Casey Bloys Frazer Harrison/GA/The Hollywood Reporter/Getty Images HBO and HBO Max chief Casey Bloys is in London this week for the U.K. and Ireland launch of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) streamer HBO Max on Thursday, March 26.
The debut with launch partners Sky and Prime Video follows the mid-January launch of the streamer in Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein, as well as Paramount’s $111 billion megadeal for WBD.
During a December visit to the British capital to reveal HBO’s slate, Bloys brought along the likes of Euphoria executive producer, writer and director Sam Levinson, who previewed season 3, The Comeback creators Michael Patrick King and Lisa Kudrow, Industry co-creators and writers Mickey Down and Konrad Kay, along with star Marisa Abela, as well as Ira Parker, the co-creator and showrunner of A Night of the Seven Kingdoms, set in the Game of Thrones universe.
Related Stories
TV HBO Max Inks First-Look Deal With 'Sirât' Producer Domingo Corral
Movies Wim Wenders to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award From German Film Academy
JB Perrette, CEO and president of global streaming & games at WBD, and Andrew Georgiou, president and managing director for U.K. and Ireland and of WBD Sports Europe, recently also touted the opportunity in the new markets. “Some may think we’re late to the streaming party, but our focus has been on harnessing the benefits of what we call the last mover advantage,” Perrette said last month.
On Tuesday, Bloys talked to The Hollywood Reporter about remaining focused on his work amid the planned Paramount deal, HBO finally having a direct presence in the U.K., how The Pitt and other hits fit into his programming strategy and the upcoming much-anticipated Harry Potter series.
With HBO Max launching in the U.K. and Ireland, does that change your thinking about local original programming opportunities?
We’ve had a long history of work here, both co-productions and also HBO working with U.K. talent. It’s funny when people ask about local original programs. I’ll point out that half of our existing schedule is local original programming, if you think about A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, or Sharon Horgan who is making a new show for us, or House of the Dragon and Harry Potter. Even Succession, because [creator] Jesse [Armstrong] and his writing and directing team were mostly Brits.
So, the only difference would be now, if we find something that we want to do, we will probably have to figure out what the streaming rights look like. We haven’t done it yet. But I’ve had a lot of good collaborations with most of the networks, BBC, Sky, Channel Four. We have basically worked with everybody. So, we would have to figure out what the streaming rights look like. I don’t know if that’ll be hard or easy, but at some point, we’ll probably figure that out.
You mentioned the much-anticipated Harry Potter series. Given that you seem to be quite deep into production, can you talk a little bit about it and how you feel about it?
I’ve seen the work, and I’m very excited. I can’t talk too much about it other than to tell you I’m very happy with what I’m seeing.
There’s also been quite a bit of toxic debate around the show. Given Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling’s anti-trans stance, John Lithgow, who plays Albus Dumbledore in the series, has had to answer constant questions about his role. And Paapa Essiedu has shared that he’s faced racist death threats after being cast as Severus Snape. Did you have to think about safeguarding talent differently for a big show like that?
The good news-bad news with big IP worlds is you have a lot of passionate fans, huge passionate fan bases. That also comes with people having very specific opinions, people who feel like they’re fierce protectors. So anytime we do a show like that, not just Harry Potter, but any kind of big IP show, we will always talk to anybody participating about social media and best practices and things like that. It is just a reality.
In a demo for HBO Max U.K., your hit show The Pitt was featured prominently. That series is so popular and award-winning, but it’s different from what people traditionally have seen as an HBO show. Can you talk a little bit about how it fits into your programming strategy?
It was a very specific choice. Obviously, we have HBO shows and the HBO library, but if we were going to expand beyond that with a Max original label, it was meant to give a little bit more latitude. When we looked at the landscape and what wasn’t there, one of the things we saw was, for lack of a better word in the U.S., network programming, meaning shows with more than seven or eight episodes, shows that are built to be able to come back on an annual basis. And these are shows where, in theory, you could watch one episode in isolation and enjoy it, as opposed to heavily serialized programming.
I feel like The Pitt has struck a really good balance doing that. But what we found and what’s been great is it’s not just core HBO viewers watching it. We’re also seeing people who are more likely to watch the Warner Bros. TV or movie libraries … interested in watching The Pitt. So, The Pitt has successfully broadened out what subscribers are doing.
