Anonymous Content enacted a round of layoffs on Friday, representing about 8% of the workforce at a company of around 170 people.
The talent management and production shop reduced staff across all divisions, including representation,television, motion picture, literary, media rights and branded entertainment.
Insiders familiar with Anonymous cited the Hollywood labor strikes and a volatile larger entertainment marketplace as reasons for the job cuts.Affected employees were notified Friday afternoon.
Anonymous is also in the final stages of naming a new chief executive officer, one insider added.The company counts Emerson Collective, founded by Laurene Powell Jobs, as a minority investor.
Anonymous produces, develops, finances and manages sales for a variety of content across film, series, documentaries and more. Notable projects developed and sold include HBO’s long-running “True Detective” anthology,Rami Malek starrer “Mr. Robot” and the Emmy-winning comedy hit “Schitt’s Creek.” Notable films include “The Revenant” and Oscar-winner “Spotlight.”
Additionally, Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan’s feature team-up “Foe” just hit. Upcoming projects include the adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Nickel Boys,” “Time Bandits” from Taika Waititi and “Disclaimer”from Alfonso Cuarón and star CateBlanchett.
Anonymous is hardly the only operation cutting back over the past five months, as the strikes and market turns in the legacy and streaming space continue to wreak havoc. In August, Fifth Season (formerly Endeavor Content, another production house) cut 30 employees. Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max operation also recently cut marketing staff and Amazon laid off workers in its global communications outfit.
