Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

HBO Max Signs Exclusive Multi-Year Deal with Beloved Children's Author Mo Willems and Stampede Ventures

27/02/2020

HBO Max Signs Exclusive Multi-Year Deal with Beloved Children's Author Mo Willems and Stampede Ventures

HBO Max

Emmy -Award Winning Willems to be HBO Max's First Ever Artist in Residence, Deal Includes Streaming Rights to Willems' First Live Action Special Don't Let the Pigeon Do Storytime! Produced by Stampede Ventures and Willems

Photo Courtesy of Ben Folds

LOS ANGELES - February 25, 2020 - Following a highly competitive negotiation, HBO Max has announced an exclusive, multi-year deal with beloved children's author Mo Willems, an Emmy -Award winning writer, New York Times best-selling author, and illustrator, establishing Willems as HBO Max's very first artist in residence. As part of this two-year deal, HBO Max has acquired streaming rights to Willems' first live-action special Don't Let the Pigeon Do Storytime! from Greg Silverman's media company StampedeVentures who will produce all additional content under this deal. HBO Max has committed to additional live-action Storytime specials, as well as multiple animated specials based on Willems' wildly popular children's books. The first animated special will be based on New York Times Best Seller, Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed.

Mo is a special talent with a profound ability to connect with children and families alike. We are so happy Mo and Stampede Ventures chose to partner with us at HBO Max, says Kevin Reilly, chief content officer, HBO Max, president, TNT, TBS, and truTV.

We are so lucky to be able to work with the multi-talented Mo Willems, whose work is authentic, inspiring and truly impactful, adds Jennifer O'Connell, executive vice president of original non-fiction and kids programming, HBO Max.

HBO Max is the perfect home for me to work on fun and experimental ways to bring my book characters and theater work to the screen because we share the goal of creating exciting shows and series that bring families together, says Willems. My focus is making stuff that amuses, entertains and sparks creative play after the screen is powered down. Having the creative teams of HBO Max and Stampede Ventures with me means that we'll get to create meaningful work and have fun doing it. We're so excited we even created a new logo for the occasion. Banana!

Added Stampede Ventures' Greg Silverman, Stampede Ventures is honored to be Mo's partner as he brings his vibrant world to life in media for the first time and we couldn't ask for a better home than HBO Max. Mo's characters are already beloved by millions of families - his books are often the first that many children ever read on their own - and we're excited to help him bring these characters to life on screen.

Previously announced and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait, Don't Let the Pigeon Do Storytime! is a premium, live-action family comedy special featuring Willems and the Story Time All-Stars , a group of celebrities, comedians and actors, performing live readings and sketch comedy inspired by Willems' work, as well as a few surprise musical guests. Celebrity guests include Anthony Anderson (black-ish), Yvette Nicole Brown(Community), Rachel Dratch (Saturday Night Live), Cameron Esposito (Take My Wife), Tony Hale (Veep), Greta Lee (Russian Doll), Tom Lennon (The Odd Couple), Natalie Morales (Abbys) and Oscar Nunez (The Office). Shot over the summer at the prestigious Kennedy Center in Washington, DC., Don't Let the Pigeon Do Storytime! is produced by Stampede Ventures, with Willems and Stampede's Greg Silverman, Gideon Yu, Jay Judah and Chris Bosco serving as executive producers.

Willems began his career as a writer and animator on Sesame Street, where he garnered six Emmy Awards. Willems also created several animated projects for Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. His New York Times bestselling books have been recognized with many awards around the world including three Caldecott Honors, two Theodor Geisel Medals and five Geisel Honors. Willems has written four musicals based on his books and is the most produced playwright for Theatre for Young Audiences in America. Willems currently serves as the inaugural Education Artist-in-Residence at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, collaborating with artists in Jazz, Classical, Dance, Theater, Opera and Comedy.

The Willems deal with HBO Max was negotiated by Chris Bosco, Anna Pinar and CAA on behalf of Stampede Ventures; Ellen Goldsmith-Vein of the Gotham Group, Marcia Wernick of Wernick & Pratt and Rick Ross of Eisner, LLP on behalf of Willems; and spearheaded by Jay Judah.

About HBO Max

HBO Max is WarnerMedia's direct-to-consumer offering debuting in spring 2020. With 10,000 hours of curated premium content anticipated at launch, HBO Max will offer powerhouse programming for everyone in the home, bringing together HBO, a robust slate of new original series, key third-party licensed programs and movies, and fan favorites from Warner Media's rich library including Warner Bros., New Line, DC, CNN, TNT, TBS, truTV, Turner Classic Movies, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Crunchyroll, Rooster Teeth, Looney Tunes and more. Sign up for updates at HBOMax.com.

