Academy Lays Off Archive, Library Staff in Restructuring Move

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences laid off a major contingent of staff members in its archive and library on Wednesday, including Academy Film Archive director of 24 years Mike Pogorzelski. A source with knowledge of the changes says that several impacted employees had worked at the Academy for more than a decade. Across archive, library and museum collection, 16 employees were laid off.

The downsizing, announced on Wednesday by Academy CEO Bill Kramer in an internal statement obtained by Variety, comes amid an ongoing restructuring initiative at the organization. The cutbacks place the archive, the library and the collecting unit’s operations under a newly formed Academy Collection and Preservation department.

“As part of this work in building the new Academy Collection and Preservation department, some team members will be leaving the Academy this week,” Kramer wrote, adding the note that “less than 2% of our overall workforce” had been impacted. “We know that having to say goodbye to colleagues is incredibly hard. We are deeply committed to providing support for those leaving and are finalizing a new reporting structure that we will share soon.”

The Academy and the Academy Foundation Workers Union did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The layoffs occurred one day before the Academy announced a slew of new acquisitions to its collection, which it touts as exceeding 52 million items. The organization issued a press release Thursday, headlined by new pieces such as Quentin Tarantino’s original handwritten script draft of “Pulp Fiction,” the tearaway dress worn by Jamie Lee Curtis in James Cameron’s “True Lies” and more than 80 artworks by Hayao Miyazaki and Nobura Yoshida.

“We are thrilled to welcome these iconic pieces into our collection. Overseen by our skilled team of researchers, preservationists, and curators, the Academy Collection plays a pivotal role in shaping the future of moviemaking,” said Matt Severson, executive vice president of Academy collection and preservation. “We are grateful to our donors for their remarkable gifts to the Academy and commitment to preserving our film history.”

Since Bill Kramer was tapped to be the organization’s CEO in 2022, the Academy has seen a series of structural changes across many departments, including the promotion of Amy Homma to oversee the museum, as well as the expansion of oversight for Severson, once the head of library operations, who is now heading collections, archiving and select elements of the Academy Museum.

The Academy Film Archive is one of the most robust collections of movies in the world, and a leader in the field of preservation. The Academy Library, known as the Margaret Herrick Library, is one of the world’s leading film history resources for research.