Warner Bros. TV to Eliminate 125 Jobs – 26% of the Division

Warner Bros. Television Group laid off 82 employees on Tuesday, eliminating about 19% of its current workforce in the process, TheWrap has confirmed.

The cuts were made across all departments within the scripted, unscripted, and animation groups, individuals with knowledge of the plans told TheWrap. In addition, 43 open positions will remain unfilled. In all, 125 positions, or about 26% of the division, will be eliminated.

“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,” Warner Bros. Television Group chief Channing Dungey wrote in a memo to staff Tuesday, which was obtained by TheWrap.

“These colleagues are more than just people with whom we’ve worked, they are part of our work family. We spend more time together than we do with most other people in our lives. Because of that, this loss is painful and difficult,” the memo continued. “For those impacted by the changes, I want you to know how grateful I am for your contributions – in some cases, spanning decades – and how deeply sorry I am.”

A spokesperson for WBTVG declined to comment. Read Dungey’s full memo below.

On the scripted side, a majority of the layoffs come from the shuttering of the company’s short-form division, Stage 13, and its Television Workshop for up-and-coming writers and directors. While neither program was founded with the initiative of specifically supporting talent from underrepresented backgrounds, both eventually became a pipeline through which rising and diverse talent could break into the industry.

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Following the exit of longtime producer Brooke Karzen, who was most recently the EVP and head of Warner Horizon Unscripted Television, the unscripted division plans to combine some creative development and programming roles across Warner Horizon and Telepictures.

As for television animation, there will continue to be three studios — Warner Bros. Animation, Cartoon Network Studios, and Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe — run by Sam Register. However, all three departments are expected to undergo structural changes as a result of the layoffs.

The development and main production teams for Animation and Cartoon Network Studios will now be shared across the three divisions, which means there may be layoffs in these departments to eliminate redundancies. Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe will continue to keep its development and production teams.

Back in September, it was revealed that Warner Bros. Discovery was to begin laying off hundreds of workers on the business side. Up to 30% of the combined sales teams of the merged company were expected to be cut. These, as well as additional firings, are the latest in Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s dual moves to reduce costs by up to $3 billion as well as to shift the strategy for the company’s streaming services, HBO Max and Discovery+.

Read Dungey’s memo to staff below:

Team,

Today I write to you with sad news and a heavy heart. 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. 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. These colleagues are more than just people with whom we’ve worked, they are part of our work family. We spend more time together than we do with most other people in our lives. Because of that, this loss is painful and difficult. For those impacted by the changes, I want you to know how grateful I am for your contributions – in some cases, spanning decades – and how deeply sorry I am.

There are a few changes happening within WBTVG that I would like to make specific note of here:

As part of the strategic realignment on the unscripted side, run by Mike Darnell, President, Warner Bros. Unscripted Television, we are making some changes aimed at finding synergies within the group, which includes Warner Horizon Unscripted Television, Telepictures, and Shed Media.

As you may have read yesterday, Brooke Karzen, head of Warner Horizon Unscripted Television, informed us in the last few weeks that she would like to try something new with her career after a highly successful 22-year run at the company. Brooke has been synonymous with The Bachelor brand for more than 20 years, overseeing the original show and developing The Bachelorette, Bachelor in Paradise, and many other extensions that have propelled The Bachelor into a global hit franchise. Her other successes include Emmy winner The Voice, Ellen’s Game of Games, and the Friends and Harry Potter reunion specials, to name just a few. Please join me in saluting Brooke for her tremendous accomplishments and wishing her the best in the future.

As a result of Brooke’s departure, Bridgette Theriault and Dan Sacks will now be leading Warner Horizon. We are combining some creative development and programming roles to work across both Warner Horizon and Telepictures, with David McGuire continuing to lead Telepictures. Lisa Shannon and Dan Peirson will continue to run Shed Media.

Working across all three unscripted divisions, Kevin Fortson continues to lead all aspects of physical production (including budgeting, scheduling, staffing, and more), and Matt Matzkin maintains oversight of all business affairs, legal, and finance for unscripted series.

In Animation, run by Sam Register, President, Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios, we are implementing a new streamlined structure in which the development and main production teams will now work across both Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios. The kids and family series development team will be led by Audrey Diehl, adult animation development will be led by Peter Girardi, and animated longform series development will be led by Sammy Perlmutter, with Bobbie Page leading main production. This is an extension of the cross-studio teams that have already been in place for current programming, casting, legal and business affairs, and artist relations. Ed Adams will continue as Executive Vice President and General Manager.

On the scripted side, run by Brett Paul, President, Warner Bros. Television, our senior creative leadership team remains in place. Clancy Collins White continues to head up development, with Vicki Dummer as head of current programming. Adam Glick continues to serve as head of business affairs, Sue Palladino as head of production, and Mele Nagler as head of casting.

We will be closing Stage 13, which was founded in 2017 under the former Warner Bros. Digital Networks division as a studio for original digital shortform programming and has produced past series such as Special and It’s Bruno! for Netflix, Two Sentence Horror Stories for The CW/Netflix, and more. WBTV has already been supervising Stage 13 development and programming since 2020. Any existing Stage 13 projects in development will be absorbed within WBTV, which continues to be committed to finding new voices and providing opportunities for its richly diverse creative collaborators to tell authentic stories. I want to thank Diana Mogollón for her passionate leadership of Stage 13 and for the groundbreaking series that she and her team produced.

Also, following the conclusion of the current 2022–23 edition of the Warner Bros. Writers’ Workshop in April, we will be closing the Warner Bros. Television Workshop program, which includes both the Writers’ Workshop and the Directors’ Workshop. Both workshops have been instrumental in training the next generation of creative talent in the industry. While we will no longer have these formalized programs in place, we remain committed to developing and mentoring emerging talent and preparing them for careers in television.

As of this writing, all the impact conversations for WBTVG are complete. Out of respect to our colleagues, we will not be distributing a list of those impacted. Your direct managers will provide you with information about roles changing within specific groups. Your P&C partner will be available as well to address any questions or concerns. During this period of transition, please support each other, and be gentle with one another.

These are challenging times in the world at large, and a tumultuous time in our industry. 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 stabilize our company, maintain our great creative output, and better position us for continued future success.

Yet today we are losing members of our work family that we love, whose hard work has helped make our success possible, and for that I am truly sorry. I want everyone who is leaving to know that your contributions mattered, and the shows that you helped bring to life will always be part of the Warner Bros. Television Group legacy. Thank you for being part of our story.

With the deepest gratitude,

Channing

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