Janet Graham Borba (Left) and Susanna Felleman (Right) (Courtesy of WarnerMedia)
In a bid to further streamline its internal operations, WarnerMedia is merging the executive teams for production and business affairs at HBO and HBO Max.
As part of the move, HBO veterans Janet Graham Borba and Susanna Felleman will expand their duties, with Borba becoming executive vice president of production and Felleman becoming executive vice president of business affairs for the prestige cabler and HBO-branded streaming service.
“As HBO Max moves toward the same in-house production model that’s been the heart of the HBO programming lineup for the past many years, it’s become clear that we need greater consistency across the business and production practices of HBO and HBO Max,” said Glenn Whitehead, president of business affairs and production at HBO and HBO Max. “I’ve worked with Janet and Susanna for many years and know that they’ll be brilliant at leading these combined teams as we continue to program HBO and HBO Max with premier original content and harness the combined mastery of these Production and Business Affairs teams to build out the HBO Max streaming service.”
Borba and Felleman both report to Whitehead.
Known as a cornerstone of HBO’s production department for a quarter of a century, Borba has personally overseen some of HBO’s biggest series, including “Game of Thrones.” She stepped into her current role in 2016, leading the cabler’s Los Angeles and New York production, post-production and production operations teams. Felleman has been with HBO’s business affairs division for the last 15 years and heading the team since 2016, overseeing general business affairs, labor relations, and residuals and participations. She, too, was involved with “Game of Thrones” and other high-profile HBO projects.
Meanwhile, HBO Max, TBS, TNT and truTV president of business operations and production Sandra Dewey and business affairs exec VP Pat Kelly have decided to depart the company amid the reorganization.
“Sandra and Pat have both made invaluable contributions to the company throughout their tenures, and we owe them a huge debt of gratitude,” said Whitehead. “They’re outstanding colleagues, and we wish them all the best in their future endeavors.”
Dewey, who has been with the company for over two decades, was formative to the creation of HBO Max, establishing business models, policy and process for Max Originals and formulated strategic relationships with new content partners. And Kelly’s 19 years at the company were spent overseeing day-to-day deal making for original series, co-productions, international distribution and worldwide home video, as well as business affairs for such specials as the “AFI Life Achievement Award” and advertiser-supported initiatives.
Variety's Elaine Low contributed to this post.
https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/warnermedia-merges-hbo-hbo-max-production-business-affairs-1234914426/
