HBO/HBO Max Layoffs Hit Max Reality, Acquisitions, Casting & Int’l; Amy Gravitt & Sarah Aubrey Get New Duties In Reorg

deadline.com:

The dreaded post-merger Warner Bros. Discovery layoffs have reached the programming operation overseen by HBO and HBO Max Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys.Overall, 14% of staff — approximately 70 people — are being laid off today, the vast majority of them on the Max side.

That includes Max Non-Fiction Originals, International, Acquisitions, Casting and previously reported Live-Action Family Originals, which are all being either scaled back significantly or essentially eliminated, leading to the departure of the bulk of the the staffs, led by Jennifer O’Connell EVP, Non-Fiction & Live-Action Family Originals for HBO Max; Jennifer Kim, SVP, International Originals for HBO Max; Michael Quigley, EVP of Content Acquisitions at HBO Max; and Linda Lowy, EVP Casting for WarnerMedia’s HBO Max, TNT, TBS and truTV.

I hear the layoffs are being done via video conferences this morning. The cuts are part of WBD leadership’s pledge to find at least $3 billion in savings.Despite incessant rumors about HBO Max’s scripted team, its leadership under Bloys remains virtually intact — albeit with some responsibility changes — with all executives who have reported to Bloys staying put and continuing to do so (except for O’Connell who had a dual unscripted/scripted role).HBO’s long-time head of comedy, EVP Programming Amy Gravitt, is also taking oversight of original comedy for HBO Max as the two groups are being combined.The move was foreshadowed a few weeks ago when word got out that Gravitt had started taking Max comedy pitches. Suzanna Makkos, who had been running comedy for HBO Max, most recently EVP Original Comedy and Animation for HBO Max and Adult Swim, will stay on, reporting to Gravitt.Makkos had been reporting to HBO Max’s Head of