‘Pennyworth’ Creator On DC Drama’s Move From Epix To HBO Max: “Platforms Matter”
05.10.2022 - 22:11
/ deadline.com
Bruno Heller (Gotham, Rome) has a funny way — quite literally — of describing the move of Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler from Epix to HBO Max.
First, imagine you’re in a grocery store and on the hunt for, ahem, something tasty to enjoy. “Years ago, people had very few choices. Now it’s much more like a supermarket,” explains Heller, who created the DC drama that stars Jack Bannon in the title role. “I don’t mean to be crass about this, but you’re on a shelf and where you are on the shelf becomes very important in a way that it wasn’t before. So platforms matter. We are just very excited to be in the center aisle, in the middle of shelf, next to the cornflakes instead of up there with the maple honey granola with soy granules in it. All of those cereals have an audience, but you get a bigger audience if you’re next to the Frosted Flakes.”
Starting Oct. 6, the Warner Bros. TV-produced Pennyworth will begin a whole new chapter on HBO Max, where Heller is hoping the new Origin of Batman’s Butler subtitle will attract a fresh (and with any luck, bigger) audience. “The beauty of the DC canon is that pretty much everyone has has a smattering of knowledge about it,” said Heller. “But there are several steps from name recognition to eyeballs on the screen. I think HBO Max was right. Visibility and clarity is everything … though I wish it could have been ‘the butler that changed America’ because I always like that in book titles.”
Pennyworth‘s move was not surprising. The drama was originally sold to MGM-owned Epix months before WBTV parent WarnerMedia announced plans to launch its own streaming service, which became HBO Max. Since then DC titles like Harley Quinn and Titans migrated to the platform, which has also
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