Sony Pictures Latest Studio To OK Working From Home; Lot, Office Still Open

Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman and CEO Tony Vinciquerra told employees Thursday that they are free to work remotely as the coronavirus virus spreads. He said in a memo to staff that the Culver City lot and offices remain open.

Companies all over the country are transitioning to work-from-home models, with studios among the entertainment and media companies also having to figure out their production plans — several shows with live audiences, for example, have shut down altogether during the outbreak. On site and on location filming has also been postponed or scaled back.

‘If your role does not lend itself to working from home – for example, if you are in production or if your role requires you to be physically at work – then you should discuss this with your manager,” Vinciquerra said in his memo (read it in full below). “We are aware that family demands are becoming more complicated as this crisis unfolds, so we want you to have flexibility.”

Amazon Studios, Lionsgate, Entertainment One and STX are among the studios implementing work-from-home protocols in response to the spread of the coronavirus, which has jumped past 1,000 cases in the U.S. and has led to the postponement of entertainment staples from sports leagues to Broadway to festivals and confabs.

Last week, SPE closed offices in London, Paris and Gdynia, Poland, for a week as a precautionary measure. At the time, a Sony spokesperson said one employee from the London office had recently traveled to an area affected by the virus and the office closures were in response; they stressed the company has no diagnosed cases and the move was purely precautionary.

All of the company’s other offices across Europe had been open.

Here’s Vinciquerra’s full memo from today:

All,

With all the fast-moving developments related to the current Coronavirus pandemic, I wanted to take a moment to clarify where we stand on the topic of working from home.

Although our studio lot and offices are open, if you feel more comfortable working at home, you are free to work remotely for the time being. Please discuss your remote working arrangements with your manager, and feel free to reach out to P&O or IT with any questions. If your role does not lend itself to working from home – for example, if you are in production or if your role requires you to be physically at work – then you should discuss this with your manager. We are aware that family demands are becoming more complicated as this crisis unfolds, so we want you to have flexibility.

We will stay in close communication as events evolve. Please take care of yourselves and follow CDC guidelines which are posted on mySPE along with other helpful resources. I’ve also included below reminders that we communicated earlier this week to all employees.

Finally, our company is resilient and in a strong place to weather these types of situations given the diversity of our businesses. We are well-positioned to act on the opportunities ahead and to focus on what we do best: Working with top talent and making world class entertainment for audiences around the globe.

Tony

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