Dreamworks Animation has laid off 33 workers, or about 2% of its workforce, as its mother or father firm NBCUniversal made cuts throughout a number of of its divisions.
The layoffs got here in late April regardless of the unimaginable business successes of the studio’s final two movies Puss in Boots: The Final Want and The Dangerous Guys. From the surface, issues appear to be going nice at Dreamworks, which is able to launch Ruby Gilman: Teenage Kraken subsequent month, Trolls Band Collectively later this yr, and simply introduced key particulars a couple of new Kung Fu Panda characteristic at Cinemacon. There are additionally quite a few rumors a couple of new Shrek movie within the works.
A Dreamworks assertion mentioned the latest layoffs have been half of a bigger price discount plan and that the majority of these affected have been in help roles. In response to sources cited by Enterprise Insider, 25 of the 33 workers let go labored in tech roles together with manufacturing artist, technical director, and lighter/compositor.
In response to the nameless supply, affected workers have been notified in regards to the redundancies a number of weeks forward of time and have been assured that the layoffs weren’t associated to work efficiency.
The report additionally revealed that Dreamworks TV had made two unannounced cuts of between 5 and 10 positions late final fall.
NBCUniversal’s cuts over the previous half-year have been wide-reaching, affecting E! Leisure, NBC Sports activities, and its advert gross sales staff.
The layoffs have come as many main media firms wish to slim down bills. Disney plans to put off 7,000 workers this yr to chop $5.5 billion in prices whereas Warner Bros. Discovery has made large cuts in an effort to scale back its almost $50 billion in debt.
Cartoon Brew’s View: NBCUniversal might have to chop prices, nevertheless it’s not as if the corporate is throwing good cash at dangerous on the subject of animation. Common Photos had the prime three 2022 animated field workplace releases (The Dangerous Guys, Puss in Boots: The Final Want, Minions: The Rise of Gru) and at present has 2023’s greatest film in The Tremendous Mario Bros. Film. Dreamworks additionally has a robust relationship with Netflix, which has been the house of quite a few authentic sequence produced by the corporate. From the place we stand, it appears to be like like the corporate may benefit from higher funding in animation, which has proved to be extraordinarily constant for a number of years operating.
