EXCLUSIVE: A round of layoffs has taken place at Banijay-owned MythBusters firm Beyond Productions in Australia and the U.S.
Deadline understands around two-dozen people have lost jobs across the production arm’s Sydney and LA sites, after the UK hub was shuttered several weeks ago.
The move comes almost exactly a year after Banijay bought decades-old firm Beyond International in a deal worth more than $30M, via what was described as a Scheme Implementation Deed.
“Banijay can confirm a number of redundancies have been implemented across the Beyond International production footprint,” a spokeswoman told Deadline. “The changes form part of the group’s overall reorganisation of the business following its acquisition earlier this year. No productions will be affected in the process.”
The layoffs comprise a sizeable chunk of Beyond Productions’ overall footprint. Overseen by President John Luscombe, the company launched in 1984 and has made the likes of long-running Discovery franchise Mythbusters, ABC/BBC dog competition format Pooch Perfect, The Invisibles for National Geographic/Disney+ and Hulu’s Back in the Groove. It has bases in LA and Sydney and layoffs have been implemented across both. Five people lost their jobs in September when Banijay shuttered the UK arm, according to a report in Broadcast Magazine.
Distribution arm Beyond Rights, which sells reams of factual content, was folded into Banijay earlier this year and ceased to exist after March.
In Australia, Banijay also runs production outfit Screentime, which makes the likes of SAS Australia and Bali 2002. The French-headquartered production powerhouse pulled out of the race to buy Squid Game: The Challenge outfit All3Media last week, with RedBird IMI now frontrunner.
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Source: DLine
