The impact of the ongoing writers strike on the talent agencies continue. APA has laid off a number of assistants. Junior agents, primarily in the lit department, which is the most affected by the work stoppage, have been asked to share assistants, sources tell Deadline.
APA is the second major talent agency to cut staff since the start of the strike. Verve, whose core business is film and TV lit, laid off most of its assistants last month, 80% by some estimates. The numbers floated around are 40 assistants and three gents. APA, whose layoffs are said to be under 10, and Verve also are the two known agencies that have implemented temporary salary reductions for top agents and executives.
Assistants are always among the most vulnerable when companies look to cut costs. A number of assistants were also laid off or furloughed during the pandemic, which shut down Hollywood production for about six months in 2020. With some of those affected likely to move on and leave the business, industry sources predict a shortage of experienced Hollywood assistants when the strike is over.
As Deadline reported, APA was among agencies, alongside CAA, WME, Gersh, Paradigm, A3 and Innovative Artists, that started scaling back T&E and other expenses a couple of weeks into the WGA work stoppage. Like with layoffs, in many cases, film and scripted TV departments, which are most heavily impacted by the strike, are also the ones where the cost-cutting measures are focused.
