Hollywood suits who have been laid off amid the recent rounds of studio budget cuts are worried that they are facing the prospect of long-term unemployment as the industry and overall economy show few signs of rebounding, according to a new report.
“This is a full-scale depression for the entertainment industry,” one TV executive told Deadline.
The situation is “bordering on worst-case scenario,” another executive said.
Hollywood executives have been hit hard in the past year as the major studios enacted deep budget cuts amid a perfect storm of economic chaos that includes Americans continuing to cancel their cable TV subscriptions, the steep downturn in TV advertising , and streaming losses in the billions of dollars .
In addition, the industry is still recovering from last year’s strikes by Hollywood writers and actors.
Studios that have slashed their headcount in recent months include the Walt Disney Company , Paramount , Warner Bros. Discovery , and Amazon MGM .
Laid-off Hollywood executives are using LinkedIn to bemoan their predicament, according to Deadline.
Some said they have sent hundreds of job applications and never got a response to the majority of them, not even from corporate HR. Meanwhile, some have been looking for more than a year while trying to make ends meet through consulting and part-time work.
The lack of jobs is reportedly pushing down salaries in Hollywood.
“With fewer jobs and more demand, the companies can get away with that. An executive who made $500,000 in their last job would now be willing to take a $350,000 offer. That’s what the contraction is doing,” an executive told Deadline.
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