The Weinstein Company plans to lay off between 40 and 50 employees from its staff of about 215 people in the next week, with most of the cuts aimed at the independent studio’s film division.
A company spokeswoman confirmed the layoffs, which will reduce staff across the studio’s New York, Los Angeles, and London offices, but will not affect the Weinstein Company’s television business. Variety first reported the cuts on Sunday, noting that the employees to be laid off will mostly be junior staffers as the studio continues to shift its focus away from feature films and toward television production.
The Weinstein Company, founded by brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein, has had some box office success this year with films such as Paddington and Southpaw, but the recent Bradley Cooper-starring Burnt was a bomb. The indie studio still has a handful of high-profile movie releases on the immediate horizon, however, including likely 2015 Oscar contenders such as the Cate Blanchett-starring Carol and Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight.
The company’s television unit produces the Netflix original series Marco Polo as well as the reality series Mob Wives and Project Runway. Last year, the Weinstein Company reportedly considered selling its TV unit to British network ITV, but that deal fell apart, and Variety now reports that “two to three companies” are considering buying stakes in the division.
