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Most of the bigwigs left weeks ago, but today MGM began laying off 50 staffers, mostly from the post-production, marketing, and theatrical distribution departments. Once Spyglass Entertainment’s Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum start running the studio when it emerges from its prepackaged bankruptcy and closes a $500M credit facility to make movies again, MGM said in court papers that its employee roster will number about 320 in 2011.
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that’s obnoxious they couldn’t wait till after the new year?
With ALL the millions upon millions of dollars the BANKERS have pissed away since April, when MGM’s management presented them with the stand alone option, they couldn’t wait 2 more weeks before laying these people off? Was it really going to cost that much more money to keep 50 people around until at least 12/31 and through the holidays?
What a bunch of assholes. While I would hate to see MGM go away, hope the real morons behind MGM’s financial woes lose what little left of the shirts they have, the Bankers, after hiring 2 guys who never ran a studio and have vowed to repeat MANY of the same mistakes that tripped up the company since 2005. That being the outsourcing to others (competitors) vital functions of a movie studio, Marketing and Distribution. Guess they didn’t understand the part of the problem and financial horror it was for MGM to have outsourced their DVD marketing and distribution to FOX!!! Fox, who are basically paid millions for staffers who did SHIT to serve MGMs library after the first 2 years of the deal, which still runs until the summer.
Well at least they probably won’t be able to package the debt anymore and sell it to someone else. Let them eat it!!
Sad, but not unforeseen. Hope they all have happy holidays with their friends and family, and land on their feet in 2011.
Sad day indeed, a lot of great people are not without jobs.
Many have been there for more than a decade.
I’ll lay down a c-note they rehire the positions within 2 years. I’m pretty sure we’ve seen this song and dance a couple times before with ol Leo.
Wait. MGM had fifty employees?
There’s a lot of good people over there that started in a crappy situation. I hope that good karma for their time served will turn into awesome placement at other companies!
this is such a shame…what an amazing group that could have been if they would have let them be…
Serious?! People feeling bad or surprised by this? MGM has been paying their employees to sit on their collective asses for two years releasing FAME and HOT TUB TIME MACHINE. These people have been blessed for two years of healthy salaries for doing nothing, and if breathing, saving their money as they knew the studio has been shutting down for two years. No reason to feel bad for these employees nor be mad with MGM management for their actions, holiday season or not.
Some of those people worked to stand behind a studio they believed in, in hopes that it would become the studio it once was.
Some of those people worked their asses off doing the jobs of 5 people.
The teams were lean and a few people managed to do AMAZING THINGS that most studios employ a huge team for.
Some of those people really care and have the passion for the biz that seems to be lost on most.
I will keep the faith, maybe Leo will have the ones that gave their blood, sweat and tears back when it gets it shit together.
Two films in two years. I am sure their asses are fine. Bond, James Bond.
I worked at MGM and was laid off—I can tell you we worked our tushes off there. Do you really think there’s no work to be done for employees? You need to work at a studio to fully understand how hard everyone works. Many projects were in progress. Don’t generalize, please. Annette
They are getting good severance packages so ultimately it’s an ideal time to lay them off, they have money in their pocket for Christmas plus money to live on for a few months, plus Obama unemployment for 13 months, plus time off at the holidays.
ohhhh mandy… maybe one day you’ll find out what those “good” severances were. but i have a feeling based on your comments that you lack even a basic understanding of being laid off.
let’s say severance was 2 weeks. That’ll coast everyone through until the new year. And then you can hop on unemployment, which is a maximum of $450 a week in the state of california (which would be somewhere around 60% or less of what someone makes normally). now add on top the terrible job market and unpredictable box office and the fact that no one is hiring over the holidays… your absolute soonest chance of being employed is probably the 2nd week of january, but by then you’re already utilizing unemployment (after your 2 week probation period) and your savings… OH and don’t forget picking up the tab on all your health insurance which can inflate up to 10x the price you normally pay with company paid medical. Finally, the emotional and mental stress of unemployment compounded by the stress of the holidays.
now, that you have a better idea, tell all those mgm’ers and everyone else unemployed how enjoyable their unemployment is/will be, and how perfect it is to be unemployed over the holidays with no chance of gainful employment until the new year…
This is true….unemployment, coupled with paying your own Cobra insurance, equals….a very sparse, nervewracking experience…..Try it on for size before you offer up how great it is.
MGM laid off at least 50 people again on Friday and no one is talking about it.