Lionsgate cuts further 5% of workforce

Lionsgate has trimmed its workforce by 5% as the US mini-major looks to adapt to “unprecedented change and disruption”.

The cuts represent around 50 employees and include execs at Lionsgate Alternative Television, which produces shows such as Naked and Afraid.

The division also houses Pilgrim Media Group, the outfit behind High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America for Netflix and Scamanda for Hulu. Pilgrim’s chief operating office Gretchen Stockdale is among those exiting, according to US trade Deadline. 

Lionsgate had already made cuts to its unscripted division, with Dirk Hoogstra and Nicole Sorrenti among senior execs let go, and the company had cut 8% of staff earlier this year, including slimming down its scripted division.

Lionsgate chief exec Jon Feltheimer confirmed the latest cuts in a memo to staff in which he cited an “industry environment characterised by unprecedented change and disruption.”

Feltheimer continued: “These are difficult decisions impacting colleagues with whom we have collaborated for years and who have made valuable contributions to Lionsgate’s success, and we will make their transitions as smooth as possible.

“Though we may continue to fine-tune the organisational structure of individual departments from time to time, today’s headcount reduction will substantially complete our year-long process of repositioning the company for growth.”

Lionsgate Alternative Television was launched 18 months ago and is headed by Craig Piligian. It brought his Pilgrim Media Group together with Entertainment One’s unscripted outfits, including Blackfin, Renegade and Daisybeck Studios.

The US studio acquired the companies following its $375m (£296.9m) deal for eOne, with the latest job cuts coming amidst ongoing belt-tightening in the US with unscripted particularly affected. Speaking in July after the Skydance-Paramount merger closed, CEO David Ellison said the transaction would involve $2bn in cost cuts.