As expected, it was a good day for Casey Bloys. The chairman and CEO of HBO and Max content was celebrating his outlet(s)’ 127 Emmy nominations — not a record for the company, but nonetheless marking a dominant year. Whereas the HBO vs. Netflix horse race has been a headline in past Emmy years, it wasn’t much of a contest this year, as Bloys’ team outplayed the competition by 24 nods (with Netflix picking up a still-impressive 103).
According to HBO, it was the 21st time that HBO had led the Emmy nomination tally. That haul included 27 nominations for outgoing drama “Succession,” which landed three nominations in the lead drama actor category (a first). And in picking up four drama nominations (which also included “The Last of Us,” “The White Lotus” and “House of the Dragon”), HBO pulled off something that had only been done twice before, by CBS in 1973 and NBC in 1992.
But Bloys, who spoke to Variety on Wednesday morning just hours after the Television Academy announced this year’s nominations, also noted that his celebration may soon be overshadowed by news this evening of a potential SAG-AFTRA strike, on top of the ongoing WGA writers strike. “This to me should remind everybody that this industry is nowhere without the talents of writers and actors,” Bloys said of his noms. “So I sincerely hope that we can figure out something that makes them feel valued and want to come back to work.”
Bloys told Variety that HBO and Max viewers will start to notice the impact of the strike(s) in 2024. He also addressed the competition with Netflix, the HBO and Max branding (the company is now asking press to refer to its nominees as “HBO/Max”) and more. An edited transcript follows.
You broke some records including the four dramas. What’s your overall takeaway and what excited you this morning?
It’s always exciting and a thrill to be enjoyed for about a day before we go back to our normal state of anxiety. You got me right in the morning so we’re enjoying it. What I am always gratified by is to see the performance across the board in comedy, late night, documentaries, drama. Of course, the drama record, to tie CBS in 1973 and NBC in 1992. For HBO to do that. We’ve never done that in the history of HBO. And to tie those networks, they were really the dominant cultural force at those times. That’s really an achievement and really exciting for Francesca [Orci] and the drama team here, just a a big big accomplishment.
It may be a silly question, but maybe it isn’t. Are you a streamer? Are you a premium linear cable network? What are you now?
We’re HBO. How about that?
“It’s not TV, it’s HBO.”
“It’s not linear or streaming. It’s HBO.” Maybe that should be our new tagline.
Maybe it should be. I’m sure it’s hard to talk about disappointments, given how well you did this morning. But I was expecting a few more noms for “Love & Death” or “The Other Two.” Anything that stood out to you on the other hand that were disappointments?
Obviously there are always shows and performers that you feel should have been recognized. It speaks to the competition out there. There are a lot of shows, there’s a lot to get through. I of course feel that everybody that we’re in business with deserves the recognition. But you’re always going to have ones that sting a little or disappoint. But I don’t want to dwell on that. And I’d rather just celebrate everybody who’s been recognized.
Part of the rule changes this year meant that John Oliver switched to scripted variety, which means it’s up against “SNL” and “A Black Lady Sketch Show,” which is also yours. You have John Oliver and “Black Lady Sketch Show” both up against the incumbent winner in that sketch field. How are you feeling about that and are you concerned that this is the end of the run for John Oliver’s dominance?
I’m not losing sleep over John Oliver losing out. I believe in what he’s doing. I think what Robin [Thede] has done has been pretty amazing. I like our hand. It’s a new category, or a new grouping, so we can prognosticate all we want, but we’ll just have to see.
You mentioned, this is on the eve of more anxiety. The elephant in the room, of course, is that we may be 24 hours away from a SAG-AFTRA strike.
For anybody who needs another reminder, this to me should remind everybody that this industry is nowhere without the talents of writers and actors. So I sincerely hope that we can figure out something that makes them feel valued and want to come back to work. Because, we don’t have anything without their talents. So I am hopeful that we’ll be able to figure something out. Because it’s been a tough time and will be a tough time.
What will that mean in terms of having both guilds on strike. In terms of output and day to day?
It will slow everything down. It will be a lot of pain for everybody, for all sides. It’s not a lot of fun to contemplate having to deal with, having to figure this out as an industry.
