Casey Bloys Addresses HBO/Max Reorg, “Extremely Painful” Layoff Decisions In Memo

following Len Amato’s departure.Orsi has been with HBO since 2003, when she began as an executive assistant. She eventually rose through the ranks to co-run the drama series development and programming department in 2016 with David Levine, who ran point on “Westworld” and “True Detective.” The role was president of HBO programming Casey Bloys’ first appointment.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer HBO drama chief Francesca Orsi has extended her contract with the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned pay TV channel through 2026, Variety has confirmed. As part of Orsi’s re-upped pact, she has been given the new title of executive vice president of HBO programming, head of HBO drama series and films. Orsi first joined HBO in 2003 as an executive assistant. She has been the solo head of drama series development and programming since her former co-head David Levine exited in February 2019. They were both appointed to the position originally in 2016. News that Orsi, a direct report to HBO and HBO Max content chief Casey Bloys, will be continuing her tenure at HBO comes on the heels of the enormous launch success for “Game of Thrones” prequel “House of the Dragon,” a series Orsi has played a big part in developing and marketing.

EXCLUSIVE: As she is getting ready to mark her 20th anniversary at HBO next year, Francesca Orsi has officially extended her contract at the premium network through 2026. Her new title is EVP, HBO Programming, Head of HBO Drama Series and Films.

HBO Max has already renewed "House of the Dragon" for season two. The renewal comes after the premiere of season one saw massive viewership. "We are beyond proud of what the entire ‘House of the Dragon’ team has accomplished with season one," Francesca Orsi, executive VP, HBO Programming, said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.

EXCLUSIVE: Deadline has learned that Warner Bros. is making a slew of release date changes next year. First of all, James Wan’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom needs more time in post, so it’s moving from March 17, 2023 to Dec. 25, 2023.

EXCLUSIVE: About 70 people, or 14% of the programming operation overseen by HBO and HBO Max Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys, were laid off last week as part of cost-cutting across Warner Bros. Discovery. At the time, only the departures of the heads of departments that were worst hit — all of them on the HBO Max side — were made public, including Jennifer O’Connell EVP, Non-Fiction & Live-Action Family Originals. Now names of other executives who are leaving as part of the restructuring and staff reductions are starting to trickle out.

200 “Sesame Street” episodes and feature film “Batgirl,” which was slated to be released this year. On Monday, the service also axed six animated projects that were earmarked for HBO Max, including “Batman: The Caped Crusader,” from “The Batman” director Matt Reeves, J.J.

House of the Dragon has officially become the most-watched HBO premiere of all time.The Game of Thrones spinoff series drew almost 10million viewers when the first episode aired on Sunday night (August 21) on HBO Max, according to WarnerMedia.The network reports 9.986million households tuned in across the US alone to watch the season premiere, marking the largest audience to watch any new original series in the history of HBO.“It was wonderful to see millions of Game of Thrones fans return with us to Westeros last night,” HBO & HBO Max Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys said in a statement the day after the launch.“House of the Dragon features an incredibly talented cast and crew who poured their heart and soul into the production, and we’re ecstatic with viewers’ positive response.

Selome Hailu HBO Max has canceled upcoming animated feature film “Driftwood,” Variety has learned. From Cartoon Network Studios, the film was greenlit just three months ago.The family adventure movie is one of many titles being lost at the streamer — just last week, nearly 40 series and films were removed from the platform, such as “Little Ellen,” which had 20 completed episodes that were yet to be released.

HBO has revealed that House of the Dragon has broken the network’s record for the largest series premiere audience of all time!

History was made at HBO with the debut of House of the Dragon. The Game of Thrones prequel drew 9.986 million viewers across linear and HBO Max platforms in the U.S. Sunday, the largest audience for any new original series in the history of pay cabler.

combine HBO Max and Discovery+ next summer. “As we work toward bringing our content catalogs together under one platform, we will be making changes to the content offering available on both HBO Max and discovery+,” HBO Max said in a statement Wednesday.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeHBO/HBO Max chief content officer Casey Bloys sent a memo to employees this afternoon, explaining the decision by Warner Bros. Discovery to layoff 70 employees, or 14% of his workforce, as the company restructures.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeAfter weeks of speculation, Warner Bros. Discovery is ready to reveal some of the changes that will take place at HBO Max, in advance of next year’s anticipated combination of the HBO Max and Discovery+ streaming services. And as expected, HBO Max will downsize its reality programming department.

The dreaded post-merger Warner Bros. Discovery layoffs have reached the programming operation overseen by HBO and HBO Max Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys.

the New York Times reported on Thursday.When asked why he took a step back from production, he responded, “I don’t know — you have to ask Dan and David.”Martin launched the series called “A Song of Ice and Fire” in 1996, with the first book in the series titled “A Game of Thrones.”The series was picked up by HBO in 2010, helmed by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss — who initially included the story’s creator in production, allowing Martin to visit the sets or provide the duo with advice on who to cast.

Game Of Thrones author George R.R. Martin has said that he wasn’t so involved in the show’s final seasons.Martin, who consulted on scripts and casting in the HBO show’s first four seasons, confirmed to The New York Times that his involvement drastically decreased from season five onwards.“By season five and six, and certainly seven and eight, I was pretty much out of the loop,” Martin said.Asked why he became estranged from the show helmed by showrunners D.B.

First announced in 2019, “Strange Adventures,” was going to be a DC Super Hero anthology series executive produced by Berlanti, that was supposed to feature characters from across the DC canon. The one-hour drama series would have explored close-ended morality tales about the intersecting lives of mortals and superhumans.Filmmaker Kevin Smith, who was set to direct and co-write an episode of the series with “Supergirl” writer Eric Carrasco, broke the news on his Hollywood Babble-On podcast.“I got a call the other day from Eric before all of this story broke and he was just like, ‘”Strange Adventures” is officially dead.’ And I was like, ‘What the f—, are you serious?!’” Smith said.Smith added: “I thought ‘Strange Adventures’ being a casualty kind of made sense to me.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterGreg Berlanti’s DC series “Strange Adventures” is not moving forward at HBO Max, Variety has confirmed.The planned anthology series was first announced as being in development at the streamer in 2019. Kevin Smith discussed the fate of the series on his “Hollywood Babble-On” podcast, saying he was working on an episode with “Supergirl” writer Eric Carrasco.“I got a call the other day from Eric before all of this story broke and he was just like ‘Strange Adventures is officially dead,’ and I was like ‘What the f–k, are you serious?!'” Smith said.“I thought ‘Strange Adventures’ being a causality kind of made sense to me,” he continued.