UPDATE 2: The lobbying paid off: Bloys made Skydance’s CEO Leadership Team as the content chief for both HBO Max and Paramount+.
UPDATE: Bloys staying leads off our look at what Ellison kept and what he lost in Skydance’s alarming first week.
Casey Bloys kept HBO because its biggest producers went to bat for him.
New info from our Paramount sources: HBO’s top producers lobbied David Ellison and his team to keep Bloys, “or else.”
The names include Matt Reeves, Mike White, and Julian Fellowes.
“They all like Bloys a lot better than the alternative,” we’re told.
The alternative was Cindy Holland, the former Netflix executive Ellison hired to run streaming at Paramount. Holland is out, and Bloys is expected to run all of streaming for the combined company.
Reeves has The Penguin at HBO. White has The White Lotus. Fellowes has The Gilded Age. When those three talk, Ellison listens.
From ‘Could Be Out’ To Running All Of Streaming
This caps a month of our insider info on Bloys.
On September 9, our sources first told us HBO Max could be gone and Bloys could be out after the merger.
On September 29, we reported Bloys was playing competing offers, letting the streamers know he was up for grabs.
The new info backs that up. Per our source, Bloys was fielding offers and “openly signaling he was willing to exit.”
That same day, Holland announced her exit. Bloys won.
‘A Gradual Process, Not A Week Or A Few Months’
So why didn’t Ellison just clean house at HBO? Our source says politics is part of it.
“There’s also the matter of public and political perception. Paramount+ is seen as more conservative while HBO is seen as more liberal.”
“Ellison can’t and won’t fire all the wokesters all at once. It’s a gradual process, not a week or a few months.”
The cuts are still coming. Insiders already told us layoffs follow the merger, and this is more of the same.
“The upcoming layoffs will purge a bunch of wokesters but not all. Same as Disney, it’s a process.”
The layoffs also now have a name attached: insiders say Ynon Kreiz was brought in to cut $6-7 billion.
Harry Potter Cannot Miss
Then there’s the show HBO cannot let wobble.
On September 30, we reported Ellison is not canceling HBO’s Harry Potter series despite the backlash. The series “has to be a huge hit” after the “ungodly amounts” of money spent on it.
Per our source, Ellison “must’ve thought shaking up HBO leadership now wasn’t worth it.”
Harry Potter premieres Christmas Day on HBO Max and will also stream on Paramount+.
Ellison Is Already All-In On Matt Reeves
Reeves backing Bloys syncs with everything else our sources have said.
Back on August 21, we were told Ellison is going all-in on Batman, is “really high on Reeves,” and wants the Arkham Asylum series at HBO.
On Sunday, the same sources said the studio expects The Batman Part II to be a “mega hit” and called Reeves “the golden child.”
Add the plan to make Robert Pattinson the next Tom Cruise.
When the producer Ellison is building his studio around says keep Bloys, Bloys gets kept.
The merger closes October 6. Bloys will be there when it does.
