Max effort

By Gün Akyuz

Fresh from keynoting at C21’s Content London On Demand towards the end of 2020, Casey Bloys is well versed in the joinedup programming strategy unfolding across HBO and its streamer HBO Max, as the latter prepares to launch outside of the US, initially in Latin America and the Caribbean.

While HBO’s overall programming strategy isn’t changing, HBO Max is enabling the brand to open up to a broader range of voices and genres, with HBO living as “a core brand within the HBO Max service,” Bloys says. “The idea with HBO Max is to broaden out the offering to make it as attractive to as many consumers as possible,” he says, highlighting the push into areas that aren’t typically associated with HBO, such as reality programming, adult animation and acquisitions.

Priorities for the streamer include finding diverse voices in storytelling, female-driven and young-adult (YA) fare and tapping WarnerMedia’s DC franchises.

“One of the things we want to do at Max is really lean into our advantages as a company at WarnerMedia. That includes not only the HBO brand but DC, which is a really important brand for us,” he says.

Other notable WarnerMedia brands include Looney Tunes and Warner Brothers movies, plus YA properties such as Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars and Riverdale, he says. “When you put all that together as a company, that expertise in that range of programming is a really, really compelling offering for consumers.”

Launched in the US last May, HBO Max had attracted 8.6 million active US subscribers by the end of the third quarter of 2020, up from four million in July. Combined, HBO and HBO Max reached 38 million subscribers, exceeding the group’s year-end target of 35 million.

Bloys, who oversees programming for both HBO and HBO Max, acknowledges the unprecedented challenges brought by Covid-19 for everyone during 2020, including “those of us who rely on crowds of people to do our jobs, in terms of producing shows.”

The pandemic aside, programming ventures face continuous challenges anyway, says Bloys. “There are so many things that can go wrong in getting a show from conception or pitch to final product, and making sure that we’re doing everything we can to give artists and producers everything, all the support they need, to do the best show they can. But the biggest challenge is making sure that the collection of shows that you offer breaks through and is meaningful to consumers,” he adds.

Set to launch in Latin America later this year, HBO Max is seeking new voices and diverse talent as it broadens out the core HBO brand.

The biggest challenge is making sure that the collection of shows you offer breaks through and is meaningful to consumers.

Despite the competition, with several mega-streamers now vying for viewers in the US alone, Bloys is bullish about there being room for multiple players. “Obviously, we intend to be one of them. But our real advantage is that HBO is this very important brand, and a core brand for HBO Max,” he says.

Bloys points to The Flight Attendant, which launched on HBO Max in November last year, as a series that reflects the potential of the streaming service. The thriller, which stars Kaley Cuoco (The Big Bang Theory), who also exec produces together with Greg Berlanti and others, was adapted from the book of the same name by Chris Bohjalian.

“It’s very stylish, it’s kind of noir and pulpy. It’s a tough thing to get that tone right and the producers here have done a really, really good job,” says Bloys.

Also in the works is Gossip Girl, shot in New York, which Bloys cites as an example of “leaning into that youngadult storytelling expertise” and of “what we can do at Max that broadens out the offering.”

DC content is an area of programming that would not have typically featured on HBO before Watchmen, based on a graphic novel, launched on the linear channel in 2019, says Bloys.

HBO Max’s slate already includes several series from DC franchises, among them eight-part superhero series Peacemaker, plus a spinoff from The Suicide Squad movie, starring John Cena and written and directed by John Gunn. Also in the works is Green Lantern, plus a series set in the Gotham City police department from the Batman universe.

Alongside scripted series, HBO Max is building up a large complement of reality programming, including competition, dating and lifestyle shows.

“One of the nice things about this job for me is that we’ve done documentaries and doc series at HBO for a long time. But we are now also working on reality shows in that space, which I like as a consumer. We have a lot of really fun and interesting reality programming planned,” says Bloys.

Towards the end of 2020 it was announced that Conan O’Brien’s long-running late-night show on WarnerMedia network TBS would end this June and O’Brien is now set to host a weekly variety show on HBO Max instead.

While HBO Max is tapping the group’s own sources and its relationship with Warner Bros, Bloys says it is important for his programming teams to look beyond existing partnerships and discover new talent. “We are always open to ideas and producers we haven’t worked with before. That’s where many times you find your best ideas,” he says.

“You have to be careful as a programmer not to continue to go back again and again to the same people but open up your world and make sure that you’re hearing precious ideas whenever you can.”

