The Lovefest Between David Zaslav and Casey Bloys Has Only Just Begun

Hepburn and Tracy. Taylor and Burton. Newman and Woodward. These are Hollywood’s most revered relationships, but after listening to Warner Bros. Discovery’s pivotal earnings call yesterday afternoon, it’s high time to add another pair to the list: David Zaslav and Casey Bloys.

After a furious few days of headscratcher business decisions (like tossing the $90MM Batgirl in the dumpster) and wild rumors about the future of HBO Max, WBDisco CEO David “Zas” Zaslav spoke to the investment community yesterday afternoon about his company’s second quarter earnings, but more importantly, the future of the newly merged company he’s in charge of. The big news coming out of the call was that HBO Max and discovery+ will be combining into an as-yet-to-be-named single service come Summer 2023, but Zaslav saved his most resplendent words of praise for Casey Bloys, the HBO executive who has been in charge of the network’s programming over the last few tumultuous years since the AT&T telephonies kicked then-HBO CEO Richard Plepler to the curb.

Back on July 18, Zas awarded Bloys with a new contract, ensuring he spends the next 5 years with HBO and anointing him with the title of Chief Creative Officer, but pointedly did not release a statement trumpeting the move. Although financial terms were not disclosed, we can only assume that everyone was pleased as punch with the arrangement, as the two showed up giddy as a couple of schoolboys at the House Of The Dragon premiere in Los Angeles on July 27, posing for pictures on the red carpet together like BFFs.

On yesterday’s call with a bunch of institutional investors who care more about EBITDA than Emmys, Zas couldn’t resist the urge to set aside his insights into ARPU and D2C to gush about his new number one boy (as Logan Roy might say). He mentioned “Casey” by name six different times during the presentation, each time with the admiration of a proud papa. Sounding a bit like Stefon, Zas began by saying “HBO Max has never been hotter,” before later lavishing Casey with praise, stating that Bloys is leading “the best team in the business,” before bragging that he “locked up Casey for the next 5 years … and we hope longer.” He also seemed impressed by “the culture and the taste of Casey,” and the fact that Casey and his team “not only read the scripts, but they fight with all their creatives to make the content and storytelling is as strong as possible.” (Take that Netflix, with your famously hands-off development process!) At one point, he even described Casey as “a unicorn,” which made us really wish we were privy to Zas’ notebooks; we’d die to see the doodles he makes in the margins during his “weekly meetings on the lot” with Casey!!

All kidding aside, Bloys has truly shepherded a dynamic slate of television series during his career at the Home Box Office, especially since he’s been leading the charge in the wake of the disastrous AT&T merger. Under his leadership, the HBO and HBO Max team secured an industry-leading 140 Emmy Nominations for 2022, produced critical and commercial hits (Euphoria! Watchmen! Mare of Easttown! Hacks! Succession! I could keep going!), and navigated the treacherous waters of figuring out how to keep the Game Of Thrones franchise humming (House of the Dragon is landing later this month). Casey’s stewardship of “one of the great crown jewels” (another moment of pure Zas energy!) of the entertainment industry makes him the kind of guy that a kingmaker CEO like Zas wants to “lock up,” Rapunzel style, for years and years to come.

While the future of direct-to-streaming movies at HBO Max looks deader than Hodor, one thing is certain: The love affair between Zas and Casey, to borrow a phrase from The Carpenters, has only just begun.