One day after Valence Media purged staffers at The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Vibe, dick clark productions and Knives Out producers Media Rights Capital, the axe came down hard this afternoon on some top editorial employees at the Tinseltown trade.

As well as now former chief film critic Todd McCarthy (who penned a guest column about his departure for Deadline on Thursday), THR will be losing senior reporter Rebecca Sun, and Senior Film Editor Piya Sinha-Roy, who joined just last September. Additionally, Real Estate and City Editor Peter Kiefer, senior events editor Ramona Saviss, art production manager Michelle Mondragon, senior production manager Maya Eslam, photo editor Lisa Dragani, video producers Marya Gullo and Natalie Heltzel have also been handed their pink slips today by the Modi Wiczyk and Asif Satchu run Valence.

We hear that the core THR film team of Borys Kitt, Pam McClintock, Chris Gardner, Executive Film Editor Tatiana Siegel and Editor at Large Kim Masters are among those who are safe, for now. But sources tell us the internal expectation is more cuts are coming soon as ad revenue dries up for the trade.

Already in choppy financial waters before the coronavirus pandemic shut down Hollywood and most of the world, THR saw editorial director Matt Belloni suddenly exit the publication on April 6. In a goodbye memo to his team, the successor to Janice Min played the diplomatic card and said “well-meaning, diligent, ambitious people can disagree about fundamental priorities and strategies.”

The fact is things were so bad that right in the middle of an economic downturn, once legal beagle Belloni took a walk after refusing to submit to repeated pressure from above to play nice with parties that Valence considered pals or business associates.

Valence did not respond to request for comment on Thursday’s layoffs. If they do, we will update with their statement.

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