Layoffs Hit Universal International Studios
EXCLUSIVE: There have been layoffs at The Day of The Jackal and One Day outfit Universal International Studios (UIS).
Deadline is told that redundancies have hit UIS globally in London HQ and in its Australia and L.A. hubs. We haven't confirmed the number laid off but are told the percentage is in the single digits of overall headcount.
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The layoffs come at a time of change for the studio. Execs Kelsey Balance and Rob Howard were recently promoted at UIS while global scripted SVP Tesha Crawford exited. Despite the layoffs, we are told UIS is still looking to replace Crawford. Another recent departure is ex-VP Production Laura Burrows, who is not part of this layoff round and will also be replaced.
UIS is a division of Universal Studio Group. The studio has numerous employees and also owns fabled production outfits like Day of the Jackal maker Carnival, We are Lady Parts producer Working Title and David Heyman's Heyday. Made in Chelsea label Monkey recently shifted from UIS to Universal Television Alternative Studio and subsequently its name was retired.
The news has emerged less than a fortnight after we told you about a larger round of layoffs at UIS stablemate NBCUniversal mainly on the unscripted side in the States, which has been impacted by the SpinCo (now Versant) spin-off actioned by Comcast. A few dozen employees across NBCUniversal's television and streaming business were let go, we revealed, including the likes of Stephanie Steele, SVP Unscripted Current Production, and Jenny Ramirez, SVP Unscripted Formats. Outside of unscripted, there were a few cuts across various scripted divisions, most notably Vivian Lin, VP Development at Universal Content Productions.
UIS declined comment on today's layoffs anno.
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