The saga of Paramount Vantage arrived at its bloody conclusion this morning, when Rob Moore and John Lesher sent a memo announcing the termination of 60 jobs at the specialty label. The paring down follows the earlier absorption of Vantage into the 'Mount mother ship, where Lesher graduated earlier this year, Amy Israel hit the eject button and which will keep a handful of staffers on as part of the catchily titled Paramount Worldwide Acquisitions Group announced a few days ago.

Anne Thompson had a first glimpse at the memo, which, as death warrants go, comes nowhere near the humane, chummy poignancy achieved in May by the executioners at Warner Bros. We guess they really are cutting back on everything, but at least they managed to promote their 2008-09 slate while they were at it. Stay classy, 'Mount. Follow jump for the full text.

TO: Paramount Pictures Employees
FR: Rob Moore and John Lesher
RE: Announcement
DT: July 24, 2008

As you know, we announced last month that we would be reorganizing the Paramount and Vantage marketing, distribution and physical production departments to maximize efficiencies. As part of that process, we analyzed areas of redundancies and today, we announced we would be eliminating about 60 positions across the company. Many of the changes were a direct result of the consolidation of these departments and some were the result of identifying additional opportunities to streamline the organisation. The goal is to be strategic and disciplined about how we manage the business for the long term, and to take into account the dynamic nature of the challenging marketplace.

As we have rebuilt and grown the organisation, Paramount has consistently looked to evolve in a way that best serves our filmmakers, their creativity and our consumers. We are so grateful for the immense contributions by so many Paramount and Vantage professionals who have been instrumental in our successes so far.

Moving forward, this new structure provides us with a solid foundation as we prepare for our upcoming slate of diverse films, including The Duchess, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Revolutionary Road, G.I. Joe, Star Trek and Transformers 2, to name a few.

None of our successes are possible without your continued support and hard work - we really appreciate it.

Best, Rob and John

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UPDATE: An astute reader points out that the Paramount terminations are across the board, not solely at Paramount Vantage. This PR-massaged studio bloodletting can be so complicated!

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