Bloys cites 2019’s HBO series Euphoria as an example of a property that did not really have an HBO feel. “The idea of your protagonist being a drug addict in high school doesn’t necessarily feel historically what an HBO show is,” he says.

“As a programmer, it’s important that you’re always testing that brand flexibility. Game of Thrones was obviously a good example of that on paper, of maybe it didn’t feel like what an HBO show was. But that has to always evolve.

“That’s the case for any programming platform. You don’t want to keep doing the same thing. You want to make sure that you are pushing yourself and pushing the company, and that’s where, hopefully, you discover new voices, interesting shows people come to expect from you.”

reputation is based on the premium cablenet’s culture as a place to foster talent and where artists feel taken care of, and that culture is being extended to HBO Max, says Bloys.

“It’s not just in how we develop shows but in how we produce them, how we cast them, how we make deals for them. That experience for producers or artists, of how it feels to work at HBO, I would like that to translate to HBO Max – whether you’re working on a reality show or a big-budget tentpole drama, that there is a feeling this is a place where artists are protected, taken seriously and given the resources to tell the kinds of stories that they want to tell,” he says. Bloys adds he and his programming teams have a pretty good idea of what’s lined up for the slates of both HBO and Max over the next couple of years. Within that, the aim is to ensure a diverse slate for both and to “make sure that we’re not too bunched up on crime shows or family shows.” The exec emphasises the need for diversity in every sense, and to ensure “it is literally diverse but also diverse in terms of the genres, the storytelling, the tone, everything,” he says. “In order to be a compelling slate, you have to make sure that you’re seeing things you haven’t seen before, or you’re doing things in a slightly different way or looking at something in a way that no one has seen before,” says Bloys. “But I do think it’s important you’re always aware of how all the pieces fit together.” Addressing racial diversity and the Black Lives Matter movement specifically, Bloys says there was more that could be done industrywide. “But just in 2020 we had Insecure, I May Destroy You, which we did with the BBC, and Lovecraft Country. We’ve got Black Lady Sketch Show. We’ve got Between the World & Me, which is a special that we’re airing in a couple of weeks.” These shows all come from “a very deliberate push,” he explains. “It was a conscious effort to broaden out our programming in all ways. We’re doing it because if you’re looking to do premium content, and you’re looking to reinvent or tell stories that people haven’t heard, [then diversity] is a business imperative.”

Issa Rae, with whom HBO previously worked on shows such as Insecure, is now developing a new reality show for HBO Max, Bloys reveals. “That happens all the time. It’s one of the great advantages of being in business with really talented people, that they usually don’t just want to do one thing,” he says.

“We discover a lot of our directors or writers that way. That’s another reason why diversity is important, because you discover a lot of great talent. One of the great advantages of working with really talented people, is they tend to work with other really talented people, and our job is to be aware of that and be open to that.”

Although HBO Max’s international business has yet to take off, the HBO brand is well-established in Latin America, Europe and Asia, and a strategy is underway to tap existing partnerships and networks as well as forge new ones. “We’ve had a lot of success with our friends at the BBC, Sky and Channel 4 and we’ll continue to pursue those partnerships where they make sense creatively for us,” says Bloys.

“One of the things that’s been interesting in the whole idea behind this merger was breaking down the silos between HBO and Warner Bros and TBS/TNT, and that also includes our international efforts. We have had a really robust programming effort between HBO and TBS/TNT all over the globe,” Bloys says, noting that up to 40 series have been produced internationally through those brands so far.

The exec in charge of co-ordinating those international programming operations is Jeniffer Kim, senior VP, international originals for HBO Max.

“There’s just a lot more communication as a company, so that we can take advantage of everything we’re doing, and a lot of great [HBO] shows around the globe. I believe that the best and most important programming that people do in their territories is local,” says Bloys, adding there is also the opportunity to maximise the reach of such shows with cross-border appeal.

“Part of breaking down those barriers is making sure we are taking advantage of all the really excellent programming we’ve done across the globe.”

In a first for the HBO network, it is set to air a production from HBO Europe, Spanish mystery series 30 Coins, produced in collaboration with HBO Latin America, says Bloys. He also flags up a US outing for upcoming Swedish series Beartown from HBO Nordic, with more to come. Both shows will also be added to HBO Max, highlighting the unique potential for a streaming service to take series beyond borders.