Even though the 2023 Christmas movie season is still a fairly large presence in our rear-view mirrors, Hallmark execs are no doubt already full steam ahead in planning for the next batch of holiday favorites in its upcoming movie schedule, not to mention the latest “Loveuary” lineup of Valentine’s Day features. Unfortunately, despite any and all successes earned, the cable network’s parent company was revealed to be the latest entertainment org dealing with layoffs behind the scenes.
It appears Hallmark Media bosses are attempting to rework the company’s organizational structuring, which led to a handful of jobs being excised, with those respective execs being let go. According to Deadline, the now-former employees who faced layoffs were Lara Richardson (Chief Marketing Officer), Pamela Wolfe (Chief People Officer), Robin Thomas (EVP Research Strategy) and Judi Lopez (Head of Distribution).
Layoffs are obviously never an easy or overall positive experience for any company to go through, though the jobs lost here are far more limited than the oustings that have happened elsewhere in the entertainment industry. (More on that lower.) A Hallmark spokesperson shared the corporate explanation for the change, saying:
Hallmark Media organizational changes were announced internally today representing a new, more streamlined structure. As such, some executive leadership roles were eliminated, while new and expanded roles were created in order to forge new opportunities that will strengthen our focus on our core, and build new capabilities for our consumers and viewers. The Hallmark Media business remains committed to creating compelling content and Hallmark Channel recently closed out the entire 2023 year as the #1 most-viewed cable entertainment network among key demos, demonstrating a clear pathway for continued success.
The rep was understandably quick to bring up that Hallmark Channel maintained its position as the cable go-to for those in need of small screen coziness. Whether or not these cutbacks have any noteworthy effect on the company’s output as a whole, that remains to be seen. But fans no doubt hope that Nancy Travis’ series Ride getting canceled in November isn’t indicative of further cancellations.
Hallmark's Rival Great American Media Also Faced Layoffs
Arguably Hallmark Channel’s biggest cable rival, Great American Family’s parent company Great American Media dished out its own unfortunate round of layoffs in the first month of 2024. This was a more sizable downgrade, with reportedly 13 different execs getting the proverbial axe, from Chief Marketing Officer Loren Schwartz to Chief Financial Officer Max Pinigin and many more.
In its statement to press, per Deadline, GAM touted its successes in the past year — hosting the Rose Parade and ordering up the channel’s first original series, for two boasts — and then cited Netflix’s strategy changes as being comparative to what’s happening behind the scenes at the faith-leaning cable channel.
Major Layoffs Hit Amazon As Well
While things aren’t necessarily all positive for the two aforementioned cable channels, layoffs were far more plentiful and all-encompassing over at Amazon, which is in the midst of letting go several hundred workers specifically from the teams at Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, according to THR. And that’s not even the extent of the company’s losses.
Amazon is also cutting somewhere around 500 employees from the livestream platform Twitch, which the global giant acquired back in 2014. That means Twitch is losing 35% of its entire employee pool, which would presumably be a massive change for any company, though CEO Dan Clancy shared in a public blog that the cuts made were largely in the name of efficiency, and aren’t a sign of the streamer’s decline in popularity or success.
These cuts come after a year in which Amazon laid off over 25,000 employees across the board, with around 100 or so Prime Video and MGM staffers losing their jobs in Spring 2023. The timing of the most current layoffs is interesting, considering Amazon is set to finally introduce its own ad-supported streaming plan, which will no doubt bring in an influx of new Amazon Prime subscriptions.
