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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