The question that we get most is when will we see the impact on screen and when will it start to be noticeable in terms of what consumers see day to day,
I would say mid-2024. It’s hard to say because, it all depends on how long this goes on. I don’t think anybody really knows that. A lot of people have opinions, a lot of people who’ve been through this before have a sense for how it might play out. But I don’t think anybody really knows. It’s hard to really assess what would happen. At least through the end of 2023, we’re OK. And then into ’24 it starts to get dicier.
We could go all day asking about specific productions. But I think one show that stood out that still remained in production and was close to finishing was “House of the Dragon” Season 2. Can you say how close to wrapping Season 2 production you are?
I think the less we say about the details, the better. I don’t want to get into their production schedule.
Speaking of Emmys and how this is going to impact the Emmys. There’s a debate about when to push the Emmys. The TV Academy wants to move it to November, while Fox wants to move it to January. What’s your preference?
I would prefer November because that assumes that hopefully, we will be past our strikes. Now, there’s no guarantee of that. So I don’t know. But at least saying November is a sense of some optimism that something could be resolved. And the further you push away from when the actual shows are, you’re into the next Emmy season by that point. I will just say, as soon as we can have them on, the better. But Fox has to manage their schedule and we have to see how the strikes if and when they resolve.
And that is the other question we get all the time, is how long do you think this is going to last?
I don’t need to add my voice to that because I anybody who says they know doesn’t know. Nobody knows. And we’re gonna have to see how it plays out.
Back to the Emmys. High class problem, of course, is when you have four shows in a category like drama. That also means you’ve got many children and you can’t play favorites.
They’re all beautiful children.
How do you handle that?
The good news is, this will be up to the voters. As a parent, the hardest thing would have to be choosing between children. I don’t have to do that and I will celebrate whoever the winner is and everybody who’s been nominated.
I’ve been doing this long enough that I remember back in the day that the categories that HBO dominated in were TV movie and limited. You guys aren’t in either of those categories this year. That might be a symbol of of how things have shifted over the years for for HBO and the strategy there. What does that mean to not be in the TV movie or limited competition this year?
Are you raining on my parade with four drama series being recognized?
You did just fine, Mr. Bloys. But nonetheless, what does this mean?
I don’t think that’s a sign of a shift in strategy or anything like that. We had some strong contenders in the limited series. There is a lot of competition. Last year, the year before that, going back to ‘Chernobyl,’ we’ve done very, very well in limited and we will continue to. But, it’s competition and you appreciate where you get the noms and understand that not everything is going to get recognized. To your question, I don’t think that this is a indication of a change in strategy in any way.
TV movie does feel like a category that you have pulled back from.
It has been a strange category. We have the film “Reality,” which I think was fantastic with Sydney Sweeney. We’ve typically done a movie a year. It has historically been a tougher category for the entire industry to figure out.
Again, high class problem to have you know, so many of your actors from the key shows including “Succession,” “White Lotus” up against each other. You got to sort of treat all your kids equally.
We’re very fortunate in that they’re all deserving. They’re all been working at the top of their game. I know it’s a little bit of a tired thing to say that it’s an honor to be nominated. But to see everybody’s work recognized. I know only one can win and I know that will be up to the Emmy voters. But I’m thrilled that the work in general has been recognized.
So you’re now HBO slash Max. Is that what we’re going with?
That’s the correct syntax, I believe.
In all seriousness is that how things will be submitted going forward?
Yes. I think one of the previously confusing things was, it was “HBO Originals” and “Max Originals.” So this is actually a cleaner way to do it, as opposed to “Max Originals on HBO Max.”
I assume it’s a way to still combine everything even though you’re technically not HBO Max anymore.
Yes, but we may be making English majors everywhere and journalists crazy with the punctuation but I believe that is the correct way to do it.
For years we’ve made a lot of noise about HBO versus Netflix. This year the nomination race is less close. In your mind, is the horse race over?
This is my seventh or eighth Emmy race as head of HBO. What I say is every year is true every year, and it’s true this year. When we pick up a show or work with somebody or cast somebody, we are not doing it to figure out how to get the most Emmys. So if we happen to get the most nominations one year, it’s great. It’s fun, and it’s exciting to be recognized. But that’s not the point of what we’re doing. The point of what we’re doing is trying to work with really talented writers, directors, actors to do the best work. And it is great when it gets recognized. But that is not the point of what we’re trying to do here. A nice and really exciting byproduct, but not the point.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
