After two pandemic years, and many changes in the industry and the company itself, Warner Bros. Discovery organized one of the most commented screenings last May. Not only because of the contents presented, but mainly because the Studio is putting strong emphasis on its international alliances to distribute more key series globally.
Robert Blair, President, Warner Bros. Discovery International Television Distribution, Channing Dungey, Chairman, Warner Bros. Television Group, and Casey Bloys, Chief Content Officer, HBO and HBO Max, offered the introduction speeches to the international buyers presented.
Blair said: ‘We’re delighted to welcome everyone back to the studio after such a long time and we’ve got an amazing line-up of new series to share’. These words were understood as a new beginning for the company, especially for the new structure after the Discovery acquisition but also because the opening to keep betting on the international distribution of the Studio content.
From Latin America, its head of distribution for the region Patricia Jasin, remarked: ‘We are very happy with the results of this first screening after the pandemic. The quality and variety of the productions presented have impressed our clients and confirm our leadership position in the industry. In a year of many changes and new strategies, we are absolutely sure that our content will accompany us and our clients in each of the challenges that lie ahead’.
Among the top shows highlighted on the May-week, Warner Bros. Discovery exhibited East New York, a CBS’s one-hour drama series from Emmy winner William Finkelstein (The Good Fight) and Mike Flynn (Power Book III: Raising Kanan): Regina Haywood is the newly promoted deputy inspector of the NYPD’s 74th Precinct in East New York, a working-class neighborhood at the eastern edge of Brooklyn. She leads a diverse group of officers and detectives, some of whom are reluctant to deploy her creative methods of serving and protecting in the midst of social upheaval and the early seeds of gentrification.
Dead Boy Detectives is a Max Original’s one-hour DC horror detective series born from DC’s The Sandman and Dead Boy Detectives comics. Found is an NBC one-hour drama about missing people in the USA. Gotham Knights (The CW) is a DC drama from Berlanti Productions and Batwoman’s Chad Fiveash, James Stoteraux, and Natalie Abrams telling the story after Batman is death. And The Winchesters (The CW) shows Supernatural star Jensen Ackles and Danneel Ackles team up with the series writer Robbie Thompson for this prequel to the long-running hit series.
Also for HBO Max are Love & Death, coproduced by Lionsgate where two church going couples, enjoying small town family life in Texas, until somebody picks up an axe; in the dark, coming-of-age, horror-tinged drama Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, audience will find ourselves miles away from Rosewood, but within the existing PLL universe — in a brand-new town, with a new generation of Little Liars; and Rap Sh!T, a half-hour comedy series where two estranged high school friends from Miami, Shawna and Mia, reunite to form a rap group.
Lastly, the NBC comedy Night Court based on the original hit comedy series that ran for nine seasons. And the Spanish production García!, a HBO Max one-hour international drama from Zeta Studios for Warner Bros. Discovery that tells the story of an inquisitive millennial investigative reporter Antonia who stumbles on a decades-old conspiracy.
