Today the Chronicle Herald ran a nice story about the film group Alliance/Atlantis closing down Salter Street Films. That's the only one in town that I've ever heard of. A while ago they reduced its staff, and now they've fired the last four people or so who were still hanging around the office.
Paul Donovan, who runs it, was out of the country when all of this happened, so there was no point in asking him anything. It was left to his vice president to say that they would, of course, continue to produce some shows, but "we have reduced our staffing levels to conform to what we think will be an appropriate production and distribution model going forward."
People who want to be mandarins have to study this style of communication. "Staffing levels", "appropriate", "going forward". "Going forward" really just means "from now on", but it sounds like something good. You're getting things done, you're meeting the next challenge, and above all you're speaking the lingo.
Also, if you read the whole article, you'll see there's not a shred of regret at having to fire all those people. And why should there be? They're going forward. Whoever isn't busy going forward is busy dying. I don't think any of their movies were any good.
It makes me wonder about Conrad Black, or Lord Raglan, or whatever he calls himself. How does one go about losing a publishing empire over a weekend, as he seems to have done? I can see someone misplacing his wallet or bank card after a late night. That can happen to the best of us. But an empire? You'd think that would require years of mismanagement and incompetence.