“We’re going to put 2022 behind us and focus on the future,” said Kathleen Finch, Chairman and Chief Content Officer of Warner Bros. Discovery’s U.S. Networks Group.
05.01.2023 - 21:03 / deadline.com
The days of Warner Bros. Discovery cutting content for tax purposes are over, according to CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels.
Following a series of brutal axings in 2022, including shutting down big-budget tentpole Batgirl, killing J.J. Abrams’ HBO drama Demimonde, culling TBS series such as The Big D, Chad and Kill The Orange Bear as well as a raft of cancelations including Westworld, Wiedenfels said, “We’re done with that chapter”.
Speaking at a Citibank media conference, the exec also took the opportunity to once again chastise the entire industry for its spendthrift ways. Asked by moderator and veteran Citi analyst Jason Bazinet about where the company lies on the spectrum of direct-to-consumer and wholesale content production for others to distribute, Wiedenfels replied, “The truth is in the middle.” He invoked CEO David Zaslav’s declaration, during the humbling of Netflix in early 2022 as Wall Street recalibrated its standards for the streaming business, that WBD was “not out to win the spending wars” in the sector.
As executives sought to steam out costs from the operation, Wiedenfels said that it “took a little bit of time to make sure that we do it properly,” which is why the process took six to seven months to unfold.
“That was very important to all of us to really use 2022 to leave the purchase accounting behind us leave those initial strategy changes behind us get it all, get it all out there in terms of our restructuring estimates, and then be able to turn the page and move forward,” he added.
WBD has gotten “a lot of public noise about the content writeoffs that we took,” the exec continued. That is “a reflection of an industry that went overboard and went on a spending frenzy. There was a lot of thinking of, ‘let’s
“We’re going to put 2022 behind us and focus on the future,” said Kathleen Finch, Chairman and Chief Content Officer of Warner Bros. Discovery’s U.S. Networks Group.
EXCLUSIVE: Mattel is putting gas in the tank of its Warner Bros-Bad Robot movie Hot Wheels with writers Dalton Leeb and Nicholas Jacobson-Larson boarding to pen the live-action adaptation of the 54-year old racing car toy.
In Montana’s Big Sky Country, a black cloud hangs over the state’s expansive horizon. It looms above the indigenous residents of the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Reservations and nearby towns in Big Horn County most of all.
Rami Malek‘s Hollywood breakout came partly thanks to his role on “Mr. Robot,” which landed him an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in 2016.
Ken Lowe, former CEO of Scripps Networks Interactive, is joining the Warner Bros Discovery board of directors.
EXCLUSIVE: Deadline hears that Warner Bros. Television is developing a limited series about Buster Keaton which has Oscar and Emmy winner Rami Malek playing the vaudeville-turned-silent comedy movie star.
More than 200 BT Sport staff who transferred to the company’s joint venture with Warner Bros Discovery in the UK and Ireland are at risk of redundancy.
Stephen Fry-Narrated Doc Set For Prime Video
Veteran Warner Bros. Television casting executive Findley Davidson has departed the studio after 15 years, most recently as head of New York casting. She has launched her own, New York-based independent casting office, Findley Davidson Casting, which will offer casting services for film, television, and theatre.
EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is handing many of its UK and Ireland staff a one-off payment of £1,000 ($1,200) to help combat the cost of living crisis.
Antony Root, the long-serving HBO Max EMEA original programming chief, is to exit his role at Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and retire from the industry.
Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin revealed that he has received no clarity over why VAR went down during the Dons Viaplay Cup semi final defeat to Rangers on Sunday.
Warner Bros. International Television Production Spain has hired former Mediaset España director Alberto Carullo as Head of Drama.
Warner Bros Discovery and the European Broadcasting Union have won the auction for Olympic Games broadcasting rights between 2026 and 2032.
Warner Bros, whose Elvis Presley biopic Elvis has been near the top of the conversation this awards season, on Friday reacted to the death of Lisa Marie Presley. The only child of the King of Rock and Roll died Thursday at age 54 after being rushed to the hospital earlier in the day.
Warner Bros. Discovery and Prime Video have struck a major content deal in France that will see HBO content plus 12 channels available on the Amazon platform in the nation.
, were leaked ahead of his promotional 60 Minutes interview on Sunday night—perhaps most notably, the allegation that his brother, in a physical altercation at Nottingham Cottage, breaking his dog bowl, his necklace and, evidently, his spirit. I anticipated more anecdotes about his strained relationship with his brother and his father, King Charles.
Television has been increasingly taking advantage of tax rules to save money by scrapping shows that have already been completed.
Warner Bros. is keeping their most prolific TV producer of the last decade in the fold. Greg Berlanti has closed a massive new four-year exclusive overall deal for his Berlanti Productions to remain at the studio for its television operations into the year 2027.