Motion Picture Academy Clarifies Staffing And Changes To Newly Created Collection And Preservation Department; Announces New Leaders In Letter To Members

deadline.com:

Today the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has sent a letter to its membership clarifying recent staffing changes across their collections and preservation teams at the Academy archive, museum, and library.

It was reported at the end of October that 16 staff members had been laid off as part of a broader restructuring designed to bring all collecting, restoration, and preservation efforts together under the newly created Academy Collection and Preservation Department.

Among those let go were Mike Pogorzelski — director of the Academy Film Archive for the last 24 years — and many veteran Archive staff members Sean Savage, Lynne Kirste, Joe Lindner, Melissa Levesque, Mike Brostoff, and Ed Carter.

Longtime Academy librarian Anne Coco was also among those leaving the organization. This move caused great distress among many in the film community, and even a petition sent to the AMPAS Board Of Governors, led by the group called Missing Movies.