Sep 15, 2022

Netflix Laid Off 30 Support Staff in Animation Restructuring

As part of an ongoing restructuring, Netflix Animation laid off 30 support staff this week.

According to Deadline, which broke the news of the layoffs, Netflix Animation will not reduce production after the job cuts.

In May, shortly after the streamer's disastrous Q1 earnings call that sent its stock plummeting, Netflix laid off 70 contract employees working in animation, but sources inside the company confirmed to Cartoon Brew that these 70 were not permanent Netflix employees At the same time, Netflix also laid off contract workers. Around the same time, Netflix also confirmed that several high-profile animation projects were no longer moving forward at the company.

Further changes came in July, when it was announced that Netflix had acquired Animal Logic, the animation studio behind The Lego Movie, and subsequently promoted Karen Toliver to head of animated films and Traci Balthazor to vice president of animated film production. The company announced the promotion of Karen Toliver to head of animated films and Traci Balthazor to vice president of animated film production.

In an internal memo this week, Toliver and Balthazor placed the layoffs in the larger context of the changes taking place at Netflix Animation, while assuring those affected that they are "related to efficiencies created within the new organization and not about individual performance."

The company announced the layoffs while assuring

The letter provides the most detailed information to date about the reorganization taking place within Netflix Animation. Other changes include moving most film production support teams to Netflix Feature Animation and splitting animated films and series. According to the memo, the changes will not be fully implemented until early 2023.

Below is the full text of the letter from Toliver and Balthazor:

Hello, everyone

Animation is a very important area for Netflix, and we want to make the best animated films and series for our members Five years ago, when we embarked on a very ambitious journey to create a world-class animation studio, our vision was to produce both series and films under one roof, allowing our talented staff to work in those two studios. We grew incredibly fast and made a lot of progress, but we learned a lot along the way and learned what kind of structure was necessary for long-term success.

Animated film production is a unique business for Netflix studios. Our crews and creators work almost exclusively in-house, and our overhead team collaborates directly with our productions every day. The business was also supported by leaders who reported to more than 10 different functional groups at Netflix, which often led to inconsistencies and a lack of clear decision-making, which was a pain. As a result, we decided to organize the animated film production business as one cohesive group under a central leader (Head of Animated Film Production) and the studio will operate under a new name, Netflix Animated Feature (FAN). The studio will then operate under the new name Feature Animation at Netflix (FAN). Animated films and series will be officially split. The animated series production support team will remain within Netflix.

I (Tracy), Head of Animated Film Production, will work in close partnership with Karen Tolliver, Head of Animated Film Content, to set the vision and strategy for the studio.

We will transition to a new working structure immediately, but the changes (including a new studio name) will not be fully implemented until January 2023. Click here to learn more about the new leadership structure and which functions will be transitioned.

Unfortunately, we also made the very difficult decision to let go of about 30 support positions from Netflix (about 2% of our animation workforce). The reduction of these roles is related to the efficiency of the new organization and not to individual performance. We want to focus our immediate efforts on talking to these colleagues first. If your job is affected by the layoffs, please meet with your supervisor and the HR department so that an invitation can be sent to your calendar within 15 minutes. These decisions are always very hard and painful, but I am very grateful to each and every one of you who have made this wonderful animation studio what it is.

Karen and I recognize that this is yet another major change for our animation community, on top of the many major and impactful changes that have taken place over the last year. We believe that stability is critical to our future success, and by making these changes now, we hope to take what we have learned from our first five years and position ourselves to focus on strengthening our filmmaking and our community. We believe deeply in the future of animation at Netflix and are very optimistic about the next chapter ahead.

Today, we come together as a studio to share our vision for feature animation at Netflix.

Tracy and Karen