What Do Disney’s Layoffs Say About Its Future?
Disney’s Red Wedding has officially begun. This week, the Mouse House is initiating the first of three rounds of layoffs, this one aiming to eliminate 7000 workers from the corporation. We knew this was coming, and while, on the one hand, it’s nice to see Disney reeling, it sucks that a lot of employees who are probably decent people that didn’t have anything to do with Disney’s problems will suffer more than those who really deserve to lose their jobs. (Although Victoria Alonso is out, so I guess that’s a win, for what little good it will do.) But it’s not just the little guys, according to this Deadline piece; some executives are also getting axed, and the most interesting part of the story is what departments are getting cut to the bone or even phased out completely.
First is the TV division. All of the various channels and platforms are being consolidated, with ABC, Hulu, Freeform, FX, and Disney TV Studios all falling under the leadership of Carol Turner, the executive vice president and head of production for ABC Signature. Mark Levenstein and Jayne Beiber, who ran Hulu and Freeform, respectively, are being fired, while Nick Lombardo, the head of production at FX, and Nissa Diederich, head of 20th Television, will report to Turner. I have no idea if this is good or bad for their TV output; I don’t know what Turner was specifically responsible for at ABC (not that I watch anything on ABC at the moment). I will say that, after having to sit through this thing and get publicly castigated by two members of the Disney “creative and inclusion team” for being white, she’s earned the pay raise.
But here’s the kicker: a department called Creative Acquisitions for Disney Television Studios is being dissolved, and its overseer and vice president of development, Elizabeth Newman, is leaving. This department was responsible for “identifying and securing the rights to upcoming and bestselling books, podcasts, news stories and other IP” for Disney to acquire and turn into TV shows. While Deadline says these jobs will be taken on by different departments, it still suggests a de-emphasizing of vacuuming up existing IPs, which Disney has become known for over the past decade or so. This is just the TV division; it doesn’t say anything about the film division yet. But it’s indicative of Disney realizing that they may have bitten off more than they can chew, and with the big brands they already own flailing, they can’t take on any more properties for the foreseeable future. That’s a good thing; they’ve destroyed Star Wars, they’re in the process of destroying Marvel, and Pixar seems like a shell of its former self. We’ll see what happens with the movie division, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they make similar moves there.
Hiring writers who can write well and directors who know how to film a movie – and then getting out of their way – wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world either – twenty bucks’ worth of free advice, Bob.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Disney is also kicking its metaverse ambitions to the curb by getting rid of a small group – about fifty employees – looking into exploring the technological… thing. I still don’t really understand what the metaverse is; from what I gather, it’s some kind of virtual reality thing, only more realistic. But a lot of big companies seem very interested in it, including Facebook; however, the damn thing doesn’t seem to be profitable for anyone. Expanding into the metaverse was a Bob Chapek initiative, with the former Iger puppet/fall guy CEO looking to revitalize the Disney theme parks, as well as other divisions. Chapek has taken some undeserved flak, but in this case, I think it’s the right decision. Even if the metaverse can be properly monetized, a company looking to lay off 7000 people and save billions of dollars isn’t in a position to explore it. When it comes to technology, Disney has to look to the past; unfortunately, it refuses to do that with everything else.
