EXCLUSIVE: As disney cuts 4K employees across the conglomerate in a bid to hit $5.5 billion in savings, Deadline learned that on the feature side, those laid off were largely made up of mid-level employees and coordinators.
Among these departments affected were Projectoras well as Disney’s general marketing, public relations, distribution, legal, and 20th and Disney story departments.
Those who wipe their eyebrows and dodge the ax include many prolific executives.
Projector
While those affected were everyone from two-decade veterans to frosh staffers, an insider tells Deadline it wasn’t a bloodbath like when Disney absorbed 20th Century Fox.
In the story department, eight employees were laid off, some from 20th Century Fox. Employees were notified today in meetings with HR and department heads.
Deadline learns that those laid off were given 60 days notice, however, they must work for the duration of their employment with one week of severance pay. In previous layoffs, those laid off were not expected to work and still received pay when notified.
That said, since many of those affected are unionized employees, their severance pay is determined by the collective agreement and years of service. Disney aims to give those laid off as much flexibility as possible during the 60-day period so they can seek other jobs.
On the Searchlight side, the departments concerned were legal, production, public relations and marketing. When Disney merged with 20th, Searchlight was largely unaffected. They swelled post-merger as former CEO Bob Chapek pivoted Disney to streaming, and now the classic 20th arthouse label is back with a pre-merger employee count of more. of 100 employees.
More cuts are to come. To date, Pixar in Emeryville, Calif., has not been affected.
Disney did not return Deadline’s request for comment.