Greg Berlanti and Warner Bros. Discovery Sign New Mega-Deal
Arrowverse maestro Greg Berlanti has inked a massive new deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, setting up Berlanti Productions as a mini-studio inside of Warner Bros. Discovery Television and linking Berlanti with Warners at least through 2027. The deal is exclusive to television, with Berlanti still set up at Netflix with a first-look movie deal. The move may come as a surprise to some fans, who expected Berlanti to bow out of his Warner Bros. deal now that The CW is collapsing, bringing the Arrowverse and some of the other shows he produces there to an end.
Instead of leaving, though, it seems Berlanti leveraged the huge successes of his Warner Bros. Television shows into a new deal that will continue to benefit both sides even though both The CW and HBO Max (where Berlanti has shows like Doom Patrol and Titans on the air) are undergoing massive changes and cost-cutting.
"Greg is a huge talent, and the impact of his prolific and powerful storytelling on Warner Bros. and audiences, and on our culture, is just 'wow,'" said Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. "He began his career with us, and we are incredibly fortunate that he will continue to build and grow our TV studio into the future."
At one point not too long ago, Greg Berlanti had more TV shows on the air at the same time than any producer in TV history. That was a total of 13 shows over 4 networks, a big jump from the previous record of 8.
According to THR, Berlanti's old deal rewarded volume, meaning that the more shows he had on the air, the more he would make. The new deal will be a partnership that rewards him based on the relative success of the individual shows he produces instead.
Around that same time, Berlanti was reportedly developing a Booster Gold movie at Warner Bros., although that project seemingly died in development. There's a bit of irony there, in that the Berlanti-produced DC's Legends of Tomorrow ended on a cliffhanger, cancelled to cut costs for The CW and Warner Bros. Discovery. That cliffhanger involved the introduction of Booster Gold. More recently, newly-installed DC Studios chief James Gunn revealed that Booster Gold was the most-requested character when he informally asked fans who should get their own movie.
Berlanti continues to have a number of Warner Bros. shows on the air or in development. In addition to Riverdale, The Flash, and Superman & Lois at The CW, Berlanti Productions is producing The Girls on the Bus, an upcoming HBO series that will star Supergirl star Melissa Benoist and Legends of Tomorrow standout Tala Ashe.