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I wrote about the open letter opposing the Para-WBD merger that’s fraying Hollywood relationships, reported on how A24 is reshaping TV and dug into what’s taking Peter Friedlander so long to set TV strategy at Amazon. I’m lesley.goldberg@theankler.com

Welcome back to TV in 3, where I’m mixing up the format again for some big industry news (man, there seems to be a lot of it these days) as Apple this week announced a new CEO who will take the reins from Tim Cook. Hollywood has lots of questions about the tech giant’s next chief, John Ternus, a hardware guy with no significant ties to the entertainment industry, and I’ll dig into the three most pressing ones below.

But remember: Back when he first steered Apple into Hollywood in 2017 with Apple TV+, Cook wasn’t too familiar with entertainment industry players or mores either. Nearly a decade later, it was Cook who broke the news (via a social media post) when the highly anticipated fourth season of Ted Lasso began production last July.

Since launching in late 2019 with The Morning Show, Dickinson and For All Mankind, Apple TV (the “+” was subtracted last October) has spent billions establishing itself as a home for star-studded prestige original TV series and films including Severance, Slow Horses, F1 and CODA, the latter of which made the iPhone maker the first streamer to take home the coveted Oscar for best picture.

Now, after a tenure that has included the launch of Apple Services — which encompasses the company’s TV, music, arcade, books, podcasts and other entertainment options and has become a $100 billion business — Cook will segue to a new post as executive chairman come Sept. 1. In the meantime, he’ll help newly appointed Ternus, the California native who first joined Apple as a design engineer in 2001, segue into the company’s top job.

Hollywood has little clarity on how Ternus, 50, will handle Apple’s entertainment ambitions — but that hasn’t stopped the industry from gaming it out. In fact, across conversations with agents, executives and producers this week, three questions kept coming up again and again.

Today I break down the answers and then some:

• Who really controls Apple TV inside Apple right now

• Whether it even needs to make money

• If Ternus will keep funding its spend-heavy strategy

• Apple TV’s biggest flaw — and why Ternus won’t likely tackle it

• The Services division’s soaring growth under Eddy Cue, who also was rumored as a candidate for CEO

• Two ways it can scale — and the risks baked into both

• Why Apple is making a CEO change from a position of strength

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I wrote about the open letter opposing the Para-WBD merger fraying Hollywood relationships, reported on how A24 is reshaping TV and dug into what’s taking Peter Friedlander so long to set TV strategy at Amazon. I’m lesley.goldberg@theankler.com

Even a proven hitmaker like Courtney Kemp is pitching shows differently now.

When the creator of Power — the Starz hit she built with Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson that became one of the most successful cable franchises of the past decade — takes a new series to market, the first question isn’t just whether the idea works. It’s how much it costs, whether it can scale and if it can turn into something bigger.

In other words: budget, franchise, repeat.

More than a decade after Power proved that shows made by and for underrepresented audiences can deliver both cultural impact and real revenue, Kemp is back with Nemesis, a gritty L.A.-set crime drama she hopes can hit on a larger, global platform. But the way she got there reflects a broader shift across Hollywood — one where even established creators are adapting to a tighter, more cost-conscious market.

“It didn’t used to be that way,” Kemp tells me in her first interview before the show’s May 14 launch. “It used to be, ‘I can tell this story. Do you guys want this story?’ Now it’s, ‘How much will it cost to tell that story? And can you do it?’”

After seven years building the Power universe — a franchise that generated more than 1.6 billion global streaming hours and helped anchor the platform’s digital business — she left in 2021 for Netflix. But the path to Nemesis wasn’t immediate.

She spent the first few years prepping a crime drama that reunited her with The Good Wife’s Julianna Margulies (Kemp earlier had worked on the CBS legal drama). But amid Kemp’s grief over the brother she lost in 2021, she couldn’t lean in fully to the show she envisioned. “It was not the gourmet cheeseburger,” Kemp tells me of the show that wasn’t (referencing Netflix’s taste for elevated but broad swings). “It was a little too esoteric. I was writing about what I was going through, not about what I’m good at writing about.”

Another complication: The broader environment was cooling to the post-2020 push for more inclusive storytelling, even as the audiences for those stories remained.

“Black people aren’t going away. Women aren’t going away. Queer folks aren’t going away. No one’s going away. We’re still here, and we still need content, and our dollars still count,” says Kemp, who turns 49 on May 4. “So, people are still going to make things. Now, is it going to get harder? Yes. Is less of the budget going to go to that? Yes, I think that’s true. Overall, we’re going to find more of us competing for the same spots.”

Nemesis, filmed and set in L.A., stars Matthew Law as a hero cop and Y’lan Noel as the criminal who has evaded him for years. It’s equal parts heist caper and marriage drama with a hefty dose of action and adrenaline that Kemp hopes will resonate with Netflix’s global audience.

Kemp has learned a lot about her own personal strengths and weaknesses over the past four years. Speaking from her home in L.A., where she lives with her son and fiancé, Tani Marole — who’s also her co-creator on Nemesis — she lays out a master class’ worth of knowledge she’s gleaned about the industry and more specifically, Netflix.

Today, she reveals:

• What Netflix actually means when it asks creators to “restate the premise”

• Why selling a show now starts with proving the budget — not just the idea

• What she learned from the Netflix project that didn’t work — and why this one did

• How Kemp approaches every project as a potential franchise from day one

• Why she fought to shoot Nemesis in L.A., and what she gave up to do it

• How global streamers balance specific storytelling with broad appeal

• The “rollercoaster” that has been Hollywood’s approach to marginalized communities

• How she defined and nurtured her showrunner brand, and her advice for other writers

This column is for paid subscribers only. Interested in a group sub for your team or company? Click here.

For full access and to continue reading all Ankler content, paid subscribers can click here.

Click here to keep reading

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I wrote about the open letter opposing the Para-WBD merger fraying Hollywood relationships, reported on how A24 is reshaping TV and dug into what’s taking Peter Friedlander so long to set TV strategy at Amazon. I’m lesley.goldberg@theankler.com

Even a proven hitmaker like Courtney Kemp is pitching shows differently now.

When the creator of Power — the Starz hit she built with Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson that became one of the most successful cable franchises of the past decade — takes a new series to market, the first question isn’t just whether the idea works. It’s how much it costs, whether it can scale and if it can turn into something bigger.

In other words: budget, franchise, repeat.

More than a decade after Power proved that shows made by and for underrepresented audiences can deliver both cultural impact and real revenue, Kemp is back with Nemesis, a gritty L.A.-set crime drama she hopes can hit on a larger, global platform. But the way she got there reflects a broader shift across Hollywood — one where even established creators are adapting to a tighter, more cost-conscious market.

