Layoffs have begun in Disney’s television divisions.
sources say Hollywood Reporter Monday’s layoffs focused on production and acquisitions. Notable employees leaving Monday include Gene Pepper, senior vice president of production at Freeform/Onyx Collective; Marc Levinstein, Head of Production and Post-Production at Hulu; and Elizabeth Newman, Disney’s chief acquisition officer.
Sources indicate that Newman’s entire takeover team has been disbanded, while the Bieber and Levinstein production teams will be folded under the leadership of Carol Turner, Executive Vice President of Production at ABC Signature. That team will continue to report to Eric Shearer, whom Dana Walden promoted late last year to the position of President of Disney Television Studios and Business Operations at Disney General Entertainment.
No details were immediately available on the size of Monday’s layoffs or what percentage of Disney’s workforce has been affected as additional TV-side layoffs are expected by the end of the week, with the largest round in April.
Disney CEO Bob Iger also warned Monday that layoffs will begin this week as part of a round of cutbacks that would cut a total of 7,000 employees. In February, Iger said Disney would cut 7,000 jobs as part of a streamlined restructuring focused on three divisions: Disney Entertainment and ESPN and Parks, Experiences and Products. The cuts are “essential to creating a more efficient, streamlined and streamlined approach to our business,” Iger said in an internal memo Monday, adding that senior leaders have assessed their operational needs since he announced the cuts. The third and final round of layoffs is expected to come before the start of summer, Iger said.
The headcount cuts are part of a larger plan to drive $5.5 billion in cost savings at the company and come as other conglomerates similarly reduce their workforce in an effort to streamline and right-size staff as a recession approaches.
Monday’s moves resulted in the elimination of its isolated production divisions and the consolidation of that division into a single unit covering every aspect of television while eliminating a separate acquisition unit.
Iger returned to the CEO role in a stunning move in November after his former replacement, Bob Chapek, was ousted by the Disney board of directors after only two and a half years in the role. Iger’s first action item since returning to the Mouse House is firing Chapek’s senior lieutenant, Kareem Daniel. As part of Chapek’s Disney restructuring, Daniel tapped to lead Disney’s newly created Media and Entertainment Distribution division. The loneliness frustrated creative executives because Daniel controlled all Disney’s non-park revenue as he controlled TV and movie spending restrictions.
After Daniel was fired, Iger folded DMED and restructured it to give financial oversight to the creators and tapped Walden and Alan Bergman to oversee Disney Entertainment, with Jimmy Pitaro continuing to lead ESPN, and Josh D’Amaro running the Parks and Products division.
Bieber, for her part, has been with Disney since 2009, starting as a producer at Disney Channel before moving up the ranks at ABC in the production and operations department. She served as Vice President for the division for more than a decade and secured the lines of a Senior Vice President in 2018 when she added Freeform to her remit.
Meanwhile, Levinstein has worked with Hulu as the head of production and post-production since mid-2019.
Newman transitioned from the light side of CAA’s television and media rights to vice president of development at Disney in late 2019. She was named president of creative acquisitions in early 2021 when former Disney studio chief Craig Honig formed the creative acquisitions division that now reports to the FX brass ex. Scherer.
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