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| Greg Drebin: "It Starts With a Great Story" |
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Four nerds, a chubby couple, a single dad, a couple of broke waitresses and two and a half men. In his interview with ttv, Greg Drebin reveals the secrets behind Warner Bros' multifaceted programming and its unique stars.
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Greg Drebin, Sr. Vice President Programming and Marketing, TV/Branded Services at Warner Bros.
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"The whole plotline is crazy. If you said to somebody 'I think that there's a really big comedy with these really intelligent geeks'; they would have said there's nothing funny about that. They'll be talking about scientific stuff and people won't understand. And it's hysterical!" With these words, Greg Drebin, Sr. Vice President Programming and Marketing, TV/Branded Services at Warner Bros., describes his hit comedy Big Bang Theory, whose unusual characters have won the hearts of countless fans, proving sometimes it's necessary to break the mold to produce an excellent product; and that's precisely Warner's main strategy.
GREAT STORIES
Searching to "continue to be the home for great comedy and drama" -as stated by Drebin-, Warner Bros invests in high-quality scripted programming: "At Warner Bros we are world-class storytellers. We know how to tell stories and we do it in a way that is incredibly entertaining... It starts with a great story," he said.
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Warner's programming is also innovative, avoiding those traditional love stories with picture-perfect characters, in favor of unexpected, unique, more relatable characters and stories. "The characters have to be very strong and defined, very understood and likeable or hateable," he explained, while highlighting the importance of those characters being able to connect with their audience: "If done properly, it's almost invisible that it's actually a TV show. You're just watching this very entertaining thing, you're submerged in it and you're watching these people that you know. You're not watching TV."
INTERNATIONAL COMEDIES
In a genre Drebin himself described as "something that doesn't translate well; often seen as very local", Warner's unique stories engage audiences worldwide, with something suitable for every viewer; making comedies the starts in its programming: "We see with our comedies there are certain characters and situations, and moments in life that are universal. People understand and gravitate to them," he said, highlighting series such as Two Broke Girls, Big Bang Theory, The Middle and even Friends as perfect examples of this phenomenon.
All in all, in what may just be one of the busiest times of the year for the TV industry, as all the main US networks prepare and present their programming for the upcoming seasons; Warner's solid offer allows it to attend the upcoming markets and tradeshows with confidence: "Because we currently have a very strong slate of programs which are all doing well, we are not in a situation where we are having to re-invent our entire program slate. We're simply going to be looking for ways to grow from our existing strengths and do more of it," he stated.
LATIN AMERICA
Described by Drebin as "one of the older, well established channels Warner has around the world," the network continues to attracts fans across the globe: "In Latin America, Warner stands for 'world-class entertainment', there's a level of quality and heritage and value that is associated with it that is reflected in the heritage of the studio," said Drebin, who also explained the Latin territory's unique characteristics, "newness and freshness allows us to do things that are new and different, and the audience accepts that."
With an assorted content catalog, Warner continues to expand across the territory: "The Latin American market is incredibly important for us. Every day that goes on we are more and more involved with the Latin marketplace. There's a level of expectation of what Warner stands for that we try to maintain," he concluded.
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Where Everything Grows
