Gary Barber’s Spyglass Media Group has shuttered the New York offices of Lantern Entertainment and laid off 15 people in all divisions of what had been The Weinstein Company.
The New York office was closed to streamline operations out of the company’s Los Angeles headquarters, according to a spokesperson for Spyglass Media Group, which this month announced a partnership through which Barber’s Spyglass will own and control all of Lantern Entertainment’s current assets — including the remnants of The Weinstein Company that Texas-based Lantern Capital acquired in bankruptcy last July for $289 million.
Spyglass Media Group, in which Lantern is also a majority investor, is primarily focused on developing, producing, financing and acquiring premium content worldwide for theatrical, network, cable and streaming platforms.
Thanks to the partnership with Lantern co-presidents Andy Mitchell and Milos Brajovic, as well as with strategic investors Eagle Pictures and Cineworld Group, Spyglass is now home to more than 250 film library titles, scripted and unscripted television series.
The newly formed company is now in the process of putting in place and executing its business plan, as well as evaluating the company’s operations.
When Lantern acquired TWC, it held on to and kept operations in both TWC’s old New York and Los Angeles offices. At the time, the company said it would look for new office space but likely keep a home base in both cities.
After the TWC estate fired the remaining 70 employees at TWC ahead of the deal closing, Lantern re-hired roughly two-thirds of those employees back.
Now that Spyglass is steering the ship, the company is planning to ramp up hiring for senior leadership positions in hopes of positioning Spyglass for growth.
Since launching March 13, Spyglass has hired former MGM executives Cheryl Rodman to serve as chief legal officer and Kristin Cotich as the company’s executive vice president of worldwide communications. More executive hires are on the way, and Spyglass plans to increase headcount and create new positions to be based out of the L.A. office.
Jon Levine contributed to this reporting.