Distribution chief among 1,000 staff being let go and exits having been with US studio for almost 20 years
Paramount Skydance’s content distribution chief Lisa Kramer is exiting the buisness as part of the company’s overhaul.
Kramer had been at the business (and forerunners including ViacomCBS) for almost two decades, initially joining Paramount Pictures in 2006 as senior vice-president of TV distribution for Europe.
She rose up the ranks to become exec vice-president of international TV licencing and was named president of ViacomCBS Global Distribution Group in 2021, taking on the same title when the company became Paramount Global.
Kramer had previously worked at Disney and oversaw sales of shows ranging from Elsbeth and Band of Spies, to King & Conqueror and the NCIS franchise.
She had most recently been striking international deals for Boston Blue, which made a splashy appearance at Mipcom in Cannes earlier this month.
The cuts have also hit Paramount Global Content Distribution’s comms team, with long-standing and much-liked chief Jennifer Weingroff among others set to depart, as reported on Thursday.
Other senior staff departing include CBS personnel Amanda Palley and Pamela Soper, who are among more than 1,000 staff to be let go this week.
The job losses are part of a move to “ensure long-term success” of the recently merged companies, according to Paramount Skydance chief exec David Ellison.
The majority of the cuts announced to date have affected US teams and had been widely trailed by Ellison and his team since Skydance’s takeover of Paramount. Job cuts outside of the US are expected to emerge in the next week.
There has also been a reorganisation at Paramount TV Studios under Matt Thunell, who recently took over at the relaunched division.
Thunell told staff that the “new incarnation” was implementing a “new, streamlined structure” within the Ellison-led company.
Showtime’s exec vice president of global production, Keri Flint, is among those exiting alongside Jeff Hegedus, who had been exec vice president of business and legal affairs at Skydance.
Skydance’s Drew Brown becomes head of production for Paramount Television Studios, reporting into Thunell, while Shelley Zimmerman and Carolyn Harris will continue as exec vice president and head of development, and exec vice president and head of current, respectively. Both continue to report to Thunell.
Broadcast International has contacted Paramount Skydance for comment.
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