The Disney Studios may be headed into a period of retrenchment with some cost-cutting measures possibly leading to layoffs, according to the L.A. Times.

Disney executives are meeting this week to deal with this worsening economy and declines in ad spending.

Studio executives said Thursday that no decisions had been made on possible layoffs. People familiar with the situation have said reductions are being contemplated companywide, the Times said.

Disney spokespersons declined to comment.

Disney is not the only entertainment company to retrench in anticipation of recession. NBC Universal said two weeks ago said that it was planning to slash $500 million in spending — 3% of its budget — because it expected “unprecedented economic challenges” in the year ahead.

Deadline Hollywood Daily is reporting that “Viacom‘s MTV Networks is planning a lot of layoffs.” Which it is planning to announce on, um, Tuesday. As DHD puts the election day hide-and-seek: “”Dontcha just love Big Media’s sensitivity?”

The OC Weekly ends its story about the Orange County Register Layoffs with this juicy tip:

*MORE: Add classical music critic Timothy Mangan and theater guy (and all-around mensch) Paul Hodgins. Per our source, “Paul Hodgins asked for a buyout and will probably get it but it hasn’t been formalized yet.” With those two losses, the Reg has abdicated a large chunk of the arts scene in the county. I forget–is dance critic Laura Bleiberg (sp?) still around?

One problem. It isn’t true. At all. (Well, except for the part about Paul being a mensch.)

Dudes, your offices are in the same area code. Pick up a phone some time and figure it out!

[UPDATE: Paul blogs about the false rumors of his death ... also, we mistakenly thought OC Weekly called Mangan a mensch and reported as such. We've fixed the error, but for the record, they're both mensches.]

Two L.A. musicians, composer Cliff Tasner and rapper Wil B, are circulating a video on You Tube that tells people not to vote. We suppose they’re being facetious, but you can never tell. Click here to take a look.

Super Personal Touch: For a story about text message-based dating, the LAT ran a photo of one of the subjects that the subject took himself with his phone. A nice, meta touch — or more evidence that the LAT has fired too many workers?

Swing Votes? Seema Mehta, following Sarah Palin on the campaing trail, reports today from Erie, Pa. that crowds booed the VP candidate when she told them, “I am thrilled to be here in the home state of the world-champion Philadelphia Phillies.” Turns out Erie is pretty divided between loyalties to the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cleveland Indians. But to be fair, folks in Erie can practically see Philadelphia from their porches.

Coolest Job At The Paper: When we grow up, we want to be Thomas H. Maugh II.

Yes, it appears true. Republican Presidential candidate John McCain, in a last ditch effort to get votes, will appear this week on “Saturday Night Live,” press reports claim.

McCain may be trying to appeal to a younger demographic or he could just want to bitch-slap Alec Baldwin and Lorne Michaels for making fun of his running mate, Sarah Palin.

Either way, should be a good show.

An improbable studio film from director Barry Levinson is leaving audiences perplexed in its limited release.

The film, based on producer Art Linson’s tell-all book about the ins and outs of producing, is really more of a producer’s mea culpa. (Click here to see a trailer for the film.)

That Linson was able to convince a studio (much less 2929 Prods. chieftain Mark Cuban) to take on his semi-biographical tome is testament to his power as a producer. That he was able to script the version that Levinson actually shot is perhaps a greater accomplishment.

Hollywood is not ripe material for the film business, going back Preston Sturges’s classic “Sullivan’s Travels” all the way through to Levinson’s earlier film, “Wag the Dog” (ironically starring Robert De Niro as well) and even Robert Altman’s “The Player.”

It might have something to do with the age-old industry adage: Don’t ask how the sausage is made, just eat it.

Linson is not much of a screenwriter, but he does get off some good riffs. Bruce Willis, as a coddled star, screams at De Niro that he doesn’t have any films, he’s a producer:

“That’s like the mayonaisse on a bad sandwich.”

Maybe we should leave it at that.

Rob Tornoe has a sobering post on his site today. It’s a graph from a 1982 Newsweek article:

“The Modem, a.k.a. modulator/demodulator, is a handy little device that lets computers talk over telephone lines. … ‘I go home, have a glass of wine, turn on my computer and see what’s on Dow Jones,’ says Apple vice president Wilfred Houde. ‘I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but I don’t read the paper anymore.’”

– Newsweek cover story, February 22, 1982, page 54.

Tornoe titles his post “The REAL Beginning of the End,” but we don’t agree. The REAL real beginning of the end would have been a graph from newspaper editors around the country on February 23, 1982, saying that either they hadn’t read the story or, worse – and more likely – that they’d read it and thought nothing … absolutely nothing … about it.

Further details in the Paramount/DreamWorks split are coming to light in what appears to be an amicable divorce (if such a thing exists in Hollywood), the Hollywood Reporter says.

As part of the studios’ separation agreement, projects remaining on Melrose Avenue that the new DreamWorks will have an option to co-finance and co-distribute (through its deal with Universal) include “No Man’s Land”; the Demetri Martin-penned comedy “Will”; “Love Me or Leave Me”; “Blood and Thunder,” about 19th century adventurer Kit Carson; “Follies”; “Little Britain”; “The Rivals,” with a screenplay by Robin Swicord; “Dominion,” produced by Nina Jacobson; “Spydust”; and an untitled Diablo Cody-scripted comedy from an original Steven Spielberg idea.

Previously reported in this batch were “Matt Helm,” “Imaginary Friends,” “Children of the Lamp” and a President Lincoln biopic scripted by Tony Kushner that was in the Paramount development fold before Spielberg showed an interest.

Paramount plans to distribute 20 films in 2009.

Meanwhile, former DW production president Adam Goodman, now a production chief along with Brad Weston at Paramount, has acquired rights to the graphic novel “Agnes Quill: An Anthology of Mystery” for Thor Freudenthal to direct. Evan Spiliotopoulos is adapting the Dave Roman work.

Goodman also will oversee all DreamWorks-developed projects remaining in active development at Paramount. Those number about 100.

For its part, DreamWorks likely will keep new acquisitions rare and focus on ready-to-go, well-packaged projects in the next few months as the company staffs up and finalizes financing. Development will continue on the 17 projects DreamWorks took with it after the split that Paramount will have the option to co-finance and co-distribute.

Those projects include “Button Man,” “Escape Artist,” “Ghost in the Shell,” “Motorcade,” “Hereafter,” “St. Agnes’ Stand,” “The Damned,” “Rainbow Bridge,” “Real Steel,” “The Kidnapping of Eduardo Mortado,” “Atlantis Rising,” “Cowboys & Aliens,” “Dinner With Schmucks,” “Deep Sea Cowboys,” “The 39 Clues,” “Quartermain” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” which the studio is in talks with Ben Stiller, among others, to direct.

Several of these have been floated to one degree or another since the studio acquired them as potential Spielberg directing gigs. But the director is casting his net wider for an outside project that he can helm while the new studio retools.

Additionally, Spielberg will remain an executive producer on four wholly owned Paramount properties, including “Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen” and “When Worlds Collide.”

Man, it’s been a horrible couple of weeks for the state of print in this town. LA Observed notes that jobs were slashed at the LA Weekly and reports of a rumored four job cuts at the LA Daily News.