Disney is laying off several hundred employees across film, television, corporate finance, with a source stating that layoffs affect multiple teams around the world, including film, TV, marketing, TV publicity, casting, and casting development. This follows previous cuts including 7,000 jobs in 2023 to save $5.5 billion and nearly 200 people in March.
00:00:00.000So, Disney is laying off several hundred employees across film, television, corporate finance with a source stating that layoffs affect multiple teams around the world, including film, TV marketing, TV publicity, casting development.
00:00:10.600This follows previous cuts, including 7,000 jobs in 2023 to save $5.5 billion and nearly 6% or fewer than 200 people as ABC's News Corp and Disney Entertainment Networks in March.
00:00:22.420The layoffs are part of Disney's response to the migration of cable TV audiences to streaming platforms as the company under Bob Iger reshapes its business strategy amid industry turmoil.
00:00:33.320And then you hear Hollywood has left L.A.
00:00:36.080Actor Rob Lowe described the scarcity of experienced crews in L.A. noting a production in Atlanta where our dolly grip had never been on a set before and he'd applied for the job because he'd worked at a dolly at Costco.
00:00:51.240He said the state of the business is so bleak now that even I am willing to consider shooting outside of L.A.
00:00:56.980because the opportunities here are just gone away.
00:01:00.540Film L.A. reported 2024 as the worst year for local filming with only about a fifth, damn, of American movies and shows shot in L.A.
00:01:08.620Production has shifted from L.A. due to generous tax credits elsewhere with New York offering a 30% base credit with a 10% upside upstate bonus.
00:01:17.240Subsidizing shows like the HBO Gilded Age with $52 million.
00:01:21.500Producer Jason Blum said shooting Night Swim in L.A. costs an extra $4.5 million while the Good Place creator Michael Schor noted cost efficiency is now the primary focus of a lot of TV and film production.
00:01:34.800California's 20% credit capped at $330 million excludes major salaries pushing projects to places like Georgia with uncapped incentives.
00:01:43.180Well, there's two big stories in here.
00:01:46.120Headline number one, this is exhibit 54 of the shift that's happening in media right now.
00:03:08.980The big channels are shifting, and they're shifting the big channels, as evidenced by the athletes that were cut on ESPN, the dollars that they've cut.
00:03:17.380They bought certain things, but they've been optimizing it.
00:03:47.180There is a formal word for bonds that are high risk because what you're investing in, you're going to get a good interest rate, get a good return, and it's called junk bonds.
00:04:00.840It's risky investment, but you're going to get a good return if you live through the life of the bond.
00:04:05.960And CNN bonds have been, excuse me, Warner Brothers Discovery, WBD bonds, have been moved to one step above junk, and they have now called the thing called SpinCo because they're going to spin it out.
00:04:19.800And they couldn't think of a brand, so, Pat, they're calling it SpinCo.
00:04:23.420We'll let you know we're going to call it later, but we're calling it SpinCo, and we're going to put CNN in it.
00:04:27.420We're going to put a lot of things in it.
00:04:29.080And TBS says, hey, can I have $2 billion to renew the NBA?
00:04:51.220Other states said, would you like to come film here and employ some people in my state, said Georgia, said Vancouver, Canada, and all these other places.
00:04:59.580So in the midst of socialist Hollywood, capitalism came to play and ate their lunch.
00:05:07.480California's lunch got eaten, and now all the Hollywood spending is elsewhere.
00:05:12.240Because you know the liberals at the top of entertainment companies, Vinny?
00:05:19.760They have stock options in their public companies, and it's like liberal by day, capitalist by night when I'm home looking at the stock and looking where things are.
00:05:30.580We can make more money, sir, filming in Georgia, and they're going to give us tax credits.
00:05:36.740And that's what Rob Lowe's talking about.
00:05:38.040So this is a massive tsunami shift that's happening in media, and it's not getting any better, and there's just more numbers coming out, and now Disney's laying off people, and the only thing's working is Disney Plus and theme parks.
00:05:53.120Yeah, I mean, I'm just going to revisit what I said earlier.
00:05:55.520I don't really care about California at this point.
00:06:08.940The one constant in life is change, and disruption has taken over every single industry, from politics to money to Bitcoin to media, and Hollywood is just the latest victim of disruption of social media and Netflix, what have you.
00:06:26.760Other places are doing it better, faster, cheaper, and there's really no reason to stay in L.A. to do the Holly weird stuff anymore.
00:06:36.100Follow the money, tax incentives, high-cost productions, unions.
00:06:41.240You know, in the middle of a shoot, there's homeless people walking on set.
00:06:44.620The COVID, the overreach, it's just...
00:06:47.100I mean, you make me want to cover one more California.
00:06:51.080You make me want to leave the one I'm with.
00:06:56.760I'm just so over California and their nonsense.
00:06:58.360Well, then, last year, we ran one of the coolest contests ever, and I thought it was going to be a basic dinner and meet and greet and all this other stuff.