“It didn’t used to be that way,” Kemp tells me in her first interview before the show’s May 14 launch. “It used to be, ‘I can tell this story. Do you guys want this story?’ Now it’s, ‘How much will it cost to tell that story? And can you do it?’”

After seven years building the Power universe — a franchise that generated more than 1.6 billion global streaming hours and helped anchor the platform’s digital business — she left in 2021 for Netflix. But the path to Nemesis wasn’t immediate.

She spent the first few years prepping a crime drama that reunited her with The Good Wife’s Julianna Margulies (Kemp earlier had worked on the CBS legal drama). But amid Kemp’s grief over the brother she lost in 2021, she couldn’t lean in fully to the show she envisioned. “It was not the gourmet cheeseburger,” Kemp tells me of the show that wasn’t (referencing Netflix’s taste for elevated but broad swings). “It was a little too esoteric. I was writing about what I was going through, not about what I’m good at writing about.”

Another complication: The broader environment was cooling to the post-2020 push for more inclusive storytelling, even as the audiences for those stories remained.

“Black people aren’t going away. Women aren’t going away. Queer folks aren’t going away. No one’s going away. We’re still here, and we still need content, and our dollars still count,” says Kemp, who turns 49 on May 4. “So, people are still going to make things. Now, is it going to get harder? Yes. Is less of the budget going to go to that? Yes, I think that’s true. Overall, we’re going to find more of us competing for the same spots.”

Nemesis, filmed and set in L.A., stars Matthew Law as a hero cop and Y’lan Noel as the criminal who has evaded him for years. It’s equal parts heist caper and marriage drama with a hefty dose of action and adrenaline that Kemp hopes will resonate with Netflix’s global audience.

Kemp has learned a lot about her own personal strengths and weaknesses over the past four years. Speaking from her home in L.A., where she lives with her son and fiancé, Tani Marole — who’s also her co-creator on Nemesis — she lays out a master class’ worth of knowledge she’s gleaned about the industry and more specifically, Netflix.

Today, she reveals:

• What Netflix actually means when it asks creators to “restate the premise”

• Why selling a show now starts with proving the budget — not just the idea

• What she learned from the Netflix project that didn’t work — and why this one did

• How Kemp approaches every project as a potential franchise from day one

• Why she fought to shoot Nemesis in L.A., and what she gave up to do it

• How global streamers balance specific storytelling with broad appeal

• The “rollercoaster” that has been Hollywood’s approach to marginalized communities

• How she defined and nurtured her showrunner brand, and her advice for other writers

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I host the Ankler Agenda podcast and wrote about millennials’ challenges and Gen Z’s entry pains in the current jobs landscape, the WGA’s new deal with the AMPTP and why some guild members are voting no, and Taylor Frankie Paul and Disney’s Bachelorette mess.

Everyone talks about taking big swings again, but few Hollywood execs actually feel safe enough to do it. Former Showtime president Jana Winograde and ex-Warner Bros. Television chief Susan Rovner didn’t wait.

The two longtime friends — who first clicked while both worked in ABC Entertainment’s movies-for-TV division in the ’90s — recently left the legacy system behind to launch a new company focused on microdramas. They now play faster and looser in ways unimaginable inside their former corporate behemoths: greenlighting shows from the back seats of cars; searching for new talent right out of film school; taking chances on whimsical storylines.

“You gotta accept the fact that the business has changed,” Rovner tells me in a wide-ranging conversation you can also listen to above, or watch on YouTube here. “We can hate it, we can be depressed about it, but it is a fact. You have to be open to looking at new avenues. The world looks different, and to wish it was the same feels like a fool’s errand.”

Their company formerly referred to as MicroCo in the press is called aTwist — I’m revealing the official name and website exclusively here today. The vertical series app is backed by former WME chair Lloyd Braun. It launches later this year.

The name is “meant to really just capture how we want fans to engage with us and what keeps them coming back,” says Winograde. “We want to be fan-forward and invite participation and reaction and repeat viewing.” Like other microdrama apps, aTwist will run on a combo of subscription and ad revenue, with users spending “coins” via microtransactions to open new chapters of stories. A free version with ads will also be available.

Today the duo reveal:

• How they’re developing ideas — often instinctually and on the fly

• Why microdramas are one of the few growth areas in TV right now

• The legacy Hollywood rules they had to unlearn

• How lower budgets are unlocking real creative risk

• Why they’re betting on unknown writers (like Rovner once did with Supernatural’s Eric Kripke)

• What mid-career execs can do to find new opportunities

• How Gen Z can break into a shrinking industry

Note: Winograde and Rovner are together at NAB Show in Vegas today on The Ankler’s Business of Media and Entertainment stage with Dhar Mann Studios’ head of vertical content Erin McFarlane and Second Rodeo founder Scott Brown in a conversation with Natalie Jarvey.

This column is for paid subscribers only. Interested in a group sub for your team or company? Click here.

For full access and to continue reading all Ankler content, paid subscribers can click here.

Click here to keep reading

Share

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I host the Ankler Agenda podcast and wrote about millennials’ challenges and Gen Z’s entry pains in the current jobs landscape, the WGA’s new deal with the AMPTP and why some guild members are voting no, and Taylor Frankie Paul and Disney’s Bachelorette mess.

Everyone talks about taking big swings again, but few Hollywood execs actually feel safe enough to do it. Former Showtime president Jana Winograde and ex-Warner Bros. Television chief Susan Rovner didn’t wait.

The two longtime friends — who first clicked while both worked in ABC Entertainment’s movies-for-TV division in the ’90s — recently left the legacy system behind to launch a new company focused on microdramas. They now play faster and looser in ways unimaginable inside their former corporate behemoths: greenlighting shows from the back seats of cars; searching for new talent right out of film school; taking chances on whimsical storylines.

“You gotta accept the fact that the business has changed,” Rovner tells me in a wide-ranging conversation you can also listen to above, or watch on YouTube here. “We can hate it, we can be depressed about it, but it is a fact. You have to be open to looking at new avenues. The world looks different, and to wish it was the same feels like a fool’s errand.”

Their company formerly referred to as MicroCo in the press is called aTwist — I’m revealing the official name and website exclusively here today. The vertical series app is backed by former WME chair Lloyd Braun. It launches later this year.

The name is “meant to really just capture how we want fans to engage with us and what keeps them coming back,” says Winograde. “We want to be fan-forward and invite participation and reaction and repeat viewing.” Like other microdrama apps, aTwist will run on a combo of subscription and ad revenue, with users spending “coins” via microtransactions to open new chapters of stories. A free version with ads will also be available.

