Warner Bros studio cuts 26% of workforce, unscripted & animation divisions merge functions

Warner Bros Television is cutting more than a quarter of its workforce as part of its parent company’s drive to cut costs.

The studio is cutting 26% of personnel, a total of 125 positions, across scripted, unscripted and animation.

Deadline revealed Monday that cuts would likely come today and we revealed earlier that Warner Bros. TV was shutting down digital production arm Stage 13 and its Warner Bros Television Workshop – a key plank in finding and mentoring new and diverse talent.

These cuts come with a number of structural changes put in place by chairman Channing Dungey, particularly in unscripted and animation. She called the move “incredibly difficult” as she pointed to a “tumultuous time” in the industry (read her full memo to staff below).

The television studio is the latest arm of Warner Bros Discovery forced to make cuts in order to save at least $3 billion after the merger overseen by David Zaslav. It comes after HBO and HBO Max laid off 14% of staff, around 70 people, in August.

The total number of employees losing their jobs is 82, some 19% of the current workforce, while Dungey and her team are also not filling 43 vacant positions. This means that there are a total of 125 positions eliminated. Deadline