I’m looking at Sean Means‘ list of dead and dismembered film crickets and asking myself if the firings and layoffs have begun to bottom out. Out of the 55 who’ve been laid off, reassigned or otherwise bitten the dust since ’06, 10 have been heave-ho’ed this year. Four in January, one in February, two in March, three in April and one in May. But since then (i.e.,the last four months) it’s been All Quiet on the Western Front.

Which obviously doesn’t really portend anything. For all I know another 10 or 15 will get tossed between now and New Year’s Eve. But a little voice is hinting that perhaps things are settling down a bit. I mean, y’know…maybe.

There were 9 head-choppings in ’06, 13 in ’07, and 20 in ’08. The forces that prompted the dismissals were obviously gaining strength with each succeeding year. At first ’09 looked like a lion with ten bodies falling through the trap door over the first five months. The final tally could have been 25 or 30…who knew? But then came late spring and summer, and it turned into a lamb. It just stopped. Maybe the film cricket job market has been bled to the point that there ain’t no more blood. Hard to say, hard to know.