Today the duo reveal:

• How they’re developing ideas — often instinctually and on the fly

• Why microdramas are one of the few growth areas in TV right now

• The legacy Hollywood rules they had to unlearn

• How lower budgets are unlocking real creative risk

• Why they’re betting on unknown writers (like Rovner once did with Supernatural’s Eric Kripke)

• What mid-career execs can do to find new opportunities

• How Gen Z can break into a shrinking industry

Note: Winograde and Rovner are together at NAB Show in Vegas today on The Ankler’s Business of Media and Entertainment stage with Dhar Mann Studios’ head of vertical content Erin McFarlane and Second Rodeo founder Scott Brown in a conversation with Natalie Jarvey.

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I wrote about how A24 is reshaping TV, dug into what’s taking Peter Friedlander so long to set his TV strategy at Amazon, wrote about Byron Allen’s deal to rent CBS’ late-night block and interviewed legendary TV creator David E. Kelley. I’m lesley.goldberg@theankler.com

Hello and welcome to TV in 3, where this week I’ve got more of a three-in-one as I break down reactions to the incendiary open letter signed by 3,600 (and counting) Hollywood creatives in opposition to the Paramount-WBD merger. Together with my Dealmakers colleague Ashley Cullins, I’ve got the view from inside Paramount and WBD, where execs are doing business with many of the signatories, and how agencies and their clients are navigating a debate that increasingly demands taking sides.

It all started in January, at the Sundance Film Festival, where the Future Film Coalition launched a campaign to support the indie film community amid industry consolidation, including whatever was to come from the war for Warner Bros. Discovery (at the time Netflix appeared to have won the prize).

Now, if David Ellison’s $111 billion bid for WBD clears regulatory approval — which he’s targeting for the third quarter — it would shrink the number of major U.S. studios to just four and likely cost thousands of jobs.

The goal, interim executive director Jax Deluca tells me, is to help regulators understand “the complexities of the film [and television] industry and why scrutinizing the merger is essential.”

Since the publishing of the open letter, filmmakers (Celine Song, Alex Gibney, Denis Villeneuve), actors (Mark Ruffalo, Bryan Cranston, Tiffany Haddish), showrunners (David Chase, Damon Lindelof, J.J. Abrams) and fans alike have added their names. Organized with groups including Jane Fonda’s Committee for the First Amendment and the Democracy Defenders Fund, the campaign is aimed squarely at officials like Rob Bonta and his peer attorneys general in other states to take action against the proposed merger. It certainly got Hollywood talking, including at CinemaCon, where Michael O’Leary said the merger would be “harmful to exhibition, consumers and the entire entertainment eco-system,” and our own Richard Rushfield’s “pin-gate” turned him into a Vegas cause célèbre.

“If everyone understands that a lot of jobs will be lost, the industry will be less competitive, there will be fewer buyers, fewer movies, fewer TV series being made and produced — why are we taking it lying down?” showrunner Lindelof (Watchmen, Lost) tells me.

Lindelof has spent the past 15 years based at Warner Bros. Television and its corporate sibling HBO under rich overall deals. He and his former Lost collaborator Abrams are the studio’s highest-profile showrunners to have signed the letter. As of press time, the signatories did not include WB’s Chuck Lorre, Greg Berlanti, Quinta Brunson or John Wells.

“Having testified in Congress as president of the WGA West in opposition to the 2011 Comcast merger and having opposed the Disney purchase of Fox, we all have ample historical evidence that these entertainment mergers have always led to massive waves of downsizing and loss of jobs — above the line, below the line, executives, support staff,” The Pitt’s Wells tells me via email. “As a creative community, we’re never better off with fewer outlets/buyers for our work.”

It’s unclear if he plans to sign the open letter.

With the campaign continuing to gain steam, reactions around town are hardly uniform.

Ashley and I spoke with Hollywood veterans, executives, writers, producers and agents for the inside scoop on the chaos it has unleashed inside Paramount, Warners and the agencies — and what happens next.

Read on for:

• How Paramount execs are handling the backlash — publicly vs. privately

• The chilling message inside Paramount about its top showrunners’ silence: “comply if you want to survive”

• The mood inside Warner Bros. and how they feel about their showrunners signing

• Why agencies are stuck in an impossible position as clients force them to take sides

• Which top Paramount creator actually broke ranks

• What Lindelof and other creatives are hoping will come out of the campaign

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I cover global TV and film from London. I wrote about HBO Max invading the U.K., the Iran war’s impact on Mideast deals and production, and the antitrust challenges for Paramount-WB in Europe. Email me at manori@theankler.com

“The party was over. We just didn’t want it to go.”

That’s how one long-time attendee describes the demise of the Realscreen Summit, a 28-year-old unscripted market that quietly shuttered alongside NATPE last month when their Canadian parent company, Brunico Communications, pulled the plug on its U.S. events portfolio citing “a period of market change.”

It marks not just the end of two big conferences, but the collapse of an entire dealmaking ecosystem once vital to the industry.

For decades, NATPE and Realscreen weren’t just networking stops — they were where TV business got done. Shows were pitched, financed and sold in hotel lobbies. Careers were launched in hallway conversations. Entire slates took shape over 72 frantic hours.

Now, there’s a NATPE- and Realscreen-sized hole in the calendar, and for the first time in modern TV history, there is no major U.S.-based market where unscripted producers can reliably travel to sell. (NATPE, 62 years old and focused on syndication and Latin America, was largely a scripted market.)

At the height of reality TV in the late 2000s and mid-’10s, Realscreen in particular was booming. “It became this mobile hub of network activity,” says former Discovery Channel exec and producer Stephanie Angelides. “The networks were having greenlight meetings at the end of the day. They were all there. We would run through the best pitches of the day and decide what we wanted to invest in.”

Global formats — from Big Brother to The Masked Singer to Traitors — spread across markets like these, where ideas and rights moved quickly between buyers and territories.

Still, the slow erosion of cable, Covid and an era’s wave of consolidation shrank the number of active buyers, even with the boards stacked with high-profile leaders such as Amazon MGM’s Brad Beale, Lionsgate’s Kevin Beggs, Apple TV’s Brandon Brito, Netflix’s Lori Conkling and Roku’s Olivia LaRoche.

“The buyers didn’t have the money any longer,” says veteran producer Jenny Daly. “And even if they liked something, the layers you had to go through to get it greenlit changed.”

Now, of course, that leaves opportunity in the market for sellers whose bags are still packed to go somewhere.

