Creative Artists Agency notified about 60 staffers on Friday that they were being let go, an insider with knowledge of the situation said.
The affected departments include IT, TV lit and music.
The layoffs are not related to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes but began with an in-house look at staffing levels that started even before the writers’ strike began on May 2.
But the impact of the strikes can’t be ignored — rival agency WME’s CEO Ari Emanuel said earlier this week that the strikes are costing Endeavor $25 million a month.
CAA is backed by Texas-based private equity firm TPG, which acquired a 35% stake in 2010. The firm upped its stake to 54% in 2014 with a $1.1 billion valuation, Bloomberg reported at the time.
Last month, Bloomberg reported that French billionaire François-Henry Pinault was in talks to buy the agency at a price near $7 billion.
On Friday, the Hollywood Professional Association issued an open letter calling on the AMPTP, the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA to find a resolution to the guilds’ historic double strike before more jobs are lost.
The non-profit warned that the work stoppage has “already brought harsh consequences to the many thousands of people and businesses who support media creation.”
“At this point, the long-term impact to what is referred to as the industry supply chain in post production, VFX, and production support is already real and dire,” the letter from the nonprofit’s board of directors states.
“At the conclusion of the current dispute, it is assumed that the writers, actors, and producers will go back to work. However, the real risk for our members is that they may not be able to return at all. With each passing day without resolution, the economic damage to supply chain companies and their employees grows ever more devastating.”
The HPA adds that organizations “indispensable to the creation of media are cutting staff and services, and in some cases, even risk closing.”
Cal State Northridge professor Todd Holmes said on Wednesday that the writers’ strike has so far cost the California economy $3 billion.
Holmes, a professor of entertainment industry management at the San Fernando Valley school, warned that if the strikes last until October, the economic cost could reach $5 billion, CNBC reported.
Deadline first reported this story.
