Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few months, you’ve probably caught a glimpse of the endless news feeds filled with reported shake-ups at Warner Bros Discovery.
In August, David Zaslav made headlines after scrapping HBO Max’s Batgirl film and writing off an estimated 80 – 90 million dollars with it. And just a few days later, it was reported that he’d pumped the brakes on other highly anticipated titles like Raised By Wolves and Made For Love. Yahoo even claimed that the plan was to eliminate around 70% of WB’s development staff.
But the wild ride didn’t stop there. The following week, Zaslav faced yet another disaster as he tried to hold together what was left of Ezra Miller’s The Flash after the actor was arrested for burglary amid a slew of wildly bizarre accusations.
And yesterday, Warner Bros Discovery announced another round of Zaslav belt-tightening that will see up to 26% of all staff laid off by Thanksgiving.
Outrage has gone viral on the Twitterverse, but are readers putting the cart before the horse?
David Zaslav looking to reboot Warner Bros
Now, to be clear, we’re not happy about the layoffs. From an outsider’s point of view, Warner Bros has done a phenomenal job maintaining its position and even snatching a significant chunk of the streaming market in short order (HBO Max is ranked as the 3rd most popular streaming service, just two years in business). And you hate to see folks losing jobs when, by-and-large, the team as a whole has delivered.
But the truth is, Warner Bros properties have not received the love they deserve. From Zack Synder to Joss Whedon, WB’s DCU started with potential when Man of Steel showed us that it was possible to create a more grounded take on Superman. But somehow, that opportunity was squandered as the DCU slowly unraveled with controversy – who’s to blame? It doesn’t matter.
And then there are the scrapped Game of Thrones spin-offs, Elvis, COVID, and the Un-Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, which may have put a nail in the Harry Potter franchise for the time being. The point is: they’ve hit some bumps in the last few years.
Still, WB has seen surprising success in its lesser-known properties. Joker and Aquaman cleared a billion dollars at the box office, and The Batman added another $750 million to WB’s coffers last spring. It’s not like the company doesn’t know how to make good movies. In the last two decades, WB has produced 37 films that cleared more than $500 million in theaters (random: somehow, The Meg – 36th on the list – made $10 million more than Dunkirk).
The point is WB has a formula that works. But the last few years have been sloppy. Of those 37 films, only five were released since 2017. That’s not good.
David Zaslav has a record of success
Zaslav joined NBC in 1989 and oversaw the cable company’s transition into the modern era. Managing NBC’s interests in lesser-known names at the time, including A&E, History, The National Geographic Channel, and even TiVo, Zaslav helped the company transition into more than just a broadcast service.
David also oversaw the company’s Olympics programming, no small task – one that requires advanced skill sets and big-picture thinking.
In 2006 Zaslav joined Discovery and took the company public in 2008. By 2014 Discovery was a Fortune 500 company. When Warner Bros acquired Discovery in 2021, the company announced that Zaslav would serve as CEO after the merger. After which, he laid out his vision for “fewer layers” to empower employees.
And despite heavy criticism over layoffs and the cancellation of popular titles, he’s still pulling all the strings among leadership at WB. But how? Maintaining control over a board as the bearer of bad news is complex, and Zaslav came with a lot of it. So what do they know that we don’t?
WB’s August cancellations shocked readers so much because no one even knew there was a problem. The DCU was a bust overall, but WB was still delivering fresh content like Shazam and Wonder Woman, which seemed like a winning (albeit sometimes confusing) strategy.
So what’s up?
David Zaslav is giving WB reboot they need right now, even if it isn’t what they deserve
Zaslav isn’t immune to the heat he’s getting. But what has made him so successful is his ability to assess a situation for what it is and hire the right people. He said as much in 2017.
Speaking to Strayer University, Zaslav said that drive is what he looks for in an excellent employee.
“I want the doers,” Zaslav says. “I don’t want to talk to somebody that’s gonna call somebody to get the answer.”
“The person I’m looking for is not necessarily the person who was in charge of the company,” he added, “but maybe who was doing all the deals.”
Working for David may be difficult, but at the end of the day, Zaslav surrounds himself with people who have perspective, are not afraid to get their hands dirty, and will tell him the truth. Suffice it to say, David’s first year probably included a lot of listening, interpreting, and forecasting, and he probably got some bad news; this baby is ugly.
Give David Zaslav space and time
Leadership isn’t easy. No one wants to make cuts. The proverbial Scrooge is rarer than you think. Leaders want their teams to win because they succeed when they do. And great leaders can see success from any number of perspectives.
But ultimately, difficult decisions must be made when the ship is sailing into headwinds. COVID has complicated the box office release model (The Batman, despite receiving universal praise, earned $250 million less than Aquaman because of a fickle populace). The streaming industry is more crowded than ever, and it may just be that David has identified a trend that we can’t see yet. After all, that’s something else great leaders are good at.
Significant changes are usually the result of new perspectives. And while we hate to see so many talented people facing an uncertain future after WB’s mass layoffs, maybe a new perspective is a good thing for the entertainment industry.
Give David Zaslav space to be a leader and time to realize his vision. As Hans Rosling says, “Remember: Things can be getting bad, and getting better.”
On the hunt for what you’ll be streaming this weekend? Subscribe now.