Today I get into:

• Where producers are actually going now, from London to Lisbon to Latin America

• Why NATPE and Realscreen were on borrowed time — and the moment the deals stopped happening

• The ugly backstory: How Brunico “won” NATPE and still couldn’t save it

• The rival cashing in — and expanding into the U.S. vacuum

• The new global map of unscripted dealmaking and how to navigate it

• Why even Brunico employees were blindsided by Realscreen’s demise

• The producers who will struggle without Realscreen and NATPE

This column is for paid subscribers only. Interested in a group sub for your team or company? Click here.

For full access and to continue reading all Ankler content, paid subscribers can click here.

Click here to keep reading

Share

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I cover global TV and film from London. I wrote about HBO Max invading the U.K., the Iran war’s impact on Mideast deals and production, and the antitrust challenges for Paramount-WB in Europe. Email me at manori@theankler.com

“The party was over. We just didn’t want it to go.”

That’s how one long-time attendee describes the demise of the Realscreen Summit, a 28-year-old unscripted market that quietly shuttered alongside NATPE last month when their Canadian parent company, Brunico Communications, pulled the plug on its U.S. events portfolio citing “a period of market change.”

It marks not just the end of two big conferences, but the collapse of an entire dealmaking ecosystem once vital to the industry.

For decades, NATPE and Realscreen weren’t just networking stops — they were where TV business got done. Shows were pitched, financed and sold in hotel lobbies. Careers were launched in hallway conversations. Entire slates took shape over 72 frantic hours.

Now, there’s a NATPE- and Realscreen-sized hole in the calendar, and for the first time in modern TV history, there is no major U.S.-based market where unscripted producers can reliably travel to sell. (NATPE, 62 years old and focused on syndication and Latin America, was largely a scripted market.)

At the height of reality TV in the late 2000s and mid-’10s, Realscreen in particular was booming. “It became this mobile hub of network activity,” says former Discovery Channel exec and producer Stephanie Angelides. “The networks were having greenlight meetings at the end of the day. They were all there. We would run through the best pitches of the day and decide what we wanted to invest in.”

Global formats — from Big Brother to The Masked Singer to Traitors — spread across markets like these, where ideas and rights moved quickly between buyers and territories.

Still, the slow erosion of cable, Covid and an era’s wave of consolidation shrank the number of active buyers, even with the boards stacked with high-profile leaders such as Amazon MGM’s Brad Beale, Lionsgate’s Kevin Beggs, Apple TV’s Brandon Brito, Netflix’s Lori Conkling and Roku’s Olivia LaRoche.

“The buyers didn’t have the money any longer,” says veteran producer Jenny Daly. “And even if they liked something, the layers you had to go through to get it greenlit changed.”

Now, of course, that leaves opportunity in the market for sellers whose bags are still packed to go somewhere.

Today I get into:

• Where producers are actually going now, from London to Lisbon to Latin America

• Why NATPE and Realscreen were on borrowed time — and the moment the deals stopped happening

• The ugly backstory: How Brunico “won” NATPE and still couldn’t save it

• The rival cashing in — and expanding into the U.S. vacuum

• The new global map of unscripted dealmaking and how to navigate it

• Why even Brunico employees were blindsided by Realscreen’s demise

• The producers who will struggle without Realscreen and NATPE

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I dug into what’s taking Peter Friedlander so long to set TV strategy at Amazon, wrote about Byron Allen’s deal to rent CBS’ late-night block, The Pitt casting controversy, and interviewed legendary TV creator David E. Kelley. I’m lesley.goldberg@theankler.com

Not long ago, while in production on Apple TV’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles, David E. Kelley mentioned a book that he was interested in adapting to an executive at A24. That was on a Friday. By Monday, the indie studio’s TV team had read Chris Whitaker’s We Begin at the End and told the showrunner they were working to obtain the rights. By the end of that same week, I can exclusively reveal that A24 had won a bidding war for the title and attached Kelley to co-write the script.

In an industry where projects can take months — even years — to move from conversation to contract, that kind of speed isn’t just unusual. It’s increasingly the way to win.

Though its reputation was built on its film darling bona fides, A24 has quietly become one of the most aggressive — and disruptive — players in the television business, pairing lightning-fast dealmaking with a willingness to spend when it matters. The result: a studio that agents love, creators prioritize and competitors are struggling to keep up with.

Their library now includes Emmy-winning shows Euphoria, Beef and Ramy (a full chart of all their shows in development and on air is below).

“It’s difficult to break through when it’s them. They end up being fiercest competition,” one buyer tells me. “When they’re in the mix, there’s a good likelihood they’ll win it.”

This shift comes roughly two years after the company took on a major cash infusion from Josh Kushner’s Thrive Capital, a deal that valued A24 at $3.5 billion and raised questions about whether the famously curated indie could and would scale up like a traditional studio. So far, the answer has been something else entirely: an ability to push harder, throwing cash at projects they believe in that have that ineffable imprimatur of A24 “taste.”

Which is great news if you’re selling. For everyone else, it’s creating a new reality — a headache where competing with A24 doesn’t just require a strong pitch, but a very different appetite for risk.

Today I break down how A24’s strategy is playing out — and what it means for everyone else in TV, including:

• Who’s running A24’s TV team and how to pitch them

• How A24’s deal speed is collapsing timelines that used to stretch a year or more

• Why agents increasingly steer top projects toward the studio — and how that shifts leverage

• The real cost of competing with A24 in today’s bidding wars

• How creator-friendly terms are driving up expectations across the market

• What the Kushner-backed cash infusion changed — and what it didn’t

• And why A24’s approach is forcing rivals to rethink how they buy, spend and greenlight

• The Amazon show that was “dead” until A24 fought for its return

This column is for paid subscribers only. Interested in a group sub for your team or company? Click here.

For full access and to continue reading all Ankler content, paid subscribers can click here.

Click here to keep reading

Share

Share

Subscribe now

I dug into what’s taking Peter Friedlander so long to set TV strategy at Amazon, wrote about Byron Allen’s deal to rent CBS’ late-night block, The Pitt casting controversy, and interviewed legendary TV creator David E. Kelley. I’m lesley.goldberg@theankler.com

Not long ago, while in production on Apple TV’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles, David E. Kelley mentioned a book that he was interested in adapting to an executive at A24. That was on a Friday. By Monday, the indie studio’s TV team had read Chris Whitaker’s We Begin at the End and told the showrunner they were working to obtain the rights. By the end of that same week, I can exclusively reveal that A24 had won a bidding war for the title and attached Kelley to co-write the script.

In an industry where projects can take months — even years — to move from conversation to contract, that kind of speed isn’t just unusual. It’s increasingly the way to win.

