdown chaos
The Des Moines School Board Illegal Immigrant Fiasco Exposes the Dangers of Improper Vetting
Trans Democrat, Ex-Lawmaker Pleads Guilty to Child Sex Exploitation With His Partner, a Day Care Worker
Trump admin reveals over 100 investigations into H-1B abuses as it pledges ‘every resource’ to protect US jobs
Left-wing New Hampshire professor smeared Charlie Kirk for ‘white supremacy’ after assassination
Welcome to the jungle: Nancy Pelosi retirement sets off race to fill Democratic titan’s shoes
GOP fixates on Zohran Mamdani as strategists warn Gavin Newsom is ‘the real threat’
Fox Nation Patriot Awards honors Melania Trump, Erika Kirk and more top headlines
Hegseth warns traffickers after deadly drug boat strike: ‘We will kill you’
Trump and Brazil’s leftist leader pledge to put in place closer economic ties
Some of the biggest job losses have come from the production sector, which consists of below-the-line crew members who typically toil year round on crowded movie and TV sets. Hollywood’s trade unions have seen their members idle without work as soundstages around the country remain empty.
Breitbart News reported last week that Hollywood studios are currently working on ways to make sets safe when production ultimately resumes. While no major studio has yet to announce a timetable, one source told Breitbart that U.S. production may resume in June at the earliest.
But L.A. County’s decision to prolong its stay-at-home order for an additional three months is only creating more uncertainty.
Tyler Perry recently announced that his Atlanta studio will resume limited production in July. Countries including New Zealand, Poland, the Czech Republic have also announced that shooting can resume.
The Hollywood Reporter noted that individual studios are remaining vague about potential future layoffs. But some executives have spoken about coronavirus-related cost savings.
Obama once urged Black men to back Harris — then he, Democrats reversed race rhetoric legacy in 2025
House GOP civil war ignites over ‘ludicrous’ bill to defund NYC while Mamdani is mayor
WWII Vet Stuns UK TV Anchors by Telling Them the War Wasn’t Worth It – The Freedom He Fought for Is Gone
OutKick chief: Trump’s legacy has legs like Reagan’s
Feds Battening Down Hatches as J6 Pipe Bomb Revelation Nears – ‘Biggest Scandal of My Lifetime’ Says Glenn Beck Who Has Inside Track on Story
House Democrat sides with Trump officials on air traffic cuts amid shutdown chaos
The Des Moines School Board Illegal Immigrant Fiasco Exposes the Dangers of Improper Vetting
Trans Democrat, Ex-Lawmaker Pleads Guilty to Child Sex Exploitation With His Partner, a Day Care Worker
Trump admin reveals over 100 investigations into H-1B abuses as it pledges ‘every resource’ to protect US jobs
Left-wing New Hampshire professor smeared Charlie Kirk for ‘white supremacy’ after assassination
Welcome to the jungle: Nancy Pelosi retirement sets off race to fill Democratic titan’s shoes
GOP fixates on Zohran Mamdani as strategists warn Gavin Newsom is ‘the real threat’
Fox Nation Patriot Awards honors Melania Trump, Erika Kirk and more top headlines
Hegseth warns traffickers after deadly drug boat strike: ‘We will kill you’
Trump and Brazil’s leftist leader pledge to put in place closer economic ties
ViacomCBS has indicated that it will take more cost-cutting steps in addition to the ones already realized from the re-merger of Viacom and CBS.
Chief financial officer Christina Spade said the company was “taking additional cost-cutting actions and implementing initiatives to reduce discretionary expenses” amid the pandemic. “We are learning from this crisis and finding ways that we can operate more efficiently,” she said during a recent earnings call.
Meanwhile, Disney has begun the gradual process of re-opening its theme parks and resorts. Disney Springs in Orlando is set to partially re-open on May 20, though the adjacent Walt Disney World remains closed. Shanghai Disney Resort recently opened again with visitors required to take special precautions, including social distancing and masks.
Story cited here.
