Warner Bros. TV Group Lays Off 82 Staffers, Consolidates Some Unscripted and Animation Departments in Belt-Tightening Restructure

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.

In what has been heavily buzzed around town, Jesse Ehrman has been named President, Production and Development at Warner Bros. Pictures.

EXCLUSIVE: The $4.4 billion grossing producer of several Warner Bros. DC movies as well as the highest grossing horror franchise of all-time at $2 billion, The Conjuring, has re-upped with the Burbank, CA lot for another three years.

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.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Warner Bros. Discovery Global Kids, Young Adults and Classics chief marketing officer Tricia Melton is departing the company, along with Cartoon Network and Adult Swim senior VP of marketing and partnerships Jill King. Their exits rep the latest high-profile departures at the conglom as it continues to cut costs and downsize following the April acquisition of Warner Bros. by Discovery. Melton’s and King’s exits come just days after Warner Bros. TV Group’s animation division was hit hard by cuts — including the merger of development and main production teams for Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios. Both shingles remain, but with a smaller, merged headcount.  

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Warner Bros. Discovery’s decision to end its long-running writers and directors training program, which the conglom announced Tuesday as part of a series of layoffs and budget cuts at Warner Bros. TV Group, drew a strong rebuke from different parts of the industry, including a stinging statement on Wednesday by the Directors Guild of America. But what Warner Bros. Discovery hadn’t followed up to explain — and quickly revealed on Wednesday — is that its Writers Workshop and Directors Workshop will live on (albeit it, in a somewhat different form, details TBD) but now move from Warner Bros. Television and be housed inside the conglom’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion unit.

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.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Warner Bros. Television has promoted Parul Agrawal to the role of senior vice president and head of drama development, Variety has confirmed. Agrawal previously served as vice president of drama development. She tales over the role from Leigh London Redman, who exited the studio in July to join Berlanti Productions. Agrawal will report to Clancy Collins White, executive vice president and head of development. Agrawal originally joined WBTV in 2010, rising to vice president of drama development in 2019. During her tenure with the studio, she has helped develop shows like “Lovecraft Country” at HBO, “All American” and “All American: Homecoming” at The CW as well as “Batwoman,” “Black Lightning,” “Kung Fu” “Supergirl,” and the upcoming “Gotham Knights” at the broadcaster. Others include “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” and “Maid” at Netflix as well as “Castle Rock” at Hulu and many more.

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.

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

shuttering of the company’s short-form division, Stage 13, and its Television Workshop for up-and-coming writers and directors. While neither program was founded with the initiative of specifically supporting talent from underrepresented backgrounds, both eventually became a pipeline through which rising and diverse talent could break into the industry.Following the exit of longtime producer Brooke Karzen, who was most recently the EVP and head of Warner Horizon Unscripted Television, the unscripted division plans to combine some creative development and programming roles across Warner Horizon and Telepictures.As for television animation, there will continue to be three studios — Warner Bros. Animation, Cartoon Network Studios, and Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe — run by Sam Register.

laying off hundreds of workers on the business side. Up to 30% of the combined sales teams of the merged company were expected to be cut.

Layoffs are underway at Warner Bros. Television Group. The cuts include the closing of digital shortform programming division Stage 13 and of the famous Warner Bros. Television Workshop, which has been around for more than 40 years.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large As Warner Bros. Discovery continues its belt tightening (with more layoffs expected imminently at Warner Bros. TV Group), the company has shuttered Stage 13, a shingle focused on diverse short-form programming, and will also pull the plug on the Warner Bros. Television Workshop, which had aimed to train new creative talent in both writing and directing. Stage 13 was founded in 2017 under the former Warner Bros. Digital Networks division as a studio for original digital short-form programming. Past shows include Netflix’s “Special” and “It’s Bruno,” and The CW’s “Two Sentence Horror Stories.” Warner Bros. Television has already been supervising Stage 13 development and programming since 2020; existing Stage 13 projects in development will be absorbed within the studio. The shut down comes as the popularity of producing short-form programming itself appears to be on the wane; this year, the TV Academy merged several short-form categories as the pool of programming shrunk.