Though its reputation was built on its film darling bona fides, A24 has quietly become one of the most aggressive — and disruptive — players in the television business, pairing lightning-fast dealmaking with a willingness to spend when it matters. The result: a studio that agents love, creators prioritize and competitors are struggling to keep up with.

Their library now includes Emmy-winning shows Euphoria, Beef and Ramy (a full chart of all their shows in development and on air is below).

“It’s difficult to break through when it’s them. They end up being fiercest competition,” one buyer tells me. “When they’re in the mix, there’s a good likelihood they’ll win it.”

This shift comes roughly two years after the company took on a major cash infusion from Josh Kushner’s Thrive Capital, a deal that valued A24 at $3.5 billion and raised questions about whether the famously curated indie could and would scale up like a traditional studio. So far, the answer has been something else entirely: an ability to push harder, throwing cash at projects they believe in that have that ineffable imprimatur of A24 “taste.”

Which is great news if you’re selling. For everyone else, it’s creating a new reality — a headache where competing with A24 doesn’t just require a strong pitch, but a very different appetite for risk.

Today I break down how A24’s strategy is playing out — and what it means for everyone else in TV, including:

• Who’s running A24’s TV team and how to pitch them

• How A24’s deal speed is collapsing timelines that used to stretch a year or more

• Why agents increasingly steer top projects toward the studio — and how that shifts leverage

• The real cost of competing with A24 in today’s bidding wars

• How creator-friendly terms are driving up expectations across the market

• What the Kushner-backed cash infusion changed — and what it didn’t

• And why A24’s approach is forcing rivals to rethink how they buy, spend and greenlight

• The Amazon show that was “dead” until A24 fought for its return

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I host the Ankler Agenda podcast and wrote about Taylor Frankie Paul and Disney’s Bachelorette mess, and millennials’ challenges and Gen Z’s entry pains in the current jobs landscape.

On Saturday, the Writers Guild of America held a Zoom for its 11,000 members about the tentative bargaining agreement it inked after three short weeks at the negotiating table with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Led by WGA East president Tom Fontana, WGAE exec director Sam Wheeler, WGA West president Michele Mulroney and the entire negotiating committee (including WGAW exec director Ellen Stutzman and co-chairs John August and Danielle Sanchez-Witzel), the 30-minute presentation was followed by an hour of questions, largely about the new healthcare provisions provided by a $321 million infusion from the studios into the guild’s struggling health plan.

Unlike 2023, a strike was averted.

But as members dug into the details, a more complicated picture emerged — one that for many feels less like a victory than a recalibration of what it means to actually survive in the business (and survive in America). Writers will see higher premiums, deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums, but more tellingly, eligibility just got harder in a climate where work is scarcer. “Sticker shock,” more than one member tells me.

Several members say they’re seriously weighing a “no” vote on the deal, which must still be ratified. (Voting begins Thursday and ends April 24.)

Still, “I think it’s about as good a deal as we could get in the current economy,” says showrunner Joe Henderson (Lucifer), summing up the sentiment many others shared with me.

Marc Guggenheim, creator of the Arrowverse, concurs: “The additional year and healthcare [out-of-pocket costs] are bitter pills to swallow. But there was no alternative or a better outcome. For 20 years, at least, the WGA had located all their leverage in the threat of a strike — and we obviously didn’t have that this year.”

Today I get into the good, bad and inconclusive of the deal — and who it benefits — including:

• Healthcare “sticker shock”: rising premiums, deductibles and how the plan now compares to a typical U.S. employer offering

• Why qualifying for healthcare just got harder — and how a writing dry spell will be more costly than ever

• Growing concerns that the deal protects “the 1 percent, the 2 percent” while squeezing out working- and middle-class writers

• If/come deal changes and what they mean for rank-and-file writers

• Why AI largely got a pass in this negotiation

• The view from SAG-AFTRA, which sits back down with the AMPTP soon, on whether a four-year deal adds up

• How the WGA West staff strike has rankled members and its impact on the deal (it’s not just optics)

This column is for paid subscribers only. Interested in a group sub for your team or company? Click here.

For full access and to continue reading all Ankler content, paid subscribers can click here.

Click here to keep reading

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Image credits: Science Photo Library/Getty Images; Jay Radhakrishnan/Getty Images; Johner Images/Getty Images; Norman Posselt/Getty Images

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I host the Ankler Agenda podcast and wrote about Taylor Frankie Paul and Disney’s Bachelorette mess, and millennials’ challenges and Gen Z’s entry pains in the current jobs landscape.

On Saturday, the Writers Guild of America held a Zoom for its 11,000 members about the tentative bargaining agreement it inked after three short weeks at the negotiating table with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Led by WGA East president Tom Fontana, WGAE exec director Sam Wheeler, WGA West president Michele Mulroney and the entire negotiating committee (including WGAW exec director Ellen Stutzman and co-chairs John August and Danielle Sanchez-Witzel), the 30-minute presentation was followed by an hour of questions, largely about the new healthcare provisions provided by a $321 million infusion from the studios into the guild’s struggling health plan.

Unlike 2023, a strike was averted.

But as members dug into the details, a more complicated picture emerged — one that for many feels less like a victory than a recalibration of what it means to actually survive in the business (and survive in America). Writers will see higher premiums, deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums, but more tellingly, eligibility just got harder in a climate where work is scarcer. “Sticker shock,” more than one member tells me.

Several members say they’re seriously weighing a “no” vote on the deal, which must still be ratified. (Voting begins Thursday and ends April 24.)

Still, “I think it’s about as good a deal as we could get in the current economy,” says showrunner Joe Henderson (Lucifer), summing up the sentiment many others shared with me.

Marc Guggenheim, creator of the Arrowverse, concurs: “The additional year and healthcare [out-of-pocket costs] are bitter pills to swallow. But there was no alternative or a better outcome. For 20 years, at least, the WGA had located all their leverage in the threat of a strike — and we obviously didn’t have that this year.”

Today I get into the good, bad and inconclusive of the deal — and who it benefits — including:

• Healthcare “sticker shock”: rising premiums, deductibles and how the plan now compares to a typical U.S. employer offering

• Why qualifying for healthcare just got harder — and how a writing dry spell will be more costly than ever

• Growing concerns that the deal protects “the 1 percent, the 2 percent” while squeezing out working- and middle-class writers

• If/come deal changes and what they mean for rank-and-file writers

• Why AI largely got a pass in this negotiation

• The view from SAG-AFTRA, which sits back down with the AMPTP soon, on whether a four-year deal adds up

• How the WGA West staff strike has rankled members and its impact on the deal (it’s not just optics)

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I wrote about the Pitt casting controversy, dug into what’s taking Peter Friedlander so long to set TV strategy at Amazon, and interviewed legendary TV creator David E. Kelley. I’m lesley.goldberg@theankler.com

TGIF, Series Business readers!

