Peak Greg Berlanti: Prolific Producer Tops His Own Record With 18 Series
Greg Berlanti has toppled his own record with an eye-popping 18 series ordered for the 2019 calendar year.
Shows that hail from the super-producer’s Warner Bros.-based Greg Berlanti Productions dominate the CW’s schedule and are spread among five other major outlets: CBS, NBC, Fox, Netflix and the DC Universe streaming platform. This time last year, Berlanti set the high-water mark of productions for an individual producer at 14 series.
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Berlanti’s haul comes as the major networks prepare for a week of schedule presentations in New York as they woo advertising dollars for the 2019-20 season.
In acknowledging the milestone, Berlanti emphasized the importance of the collaboration among the small army of creatives that work on the shows. He also praised Berlanti Productions president Sarah Schechter for her crucial role in managing the company’s volume.
“I never thought we would grow to this size,” Berlanti wrote Saturday on Twitter. “There’s a myth in this business that any ONE person can do it all. In my experience it’s a myth. I have never had any success that wasn’t due in equal measure to the all people i’ve worked with.”
11/11… I may be the luckiest of all of them, but that’s about the only category I lead in. And if you are a writer in the business dreaming of telling your story — to be successful you don't have to do anything alone and I hope we are lucky enough to work with you one day.
— Love, Greg (@GBerlanti) May 11, 2019
Berlanti added that his decision to hire Schechter in 2014 was “the smartest work decision I’ve ever made and were someone else to have beaten me to it, their name would be associated with 18 shows.”
Longtime Warner Bros. Television Group chief Peter Roth saluted the producer who signed a mammoth overall deal last year to stick with the studio for five more years.
“We are both delighted and enormously grateful to Greg, Sarah and their amazing teams at Berlanti Productions, and thrilled to celebrate this landmark achievement,” said Roth. “Their talent and hard work are matched only by their great character and inspiring leadership. They have made television history and no one is more deserving of this unprecedented success.”
Berlanti’s tally for 2019 includes the miniseries “The Red Line,” airing now on CBS, which was not designed to be a recurring series.
“Red Line” is an example of the range of material that comes from Berlanti Productions. The project is a collaboration with filmmaker Ava DuVernay that examines the lives of three Chicago families whose lives intersect in the wake of a racially charged shooting.
Berlanti Prods. is also home to CBS’ unabashedly feel-good inspirational drama “God Friended Me,” which was renewed for a second season. Meanwhile, Fox has just given a series order to crime drama “Prodigal Son,” about a criminal psychologist who is the son of a notorious serial killer.
At Netflix, Berlanti has drama “You,” which began last year on Lifetime, and “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.” For DC Universe, his banner shepherds “Titans,” “Doom Patrol” and “Star Girl.” DC Universe is expected to be folded into the larger streaming platform that WarnerMedia plans to launch next year.
Berlanti is the undisputed king of DC Comics adaptations for television. He’s executive producing no less than six DC shows for the CW, including “Arrow,” the series that established CW as haven for DC fans.
Berlanti stressed that the writers and showrunners who work on the various shows do the heavy lifting day in and day out.
“ALL of our creators would and could have shows without us — So please when you read anything our company is affiliated with — just know that it is the product of EVERYONE’s hard work, talent, passion and commitment,” he wrote.
Berlanti’s bounty of new and returning business comes at a heady time for the producer, who is awaiting the birth of his second child soon.
Here is the full list of Berlanti Prods. series airing or ordered in 2019:
CW
“Arrow” (season 8)
“The Flash” (season 6)
“Supergirl” (season 5)
“Legends of Tomorrow” (season 5)
“Riverdale” (season 4)
“Black Lightning” (season 3)
“All American” (season 2)
“Batwoman” (season 1)
“Katy Keene” (season 1)
DC Universe
“Titans” (season 2)
“Doom Patrol” (season 1)
“Stargirl” (season 1)
CBS
“God Friended Me” (season 2)
“The Red Line” (miniseries)
Netflix
“You” (season 2)
“Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” (season 3)
NBC
“Blindspot” (season 5)
Fox
“Prodigal Son” (season 1)
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