EXCLUSIVE: Topic Studios, the award-winning production company behind titles like Theater Camp and 100 Foot Wave, has laid off over 20 employees, multiple sources tell Deadline. Employees were notified on Tuesday, and we hear that almost all divisions are affected, with all of those working on the TV side being cut.
A company spokesperson emphasizes that despite changes being made when it comes to the small-screen arena, “Topic Studios continues to produce television programs. This week’s staff changes have not impacted the multiple scripted and non-scripted television projects in production and development. While our scripted television strategy will be evolving, we plan to increase investment in this area.”
The layoffs come at a time of general turbulence in entertainment, which is still reeling from last summer’s double strikes and the pandemic that preceded it. Other media companies hit with mass layoffs just recently include Amazon, Hallmark Media, Great American Media, NBC News, and Twitch.
In a prior statement to Deadline on the layoffs, a Topic Studios spokesperson, wrote: “After significant disruption across our industry, Topic Studios is reallocating and reinvesting resources to deliver more world-class projects. While this process involved evolving our current staffing and structure, we are dedicating more resources directly to the creation of content. We will continue to bring exceptional stories to screens and strongly support and elevate our creative partners across movies, documentaries, TV, and podcasts.”
A subsidiary of First Look Media, Topic Studios was launched in 2017, with a mandate to develop, finance, and produce provocative and entertaining content for all platforms including theatrical, streaming, television, and podcasts. Previously, the company has produced such notable narrative features as Searchlight’s Sundance prize winner Theater Camp, Randall Park’s directorial debut Shortcomings, Brandon Cronenberg’s Neon horror Infinity Pool, Nikyatu Jusu’s breakout horror pic Nanny, Pablo Larraín’s Spencer starring Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana, Vanessa Kirby starrer Italian Studies, The Mauritanian starring Jodie Foster and Tahar Rahim, Steven Soderbergh’s The Laundromat, Prime Video’s The Report starring Adam Driver, Debra Granik’s award winner Leave No Trace, Sony Pictures Classics’ festival favorite The Climb, and Dan Gilroy’s Roman J. Israel, Esq.
Among its acclaimed projects on the documentary front are Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb, Attica, Bring Your Own Brigade, Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado, and The Fight.
Best known on the TV front for its Emmy-winning docuseries 100 Foot Wave, which has been renewed for a third season, Topic has also previously produced Max’s Nuclear Family from Ry Russo-Young and Showtime’s true crime series Love Fraud.
This month, Topic will be repped at the Sundance Film Festival by A Real Pain, the newest film directed by Jesse Eisenberg, which has him starring opposite recent Golden Globe winner Kieran Culkin. In it, two cousins travel to Poland after their grandmother’s death to see where they came from and end up joining a Holocaust tour. Among other projects previously announced as part of the company’s upcoming slate are the A24 pop star pic Mother Mary from David Lowery and Tim Sutton’s thriller Floodplain, starring Katherine Waterson, Ben Foster, Maria Bakalova and Justice Smith.