What a week of news! From the WGA’s surprise deal with the AMPTP (without so much as a strike-authorization vote by the guild) to Jeff Shell’s resignation at Paramount (which sources say has no plans to replace him) to the DOJ revealing its investigation into NFL media deals as a violation of antitrust laws — it’s been a lot. And I’m not even touching the U.S./Israel and Iran mess (though I will join the chorus complaining about gas prices and the fact that it cost me north of $100 to fill up my wife’s SUV).

Today, I dig into another entertainment headline making a splash: CBS’ deal to rent its late-night slots to Byron Allen. I’ve also got a scoop about two ex-Kennedy Center creatives plotting their next venture and a wrap on a brilliant season of my favorite show currently airing.

Let’s get to it.

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I wrote about the Pitt casting controversy, what’s taking Peter Friedlander so long to set TV strategy at Amazon, why Netflix is buying so many shows, Dana Walden’s Disney TV re-org and who slayed the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot. I’m lesley.goldberg@theankler.com

It’s a milestone year for David E. Kelley.

The prolific producer, who turned 70 on April 4, is marking his 40th year in the television industry by working — for the first time — with his wife of more than three decades, Michelle Pfeiffer, on Apple TV’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles.

Launching April 15, the highly anticipated dramedy stars Elle Fanning as a young woman who turns to her former pro-wrestler father (Nick Offerman) for advice on launching an OnlyFans after an affair with her college professor ends badly. Pfeiffer plays her mother. The project sparked a bidding war for the rights to Rufi Thorpe’s New York Times bestseller, ultimately landing at A24 and Apple.

Margo marks Kelley’s third show at Apple TV, joining the recently ordered adaptation of The Bonfire of the Vanities — his second take on a Tom Wolfe title after the disappointing Netflix limited series A Man in Full — and anthology Presumed Innocent. Margo is also the latest book adaptation for Kelley, who, starting with Big Little Lies, embraced developing other people’s work (Lies’ third season, based on a follow-up novel by Liane Moriarty publishing in August, is expected to film this fall). The HBO drama marked a new chapter in a storied career that included Emmy-winning originals Ally McBeal, The Practice and Picket Fences.

Having spent the past decade making shows for everyone from Amazon, ABC, Disney+, Hulu, Netflix and Peacock, he suggests always going with the buyer who has the most “zeal” for the material rather than the biggest payday. “It’s folly for any writer, producer or studio to just chase the best financial model because that’s not always going to carry the day,” says Kelley, who set up Margo with Apple after comparable offers elsewhere.

After he moved from his native Boston to L.A. in the mid-’80s, Kelley’s first screenplay — 1987’s From the Hip — garnered the attention of Steven Bochco and landed him a job working on NBC’s L.A. Law, where he would eventually rise to showrunner. Speaking from L.A., where he and Pfeiffer raised their two grown children, he gets candid about the state of the industry — from consolidation to the recent WGA deal — and how his five-person company is navigating a rapidly changing industry.

Also today:

• Exclusive intel about a new HBO series he’s developing and a Hulu unscripted project — an uncharted genre for his company

• Kelley’s secret for career longevity and the “scream inside” that drives him

• How aggressive he’s getting in the superheated book market

• His multi-season plan for Margo — and why it was one of his easiest projects ever

• How the success of The Pitt and the elevated procedural is impacting his own development

• His take on the possible Paramount-Warner merger and working at HBO under David Ellison

• Legacy executives’ edge over their streaming counterparts

• His unvarnished thoughts on: reboots, algorithms, the need for “town criers” in Hollywood and Disney’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel

This column is for paid subscribers only. Interested in a group sub for your team or company? Click here.

For full access and to continue reading all Ankler content, paid subscribers can click here.

Click here to keep reading

Share

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I wrote about the Pitt casting controversy, what’s taking Peter Friedlander so long to set TV strategy at Amazon, why Netflix is buying so many shows, Dana Walden’s Disney TV re-org and who slayed the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot. I’m lesley.goldberg@theankler.com

It’s a milestone year for David E. Kelley.

The prolific producer, who turned 70 on April 4, is marking his 40th year in the television industry by working — for the first time — with his wife of more than three decades, Michelle Pfeiffer, on Apple TV’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles.

Launching April 15, the highly anticipated dramedy stars Elle Fanning as a young woman who turns to her former pro-wrestler father (Nick Offerman) for advice on launching an OnlyFans after an affair with her college professor ends badly. Pfeiffer plays her mother. The project sparked a bidding war for the rights to Rufi Thorpe’s New York Times bestseller, ultimately landing at A24 and Apple.

Margo marks Kelley’s third show at Apple TV, joining the recently ordered adaptation of The Bonfire of the Vanities — his second take on a Tom Wolfe title after the disappointing Netflix limited series A Man in Full — and anthology Presumed Innocent. Margo is also the latest book adaptation for Kelley, who, starting with Big Little Lies, embraced developing other people’s work (Lies’ third season, based on a follow-up novel by Liane Moriarty publishing in August, is expected to film this fall). The HBO drama marked a new chapter in a storied career that included Emmy-winning originals Ally McBeal, The Practice and Picket Fences.

Having spent the past decade making shows for everyone from Amazon, ABC, Disney+, Hulu, Netflix and Peacock, he suggests always going with the buyer who has the most “zeal” for the material rather than the biggest payday. “It’s folly for any writer, producer or studio to just chase the best financial model because that’s not always going to carry the day,” says Kelley, who set up Margo with Apple after comparable offers elsewhere.

After he moved from his native Boston to L.A. in the mid-’80s, Kelley’s first screenplay — 1987’s From the Hip — garnered the attention of Steven Bochco and landed him a job working on NBC’s L.A. Law, where he would eventually rise to showrunner. Speaking from L.A., where he and Pfeiffer raised their two grown children, he gets candid about the state of the industry — from consolidation to the recent WGA deal — and how his five-person company is navigating a rapidly changing industry.

Also today:

• Exclusive intel about a new HBO series he’s developing and a Hulu unscripted project — an uncharted genre for his company

• Kelley’s secret for career longevity and the “scream inside” that drives him

• How aggressive he’s getting in the superheated book market

• His multi-season plan for Margo — and why it was one of his easiest projects ever

• How the success of The Pitt and the elevated procedural is impacting his own development

• His take on the possible Paramount-Warner merger and working at HBO under David Ellison

• Legacy executives’ edge over their streaming counterparts

• His unvarnished thoughts on: reboots, algorithms, the need for “town criers” in Hollywood and Disney’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel

Share

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I host the Ankler Agenda podcast and wrote about Taylor Frankie Paul and Disney’s Bachelorette mess. My Disappearing Ladder series about how each generation is navigating Hollywood’s narrowing path has covered millennials’ challenges and Gen Z’s entry pains.