So it’s been very successful, and we’re trying with other shows that are staples of network television, a cop show, a family show, things like that. What I like about it is that it diversifies the slate in a nice way. So every January, I know I’m going to have 15 episodes of The Pitt. That is a really great thing for a programmer to have. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to do HBO shows that are seven or eight episodes long and limited series. But if I get The Pitt and if one of the other ones hopefully works, the family show or the cop show, you’ve got 30 episodes a year. That’s a really great thing to add to a programming schedule.
Heated Rivalry has also been a hit for you in the U.S. But that’s more of a show you distribute, right? Can you talk about that and its reach a bit?
Yes, it’s a distribution relationship. We picked it up in the U.S., Latin America, Italy, Germany, not the U.K., because it was launching, and they didn’t want to wait for our launch here. So, I picked it up as a distributor, and I’m thrilled that we picked it up. I don’t want to get the Canadians mad at me. This is not a show that we developed or anything, but I’m thrilled to have it, and it’s done incredibly well. So, I’m proud and happy that we have the follow-up seasons.
You talked about expanding or diversifying your slate and audience with The Pitt. Do you see any other genres or areas as opportunities?
The success of The Pitt is because of what was missing in the marketplace. I would say it’s the network fare that a lot of people have abandoned because they’ve been chasing us, making seven or eight episodes of prestige programming. They’ve been busy chasing us doing that type of show, and there was an opportunity in the marketplace to go back to what networks historically did incredibly well. And if you want a Grey’s Anatomy or a Cold Case or, pick your long-running drama, you do need to invest in trying to find the next generation of them.
I want to ask you about the Paramount deal for HBO parent company Warner Bros. Discovery. Has it affected your work at all?
On the one level, we’re planning things usually two years in advance, so it’s business as usual, trying to put together programming that resonates and makes an impact. You also, obviously, have to be aware of what’s going on. But there’s only so much coordination you can do [and are allowed to do before a merger closes]. So, it’s a tricky balance. You do have to keep moving forward and operating your business as is. Obviously, we’re aware that the merger is going to happen, but we just can’t get into specifics yet, so it’s not affecting my day-to-day.
Even if you guys aren’t allowed to discuss any post-merger details, have you had any talks with David Ellison or Cindy Holland?
I had a really good lunch with David, a really nice conversation. But again, there’s only so much you can get into; it’s limited. But it was a good lunch, and I enjoyed talking to him.
Speaking of lunch: You were recently seen having lunch with Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos. Any insight on that?
Well, anybody I have lunch with now is going to be through this prism. Sometimes lunch is just lunch.
You produce shows in California and different parts of the world, so I want to ask you about runaway production. Do you have any targets for keeping a certain percentage of production in California?
California has done a good job expanding the tax credit. I think it’s a fair criticism to ask why they hadn’t done [that earlier]. Why allow Atlanta to become a major production center? By the way, Atlanta is a nice place to shoot as well. I think there wasn’t this idea that the entertainment industry was a captive audience in California, and plenty of other states have shown it’s not.
It’s great when you can shoot in California. The Pitt shoots there. Hacks shoots there, the family show that we’re doing with Greg Berlanti will shoot in California. So it’s great when you can shoot there, because a lot of people are based there. But I hope they continue to be aggressive in terms of making it an easier place to shoot.
Speaking of things that are easier to shoot. You mentioned you can do 15 episodes of The Pitt annually. But some of the big series needing effects are more involved…
You have to balance it. For some of the bigger shows like Harry Potter or House of the Dragon, or The Last of Us, huge world-building shows, it would be nice to have those on an annual basis. But from a production point of view, it’s just not possible. It’s not that everybody involved is just taking their time and sitting around. These shows are complicated to do. In order to bring a show back on an annual basis, you do have to start from the beginning with people who know how to do it, people like [The Pitt executive producer] John Wells or Greg Berlanti, and it’s helpful if there are not dragons that need to be rendered, or zombies and things like that.
Let me book-end our chat by getting back to the HBO Max launch on Thursday here in the U.K. and in Ireland. How exciting is it for you and your team to be here in the marketplace?
It’s exciting for me personally, because, as we talked about, we’ve done so many shows here, and I’ve worked with so many writers, directors, and actors from the U.K. So it’s nice for me personally. It’s also nice because HBO has not really existed here on its own. And I feel like in the U.K., probably more than in other markets, there’s a real awareness of HBO. But this is the first time we’re actually here to say: “Come and join us.” So that’s a big deal.
THR Newsletters
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day
Subscribe Sign Up
