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WME agents and staff and are bracing for the newest round of layoffs coming in the commercials, marketing and corporate consulting departments, as well as the Miami office. “The agency has started to let people know,” a source tells me. Miami is under review and either will shut down or have a very small footprint.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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The letter “W” will be in the next round of layoffs, and it’ll be known as “ME” which will be accurate, because by then it will consist of one agent.
They also fired all the WMA readers. The assistants will be writing all the coverage now, with no extra pay to do it, in addition to the pay cut they’ve already gotten.
In New York this past Friday, 7 out of 10 longtime mailroom staffers were fired, without warning or notice.
My goodness, we’re already practically running with a skeletal staff. Just getting envelopes and office supplies is now a huge issue. No one’s stocking the coffee machine, things are getting pretty lean.
any names? updates?
anhonestAnswer:
I have done business with and visited the Miami office. With this office WMA was the only major agency to have a substantial presence in the Hispanic world, and the operation is, and has been, profitable as a stand alone enterprise. It’s international focus is an integral part of the future of growth in this business. If it is shuttered it will be a further testament that the new “powers that be” have inherited something that they can’t properly manage or comprehend. Any media company that doesn’t have a strategy in this area is living in the 19th century.
ari rocks….slash and burn baby….i mean bubbie….thats for you ari!
This will be very interesting to watch.
IF they need help laying off some of their TV agents, they should just ask their clients who should go…
Sadly WME will forever be known, like when Prince changed his name, as the Agency formerly known as William Morris.
The Endeavor name is now lost and almost forgotten already to the fog of Hollywood history.
And firing everyone in the world won’t ever ease the pain.
WME doesn’t need a Miami office as Alexis Garcia -WME Independent – is from Miami with deep roots there. I’m sure he can handle all of the volumes of business that come from the area.
Any word on the China? That office clearly HAS to be safe, with the millions of dollars they bring into the agency.
what did you expect when they merged? It’s time to cut the fat and make a lean machine. It sucks that so many people will lose their jobs, and I know this sounds cold-hearted, but that’s the reality of running a good business. As long as those who get laid off leave with a good severance, they should think of it as a nice vacation until they find a new job. It shouldn’t be that hard to find a job with WME on your resume.
Lisa Harrison, agree completely with your comment. Don’t be surprised, however, if your clients don’t watch your back….
hispanics will be the majority consumers in the U.S. very soon. I hope ari’s smart enough to realize that the young agents in the miami office have the expertise and relationships in the hispanic business that nobody else does. Other agencies should scoop them up now while they are still cheap.
@ harry bemanuel
Are you an assistant at WME, fresh out of college, and still riding on your parents’ money? I hope so, because that would explain your hopelessly twisted perspective. “They should think of this as a nice vacation…” Only young kids use the term “funemployment” because they have no dependents. Wait till you get a little older. Unemployment leads to anxiety, depression, and insomnia. There’s nothing fun about it.
Your two points about earning a nice severance and the “clout” of having WME on your resume are baseless. Finke already reported WME is reneging on their severance payouts to laid-off agents. Will the next round of firings be any different? Even if a former WME finds a job (probably commission only), he/she risks the severance because of failing to meet the terms of mitigation.
These lay-offs are NOT intended to create a “leaner” business model. Endeavor opened new offices in NYC last year. There’s nothing noble about firing employees so the partners avoid taking a pay cuts. Bottom line.
You’re probably well educated, which makes it a real, real shame for all those who invested money and energy into your upbringing when you can’t display empathy or compassion for other’s misfortune. In fact, you probably enjoy it. There’s a word for that: evil.
China? Millions of dollars? Don’t you mean billions of dollars? CAA china brings in millions of dollars
@Business Sense,
Did you give any thought to what you wrote before you posted. WME’s main offices are in SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA! If you do business in this area and do not know the “hispanic” market you are unemployed. Your east coast prejudice is showing. Now if you wanted to specify that by shutting down the Miami office you lose an insite to the South American and Caribbean audience I would be in total agreement, but your blanket statement is inaccurate.
momentum killer
When I was a floater in the consulting department I spent a couple days working for an agent who was writing a business plan to expand the department by going to the Miami office and sign corporate clients that wanted to use Spanish language entertainment to market to hispanics. I moved back to the Midwest pre-merger and lost touch, but saw this agent at Lollapalooza in Chicago over the weekend. When I asked him how the Miami initiative was going, he said they moved him to Miami January, that everything had been going even better than expected, but that they let him go in June. This should tell you alittle about the new companie’s thinking when it comes to the value of Miami and Ari’s understanding of likelihood of growing the business.
@ really?
Thank you for your insight and perspective.
“Harry Bemauel” you obviously have no understanding of the seismic changes rippling through the industry. Once consolidated, this business will NEVER expand to accommodate all the jobs that have been lost. And I can say NEVER because I know and/or have witnessed dozens of good and sometimes great creative execs, BTL talent, and yes, even agents and managers end up permanently unemployed. None of them think it’s fun.
@Anonymous – are you talking about Arik?
Having WMA on a resume doesn’t guarantee much. In fact, if you are looking to transition out of entertainment, good luck. Other industries think being an assistant at an entertainment company is a joke. You are essentially a secretary. Their view: who cares? There is far too much navel-gazing in this industry.
So, who got let go?