Happy Monday, folks. The Writers Guild of America and Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers surprised everyone over the weekend by reaching a deal way earlier than expected, with a four-year contract instead of the usual three, no less. The tentative agreement puts the health plan front and center. Any writers out there have feelings about the new agreement? Talk to me at elaine@theankler.com.

Now, onto today’s column, which is all about sweet success and how to navigate it — or act as if you’ve got it on your way to a win …

Readers occasionally send in questions about the TV business. What’s happening with the Taylor Frankie Paul season of The Bachelorette? (This trainwreck.) Now that you’ve written about Gen Z’s struggle, what about millennials? (Here you go.) What kind of TV shows are streamers and networks looking to buy? (A new sellers’ guide is coming!)

So I was intrigued when a docuseries producer asked me an interesting question: I’ve got a show that reached No. 1 on Netflix. What do I do now?

Pitching, developing and getting any show made is already a small miracle, and seeing it fly to the top of the charts is incredibly validating. But if you’re a producer from a young company with your first big hit, à la Wise Child Studios’ Jason Beekman, executive producer of Netflix’s Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model (and who asked me the question), figuring out how to capitalize on momentum can be overwhelming.

I checked in with Beekman six weeks after our last chat. Aside from taking more interviews with news outlets to publicize the project and his involvement (good call), he has “hustled to make sure that we had 10 projects ready to go, so that if this was a hit, our agents could go out to all the buyers and be like, ‘See that hit show? Well, here are 10 projects they’ve developed,’” he told me Friday. “We haven’t really taken a breath at all and have just kind of doubled down.”

But he still had lots of questions. So I asked experienced unscripted producers for their advice, including Mary Robertson, exec producer and co-director of Investigation Discovery and HBO Max’s Quiet on Set; Anthony Carbone, showrunner and exec producer of Fox’s The Floor and Netflix’s The Floor Is Lava; Jeff Apploff, creator of Fox’s Don’t Forget the Lyrics; Done + Dusted North America CEO Melanie Fletcher, who recently exec produced Netflix’s BTS The Comeback Live: Arirang; and Velvet Hammer Media founders and former HBO Max top unscripted execs Jen O’Connell and Rebecca Quinn, whose Netflix dating show Age of Attraction was just renewed for a second season last week.

“Number one: enjoy it. Number two: don’t take it for granted, because you just don’t know what season 2 is going to do,” says O’Connell. “Don’t rest on your laurels, because that’s where things go wrong.”

Even if you don’t have a hit show on the air right now, there’s a lot to learn from these producers. The hustle is real. So while you’re still waiting for your golden idea to get picked up, here’s smart advice you can implement now on the way to your No. 1 hit.

For this week, I bring you the real playbook for what comes after a hit — and how to turn one win into something sustainable:

• How to sell your next show off your last one — fast

• Why a hit doesn’t mean buyers will move any quicker

• The biggest mistake people make right after they break through

• What to build internally while your show is still hot

• How streamers respond differently than networks to a hit, and what that means for you

• The truth about overall deals (and why they’re not what they used to be)

• How to figure out what the market will actually buy next

• Why networking matters more after a hit — not less

This column is for paid subscribers only. Interested in a group sub for your team or company? Click here.

For full access and to continue reading all Ankler content, paid subscribers can click here.

Click here to keep reading

Share

Share

Subscribe now

I host the Ankler Agenda podcast and wrote about Taylor Frankie Paul and Disney’s Bachelorette mess. My Disappearing Ladder series about how each generation is navigating Hollywood’s narrowing path has covered millennials’ challenges and Gen Z’s entry pains.

Happy Monday, folks. The Writers Guild of America and Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers surprised everyone over the weekend by reaching a deal way earlier than expected, with a four-year contract instead of the usual three, no less. The tentative agreement puts the health plan front and center. Any writers out there have feelings about the new agreement? Talk to me at elaine@theankler.com.

Now, onto today’s column, which is all about sweet success and how to navigate it — or act as if you’ve got it on your way to a win …

Readers occasionally send in questions about the TV business. What’s happening with the Taylor Frankie Paul season of The Bachelorette? (This trainwreck.) Now that you’ve written about Gen Z’s struggle, what about millennials? (Here you go.) What kind of TV shows are streamers and networks looking to buy? (A new sellers’ guide is coming!)

So I was intrigued when a docuseries producer asked me an interesting question: I’ve got a show that reached No. 1 on Netflix. What do I do now?

Pitching, developing and getting any show made is already a small miracle, and seeing it fly to the top of the charts is incredibly validating. But if you’re a producer from a young company with your first big hit, à la Wise Child Studios’ Jason Beekman, executive producer of Netflix’s Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model (and who asked me the question), figuring out how to capitalize on momentum can be overwhelming.

I checked in with Beekman six weeks after our last chat. Aside from taking more interviews with news outlets to publicize the project and his involvement (good call), he has “hustled to make sure that we had 10 projects ready to go, so that if this was a hit, our agents could go out to all the buyers and be like, ‘See that hit show? Well, here are 10 projects they’ve developed,’” he told me Friday. “We haven’t really taken a breath at all and have just kind of doubled down.”

But he still had lots of questions. So I asked experienced unscripted producers for their advice, including Mary Robertson, exec producer and co-director of Investigation Discovery and HBO Max’s Quiet on Set; Anthony Carbone, showrunner and exec producer of Fox’s The Floor and Netflix’s The Floor Is Lava; Jeff Apploff, creator of Fox’s Don’t Forget the Lyrics; Done + Dusted North America CEO Melanie Fletcher, who recently exec produced Netflix’s BTS The Comeback Live: Arirang; and Velvet Hammer Media founders and former HBO Max top unscripted execs Jen O’Connell and Rebecca Quinn, whose Netflix dating show Age of Attraction was just renewed for a second season last week.

“Number one: enjoy it. Number two: don’t take it for granted, because you just don’t know what season 2 is going to do,” says O’Connell. “Don’t rest on your laurels, because that’s where things go wrong.”

Even if you don’t have a hit show on the air right now, there’s a lot to learn from these producers. The hustle is real. So while you’re still waiting for your golden idea to get picked up, here’s smart advice you can implement now on the way to your No. 1 hit.

