Casey Bloys picks the prestige content and Forssell does the rest
Friday’s massive restructuring of WarnerMedia under recently appointed CEO Jason Kilar sets lofty expectations for both HBO Max and Andy Forssell, the operating business executive now in charge of the streaming service.
Under the new regime, Forssell’s role as general manager will have him reporting directly to Kilar as he oversees the “global rollout” of HBO Max, a clear effort to make the fledgling streamer a rival to Netflix worldwide, which is a top priority for Kilar. (You know, after Kilar gets the service on Amazon and Roku.)
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Click Here Already a subscriber? LoginWhile HBO programming president Casey Bloys will pick the brand’s content, pretty much everything else about Max will be in Forssell’s capable (and likely calloused, more on that below) hands.
The CEO stressed global expansion of HBO Max as a key objective driving the restructuring, referring to it in Friday’s memo as “one of the greatest opportunities in the history of media.” The economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic and the increased in streaming under stay-at-home orders have only placed “an even higher premium on these points,” Kilar wrote.
Also Read: Bob Greenblatt, Kevin Reilly Exit WarnerMedia Amid Massive Reorganization
So who is Andy Forssell? Here’s what we know: The dude is impressive. Forssell, who holds a Harvard MBA and an engineering degree from Carnegie Mellon University, studied Russian at the United States Military Academy.
After serving five years in the Army’s 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, where he made Captain, Assistant Squadron Operations Officer, 1st Squadron, Forrsell began his civilian career at what would become Oracle.
From there, he went to work for a little streaming startup named Hulu, where he would become acting CEO in 2013. Forrsell’s six-year Hulu tenure coincided perfectly with that streaming service’s founding CEO, Jason Kilar, to whom he now reports once again.
After leaving Hulu with $1 billion in revenue, Forrsell joined Showyou as CEO. That job only lasted one year, as the short-form video aggregation startup was sold to Vevo in late 2015.
Also Read: Ava DuVernay to Narrate 'One Perfect Shot' Film History Series at HBO Max
Forssell moved on quickly from there, becoming COO of FullScreen in November 2015. In February 2018, Forssell departed for the same role at Otter Media, which, like his current company WarnerMedia, is owned by AT&T. From Otter Media it was WarnerMedia proper’s direct-to-consumer business, where Forrsell helped build out and launch HBO Max, the HBO of our future.
When he’s not making streaming great again, Forssell loves his Pittsburgh Steelers, collection of guitars and throwing kettlebells around. We took that from his Twitter.
Forssell won’t mind a little online stalking — especially if we end with this: Beat Navy.
Reid Nakamura contributed to this report.
Emmy Nominations 2020: Snubs and Surprises, From Bob Odenkirk to Baby Yoda (Photos)
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Between Elisabeth Moss and Bob Odenkirk getting pushed out of their respective categories and an unexpected nomination for "What We Do in the Shadows," Tuesday's Emmy nominations announcement came with more than its share of surprises.
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FXSurprise: "What We Do in the Shadows" FX's series adaptation of the vampire mockumetary from Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi only secured two below the line nominations for its first season, but it's second outing scored big with eight nominations, including an Outstanding Comedy Series nod.
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Disney+
Surprise: "The Mandalorian" Drama heavyweight "Game of Thrones" was out of the running this year, leaving room for a new series to sneak in among a slew of past nominees like "Better Call Saul," "The Handmaid's Tale" and "The Crown." But instead of Apple TV+'s "The Morning Show," voters went with a different new streaming service, nominated Disney+'s "The Mandalorian."
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AMC
Snub: Bob Odenkirk, "Better Call Saul" Odenkirk has been a perennial nominee in the lead actor category since 2015, but this year the "Better Call Saul" star was overlooked in favor of a pair of actors from "Succession" and "The Morning Show" star Steve Carell.
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Hulu
Snub: Elisabeth Moss, "The Handmaid's Tale" Moss won the award for lead actress in a drama series in 2017 and has been nominated numerous times in the past, but, like "This Is Us" star Mandy Moore and "How to Get Away With Murder's" Viola Davis, failed to make the cut for the most recent season of "Handmaid's Tale."
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HBO
Surprise: Zendaya, "Euphoria" In a category comprised mostly of returning players, dark horse candidate Zendaya managed to sneak a lead actress nod for her role on the HBO drama "Euphoria," slipping in alongside fellow category newcomer Jennifer Aniston of "The Morning Show."
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HBO
Snub: "Big Little Lies" HBO's Liane Moriarty adaptation was the belle of awards season in 2017, all but sweeping the limited series categories with its roster of big-name stars including Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon. But Season 2's move to the drama series category hurt the show, leaving "Big Little Lies" with only two nominations for supporting stars Laura Dern and Meryl Streep.
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Fox
Surprise: "The Masked Singer" Fox's absurdist singing competition finally became too big for Emmy voters to ignore in Season 2, shaking up the Oustanding Competition Program category with 10-time winner "The Amazing Race" ineligible this year.
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HBO
Snub: "Westworld" Turns out "Westworld" wasn't the "Game of Thrones" successor HBO hoped iy would be, earning only two acting nods for its third season, for supporting actors Thandie Newton and Jeffrey Wright, and missing out on the marquee drama series category entirely.
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Netflix
Snub: Kaitlyn Dever, Merritt Wever, "Unbelievable" For much of the voting period, the two stars of Netflix's harrowing "Unbelievable" seemed like locks for lead actress in a limited series nominations, but neither made the cut in a crowded category, not even TV Academy darling Merritt Wever, who has twice before pulled out a surprise upset on Emmy night.
”Better Call Saul“ and ”The Handmaid’s Tale“ leads miss out, while ”What We Do in the Shadows“ sneaks in
Between Elisabeth Moss and Bob Odenkirk getting pushed out of their respective categories and an unexpected nomination for "What We Do in the Shadows," Tuesday's Emmy nominations announcement came with more than its share of surprises.
Tony Maglio
TV Editor • tony.maglio@thewrap.com • Twitter: @tonymaglio