HBO ups Bloys, Ellenberg exits

HBO in the US has promoted its comedy chief Casey Bloys while drama boss Michael Ellenberg is leaving his position.

Casey Bloys

Bloys, who has been at HBO since 2004, becomes president of series, late-nights and specials, while Ellenberg, who previously head of drama series, is set to agree a production deal with the US cablenet.

Ellenberg joined HBO in 2011 as a senior VP and was behind shows including True Detective and Game of Thrones, as well as forthcoming series such as Vinyl and Big Little Lies.

Bloys’ previous shows include Veep, Girls and Ballers, and the exec is now set to oversee both drama and comedy programming.

Michael Lombardo, HBO’s programming president, said: “It is never easy when someone of Michael’s talent decides to move on. He leaves us with an exceptional slate of drama programming, including our upcoming premiere of Vinyl and the recently announced David Simon series The Deuce. Michael will be missed and I thank him for graciously agreeing to assist in this transition period.”

Michael Ellenberg at the 2015 Edinburgh TV festival

Lombardo added that Casey was “a seasoned executive” and his appointment presented “an exciting opportunity to expand his role at the company. We believe that by consolidating drama and comedy under his leadership that both genres will greatly benefit.”

The reshuffle comes after it was revealed that HBO had halted production on forthcoming drama Westworld.