Apple deal returns former HBO boss Richard Plepler to spotlight

Apple deal returns former HBO boss Richard Plepler to spotlight

SFGate

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In the 10 months since Richard Plepler stepped down as HBO’s chief executive, the final season of “Game of Thrones” came and went, CBS and Viacom merged, and Disney and Apple rolled out new streaming services.

The entertainment world is in flux, and to start the new year, Plepler is making changes of his own. The gregarious executive, a quintessential New York power player who spent 27 years at HBO and left eight months after AT&T became its owner, is rebooting himself as a producer. And he will do it with Apple.

In a recently signed five-year deal, Plepler’s new company, Eden Productions, will make television series, documentaries and feature films exclusively for Apple TV Plus, the streaming platform that started in November. The arrangement gives Plepler a significant role in an expanding streaming universe soon to include HBO Max, a supersize platform that has been a focus of his former corporate home since he departed in February after having lost some of his autonomy.

“It was instantaneously clear to me that I had a wonderful and very privileged run at HBO and I wasn’t going to be able to duplicate that again,” Plepler said in his first interview since leaving the network. “And I didn’t want to try to duplicate that again. It felt very clear to me that I just wanted to do my own thing.”

Plepler, 61, was a key figure in helping make HBO into an original-programming powerhouse. In the years he was in charge, the network won more than 160 Emmys, including for series like “Game of Thrones,” “Big Little Lies” and “Veep.”

Apple hopes he still has the magic touch, this time as a producer. The company has not yet disclosed the number of Apple TV Plus subscribers or how many people have watched its series. Reviews for its first slate of shows have been mixed, even for its big-budget...

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