From Crew to White Collars: Hollywood’s Current Job Crisis

No one seems to be safe in Hollywood these days.

Over the past year, major studios like Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, NBCUniversal, Amazon MGM Studios, Lionsgate, Netflix, Sony, Fifth Season, and numerous talent agencies including CAA and UTA have implemented waves of layoffs. The series cancellations during the dual strikes in 2023, coupled with substantial budget cuts and an almost non-existent pilot season, have left hundreds of workers at home, scrambling for employment opportunities on LinkedIn.

This challenging situation was the result of a perfect storm involving COVID, strikes, and the short-term orientation of media companies aiming to improve their quarterly reports to meet the demands of Wall Street.

According to an in-depth investigation led by Deadline, the job contraction resulting from Studios and streamers tightening their belts affects everyone, from below-the-line crew members to extras and actors, all the way up to white-collar managers.

Jamie Waldron, a prominent Hollywood executive recruiter, informed Deadline that “a good 20%” of the VP-and-above executive workforce in media and entertainment is out of work from a year ago. Based on his observations, legal and marketing executives have been particularly affected, closely followed by development executives.

According to an old and unyielding law of economics, the scarcity of jobs and the anxiety among the unemployed who must support their families are driving down salaries. This trend permeates from the top down.

Upper-level executives who once earned $4 million-$6 million every year, are now facing reduced incomes of $2.5 million-$3 million. A middle-level executive who made $500,000 in their last job would now be willing to take a $350,000 offer. That’s what the contraction is doing. With fewer jobs and more demand, the companies can get away with that. The situation of the ones making their living on crew, sets, locations, post-production, and casting is even more dire. The percentage of people accepting jobs at a minimum wage for their roles has increased sharply.

This is not the first crisis the industry has weathered. Historically, Hollywood has always managed to emerge from the tunnel, with light shining once more. “I feel optimistic about every time we have a contraction in our business, it takes a beat, and there’s employment again – considers Waldron – I think it will be this year.”

Source: Deadline