For this week, I bring you the real playbook for what comes after a hit — and how to turn one win into something sustainable:

• How to sell your next show off your last one — fast

• Why a hit doesn’t mean buyers will move any quicker

• The biggest mistake people make right after they break through

• What to build internally while your show is still hot

• How streamers respond differently than networks to a hit, and what that means for you

• The truth about overall deals (and why they’re not what they used to be)

• How to figure out what the market will actually buy next

• Why networking matters more after a hit — not less

Share

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Read more

Share

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I wrote about what’s taking Peter Friedlander so long to set TV strategy at Amazon, why Netflix is buying so many shows, Dana Walden’s Disney TV re-org and who slayed the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot. I’m lesley.goldberg@theankler.com

Happy Passover and Easter to those who celebrate! With much of the town OOO for spring break, it’s been a relatively quiet week on the news front (though lots of you wanted to talk about what in the world is going on at Amazon). Today, I’ve got a look at The Pitt’s casting controversy, the reality TV downturn and a look at some of the Emmy wannabes launching this month.

But first: Please enjoy this thread from a writer who absolutely succeeded in spreading some much-needed positivity about the industry.

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Pitt Cast Change Under the Microscope

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I cover global TV and film from London. I wrote about the Iran war’s impact on Mideast deals and production, the antitrust challenges for Paramount-WB in Europe and Disney’s scramble to catch up with Netflix in global TV. I’m manori@theankler.com

HBO Max has finally landed in Britain. But instead of rolling out the playbook that turned Netflix into the dominant force in U.K. television, Warner Bros. Discovery is trying something very different.

It isn’t commissioning local shows.

That decision is already raising eyebrows — and frustration — among the producers and executives who have become the backbone of Britain’s booming streaming economy. “We’re not invited to the biggest party of the year,” one producer tells me.

In today’s U.K. market, local originals aren’t just a nice-to-have — they’re the de facto strategy. Netflix, Amazon and Disney have all spent years investing in British stories, building relationships with local creatives and turning those shows into global hits. (Can you imagine the streaming landscape today without Netflix series The Crown, Adolescence, Baby Reindeer or Apple TV’s Slow Horses?)

HBO Max, by contrast, is betting it can win Britain with a very different mix: global IP (think Harry Potter), U.S.-driven productions and a light on-the-ground presence. It’s a strategy that puts the streamer on a collision course with both the local industry — and its biggest competitors.

To date, the global streamers have always bet big on local content to pull in local subscribers. As soon as a platform launch is announced, producers want to know, “Who can I pitch my shows to?” HBO Max putting U.S.-led shows center stage, and operating without a creative team on the ground, is unorthodox. But if it works? If the new player can carve out a competitive position in the market without making that local investment? Well, it could set an uncomfortable precedent for the creative community here by sending the signal that local shows aren’t essential for subs.

“They should be definitely commissioning some original stuff here if they want to try and make HBO work,” says The Crown producer Andy Harries. Especially if, as Casey Bloys has indicated, Harry Potter won’t be an annual offering.

Today, I speak to producers, indie bosses and analysts about HBO Max’s strategy and the current state of streaming’s Battleground Britain, the biggest canary in the coal mine for not just Warners and Netflix, but also Prime Video, Disney and Paramount.

Today:

• The inside logic behind HBO Max’s decision to forgo local originals and the other tactics it’s pursuing to compete

• What makes Netflix so powerful in the U.K. — including the top exec who’s “always been good to her word” with producers

• HBO Max U.K.’s creative team of one and insiders’ doubts and confusion about the range and purpose of her role

• Power player execs at Prime Video and Disney+ that HBO Max is up against

• Why producers are finding it easier to work with Prime Video and Disney+

• Why creatives say HBO Max is “not open for business” — and what that signals for a worldwide market built on local relationships

• What changes if the Paramount+ tie-up resets the strategy — and reshapes the competitive landscape

This column is for paid subscribers only. Interested in a group sub for your team or company? Click here.

For full access and to continue reading all Ankler content, paid subscribers can click here.

Click here to keep reading

Share

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Subscribe now

I cover global TV and film from London. I wrote about the Iran war’s impact on Mideast deals and production, the antitrust challenges for Paramount-WB in Europe and Disney’s scramble to catch up with Netflix in global TV. I’m manori@theankler.com

HBO Max has finally landed in Britain. But instead of rolling out the playbook that turned Netflix into the dominant force in U.K. television, Warner Bros. Discovery is trying something very different.

It isn’t commissioning local shows.

That decision is already raising eyebrows — and frustration — among the producers and executives who have become the backbone of Britain’s booming streaming economy. “We’re not invited to the biggest party of the year,” one producer tells me.

In today’s U.K. market, local originals aren’t just a nice-to-have — they’re the de facto strategy. Netflix, Amazon and Disney have all spent years investing in British stories, building relationships with local creatives and turning those shows into global hits. (Can you imagine the streaming landscape today without Netflix series The Crown, Adolescence, Baby Reindeer or Apple TV’s Slow Horses?)

HBO Max, by contrast, is betting it can win Britain with a very different mix: global IP (think Harry Potter), U.S.-driven productions and a light on-the-ground presence. It’s a strategy that puts the streamer on a collision course with both the local industry — and its biggest competitors.

To date, the global streamers have always bet big on local content to pull in local subscribers. As soon as a platform launch is announced, producers want to know, “Who can I pitch my shows to?” HBO Max putting U.S.-led shows center stage, and operating without a creative team on the ground, is unorthodox. But if it works? If the new player can carve out a competitive position in the market without making that local investment? Well, it could set an uncomfortable precedent for the creative community here by sending the signal that local shows aren’t essential for subs.

“They should be definitely commissioning some original stuff here if they want to try and make HBO work,” says The Crown producer Andy Harries. Especially if, as Casey Bloys has indicated, Harry Potter won’t be an annual offering.

Today, I speak to producers, indie bosses and analysts about HBO Max’s strategy and the current state of streaming’s Battleground Britain, the biggest canary in the coal mine for not just Warners and Netflix, but also Prime Video, Disney and Paramount.

Today:

• The inside logic behind HBO Max’s decision to forgo local originals and the other tactics it’s pursuing to compete

• What makes Netflix so powerful in the U.K. — including the top exec who’s “always been good to her word” with producers

• HBO Max U.K.’s creative team of one and insiders’ doubts and confusion about the range and purpose of her role

• Power player execs at Prime Video and Disney+ that HBO Max is up against

• Why producers are finding it easier to work with Prime Video and Disney+

• Why creatives say HBO Max is “not open for business” — and what that signals for a worldwide market built on local relationships

• What changes if the Paramount+ tie-up resets the strategy — and reshapes the competitive landscape

Share

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