DC Entertainment Dominates The Small Screen

DC Takes the TV Crown from Marvel

There has always been a difference between Marvel and DC, with the former dominating the cinema for the past decade. DC’s big screen efforts have been less successful but it is on television that Warner’s comic arm has cleaned up. Variety has noticed this and their managing editor TV attributes DC’s success on the small screen to Warner Bros chairman CEO Kevin Tsujihara:

“Soon after Kevin Tsujihara took over as Warner Bros. chairman-CEO, he made the decision to break with protocol from the previous regime — a change that would have a profound effect on the studio. At an early strategy session, senior execs recall him issuing a new edict: DC Entertainment is open for business across the lot.Tsujihara made it clear that the vast archive of comic-book characters in the DC vault would no longer be under the tight control of Warner Bros.’ film division. WB’s television and interactive units would have new flexibility to develop projects derived from the properties, even if they were concurrently being eyed for movie projects.

He established the studio’s equivalent of the Justice League. Every two weeks, top execs including DC Entertainment’s Diane Nelson and Geoff Johns, Warner Bros. Pictures’ Sue Kroll and Greg Silverman and Warner Bros. TV’s Peter Roth gather with Tsujihara to talk about all things DC, and coordinate strategies.The group aims to be respectful of one another’s goals, and mindful of the danger of flooding the market with too much product. But TV, video games and consumer products no longer take a back seat to film. Prolific producer Greg Berlanti is approaching superhero status himself on the WB lot for his success in steering the DC-derived series — “The Flash” and “Arrow” (plus another on tap for midseason, “Legends of Tomorrow”) — that have turned around the fortunes of the CW, which Warner Bros. jointly owns with CBS Corp.”

Tsujihara works very closely with Diane Nelson, president of DC Entertainment and she sees the advantages of the current set-up.

“If there are any issues or sensitivities, we hash it out in the room,” says [Diane] Nelson, president of DC Entertainment. “It no longer feels like a hierarchical situation where film will trump television.” Nelson is one of Tsujihara’s closest lieutenants, and she also serves as president of Warner Bros. Consumer Products and president and chief creative officer of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “It’s a basic example of communication,” she adds. “You have to have the CEO of the company actively involved to make it work effectively.”The company-wide inclusiveness regarding DC reflects a broader shift in operations under Tsujihara, WB veterans say. Communication and collaboration among key divisions are not just encouraged, they’re mandated for senior management. Studio insiders say Tsujihara has stressed that the silo mentality of the past won’t do. The same tear-down-this-wall ethos has been applied to Warner Bros. and its Time Warner sibling units, HBO and Turner Broadcasting, as Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes has frequently emphasized to Wall Street.“It’s a high priority for us,” Tsujihara says of cross-Time Warner collaboration efforts. “We are all facing different challenges, creating a real urgency for us to work together. … I think the cultures of each of the businesses are changing, and the culture of Time Warner is changing.”

Kevin Feige has long dominated the conversation about just who dominates genre on TV and Film and the landscape is changing with DC showing that they are a major player on television.

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Variety on DC’s dominance of TV