The Dish: Warner Bros. Discovery Braces For New Round Of Layoffs This Week

Tomorrow, we hear is Courtenay Valenti’s last day as Warner Bros. President of Production and Development after we told you first that she was exiting the Burbank, CA lot after a 33-year run.

The Warner Bros Worldwide Marketing vet is in talks for the top Film & TV, Marketing post at Amazon Studios, sources tell us. The rumor has been around for a while, and we understand it’s becoming more real, and it really shouldn’t surprise as Sue Kroll has been a marketing consultant at Amazon Studios for six months. Sources tell us that the streamer and Kroll are still working out details.

Warner Bros. Discovery will take a hit of between $1.3 billion and $1.6 billon in pre-tax restructuring charges for the third quarter ended in September as part of the ongoing merge of its operations, primary from content write-downs.

Ahead of tomorrow’s tipoff of the 2022-23 NBA season, Warner Bros Discovery announced contract renewals for the four hosts of TNT’s mainstay studio show Inside the NBA.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Amazon Prime Video has scored a pair of deals with Warner Bros. Discovery and Sony to bolster its programming in France with premium titles. The agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery gives Prime Video the first-window rights to exclusive TV series from Warner Bros. Discovery in France, including “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin,” the first two seasons of “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” Ava DuVernay’s miniseries “DMZ” and “Peacemaker” Season 1. Also part of the pact are library TV titles, on a non-exclusive basis. These include “Legacies” (Seasons 1 through 3), “Pretty Little Liars,” “Fringe,” “One Tree Hill,” “The Originals” and “Shameless.”

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros. Discovery is behind a TV show telling real life stories of people overcoming severe medical conditions to show human bravery, with Netflix’s Amazing on the Inside producer Future Studios and distributor TVF International shopping Unbelievable Me at Mipcom Cannes this week.

Does the world need a reimagining of the 1990 comedy “House Party“? It’s not like that movie is terrible, and it’s an early role for Martin Lawrence, but who remembers it nowadays? And what kind of audience is there today for a remake? Well, LeBron James thinks the comedy needs a revamp three decades later whether anyone asked for it or not. He, Maverick Carter, and Warner Bros.  Continue reading ‘House Party’ Red Band Trailer: LeBron James & Warner Bros.

according to The Hollywood Reporter. “Both Tricia and Jill will be here through the rest of the year, working with me as we realign the teams through this transitional period.

shuttered as part of cost-cutting moves. WBD’s chief DEI officer Asif Sadiq will partner with Warner Bros. Television upon the completion of the current workshop class and will work to grow the program.

The Warner Bros. Discovery layoffs continue.

Manori Ravindran International Editor Former Warner Bros. Discovery and OSN executives are teaming up to form a new content studio serving the Middle East and North Africa, Variety can reveal. Rise Studios is being set up by industry veterans Emad Morcos, former OSN chief content and commercial officer; Amanda Turnbull, former general manager at Warner Bros. Discovery Middle East, Africa and Turkey; and Amel Farag, former head of content commercial strategy at OSN. Rise will invest in local content and talent in order to launch homegrown film and TV productions on both regional and global broadcasters and streaming platforms.

EXCLUSIVE: Parul Agrawal, a longtime drama executive at Warner Brothers Television, has been promoted to SVP and head of drama development. Reporting to Clancy Collins White, EVP and Head Of Development, she succeeds Leigh London Redman, who left in July to become President of Berlanti Productions.

in a Twitter thread on Tuesday.“And for what? The business model isn’t working. @WBD stock has lost more than 50% post-merger. So stockholders suffer too.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Warner Bros. Television Group handed out pink slips to 82 staffers on Tuesday, representing 19% of the studio’s workforce, across its scripted, unscripted and animation divisions. Additionally, it has opted not to fill 43 additional vacant positions — making for a total elimination of 125 jobs (or 26% of an approximately 481 headcount). Warner Bros. TV Group declined comment, but it’s understood that chairman Channing Dungey detailed to staff a series of changes that included various levels of consolidation in unscripted and animation. Also, as reported Tuesday afternoon, the company has closed Stage 13, a shingle focused on diverse shortform programming (leading to the exit of Stage 13 head Diana Mogollón), and will end the Warner Bros. Television Workshop, which had existed for decades as a training ground for new creative talent in both writing and directing.

Warner Bros Television is cutting more than a quarter of its workforce as part of its parent company’s drive to cut costs.

BreAnna Bell Production is moving forward for Jensen and Danneel Ackles. With their latest endeavor, “The Winchesters” slated to premiere on The CW on Oct. 11, the couple recently renewed their first-look deal with Warner Bros. Television for two more years and teases there’s a few more stories they’re looking to share in the future through their production company, Chaos Machine. “We are excited to continue our relationship with Warner Bros. as it’s been our home for a long time. It feels only natural that The Winchesters would stay within the Warner Bros. family and continue on the Supernatural legacy,” said the couple in a joint statement.

Brooke Karzen, who has been with Warner Bros.’ unscripted production division for over 20 years, is leaving the company.

Selome Hailu Brooke Karzen is stepping down from her post as executive vice president and head of Warner Horizon Unscripted Television, Variety has learned. She shared the news with staff via a memo on Monday. See the full memo below. Dear Team, I’m reaching out today, so you hear the news from me that I’ve decided to leave my position as Executive Vice President and Head of Warner Horizon Unscripted Television. Leaving Warner Bros. after 22 years was not an easy decision, but the time is right for a change. I will take some time to consider new opportunities and am excited to start a new chapter.

At New York Comic-Con today, attendees finally got a look at Illumination Animation/Universal’s The Super Mario Bros Movie, which features the voices of Chris Pratt as Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Jack Black as Bowser, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong and Keegan-Michael Key as Toad.

Michaela Zee editor Carl Samrock, former VP of publicity at Warner Bros. Pictures who started out as an entertainment photographer for the New York Times, died Saturday night of pancreatic cancer. He was 81. The news of his death was confirmed by his wife, Carol Andelman Samrock. Samrock served as Warner Bros. Pictures’ vice president of national publicity under chairmen Bob Daly and Terry Semel. He joined the company in 1982 as West Coast publicity director, in which he later oversaw a 16-member staff that handled the publicity on nearly 30 films in production or release annually.