About WarnerMedia

WarnerMedia is a leading media and entertainment company that creates and distributes premium and popular content from a diverse array of talented storytellers and journalists to global audiences through its consumer brands including: HBO, HBO Now, HBO Max, Warner Bros., TNT, TBS, truTV, CNN, DC, New Line, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies and others. WarnerMedia is part of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T).

About Stampede Ventures

Stampede Ventures is an independent entertainment media company founded by Greg Silverman, the former President of Warner Bros. Pictures. The company's lead investor and co-chairman is Gideon Yu, forme
LINK: https://pressroom.warnermediagroup.com/us/media-release/hbo-max-exclus...
See more stories from timewarner

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

06/08/2026

USA Sports Rolls Into 2026 NASCAR Season With First Pace-Car Analyst on Selected Races

The broadcaster's 14-race schedule begins in Iowa and ends in November with ...

06/08/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 25: Chicago Bears Katlin Strange - Serving the Masses in the Windy City

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...

06/08/2026

Warner Bros Discovery's Anne Graham Details the Organization's Media-Ops and Metadata Consolidation Across Sports and Entertainment

As media organizations consolidate teams, technology platforms, and content libr...

06/08/2026

Dolby Vision 2 Begins Rollout on Selected 2026 Hisense TVs

Firmware updates introduce Dolby's next-generation picture engine, content-aware optimization, and new motion and ambient-light tools...

06/08/2026

TNT Sports Preps Wall-to-Wall Coverage of FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2026 from Sept. 4-13

TNT Sports will have wall-to-wall coverage of the upcoming FIBA Women's Bask...

06/08/2026

IBC 2026: swXtch.io Introduces groundSwXtch Software-Defined Multicast Overlay

swXtch.io (Stand 5.MR13) has unveiled groundSwXtch for Audio over IP (AoIP), a software application that lets broadcasters and media organizations move audio in...

06/08/2026

IBC 2026: Riedel Communications Showcases Integrated IP Production Workflows

At IBC2026, Riedel Communications (Stands: 10.A24, 10.A31, 10.A38) will bring modern media production to life with the Live Production Experience - a connected ...

06/08/2026

Sandy Grossman's Legacy as a Pioneering Director Earns Pro Football Hall of Fame's Pete Rozelle Award

The first live-sports director to receive the prestigious honor, eight-time Emmy...

06/08/2026

NBC Sports, Maryland Jockey Club Continue Partnership To Present Preakness Stakes Through 2032

NBC Sports will continue to present the Preakness Stakes on NBC and Peacock thro...

06/08/2026

IBC 2026: Cobalt Digital Brings New Practical Solutions to Evolving Broadcast Workflows

Cobalt Digital (Stand 8.F90) continues to reinforce its commitment to delivering...

06/08/2026

Wave Central Elevates Jeff Daubert to Director of Sales, Americas

Wave Central has promoted promotion Jeff Daubert to Director of Sales, Americas. In his expanded role, Daubert will lead Wave Central's sales strategy and ...

06/08/2026

KMH Integration Adds Architect Keith Hanadel to Expanding Full-Services Team

KMH Integration is expanding its ability to serve media, broadcast, and IT organizations by adding Keith Hanadel, an accomplished architect with decades of indu...

06/08/2026

Advanced Systems Group Promotes Michele Ferreira to Chief Business Officer

Advanced Systems Group (ASG) has promoted Michele Ferreira from Vice President of its Systems Integration team to the newly created position of Chief Business O...

06/08/2026

IBC2026: Appear Expands X, VX Platforms for Hybrid Live-Production Workflows

Demonstrations will include new JPEG XS, Dolby audio, cloud-gateway, stream-processing, and distribution capabilities...

06/08/2026

Live Media Group Acquires Gravity Media's U.S. Mobile-Production Assets, Adds Eight Units to Fleet

The deal includes three premium mobile units, engineering personnel, existing br...

06/08/2026

Broadcast Management Group, LiveU Power Vertical REMI Production for Amazon Prime's Obsessed Fest on TikTok

Broadcast Management Group produced Amazon Prime's inaugural Obsessed Fest a...

06/08/2026

IBC2026: Ikegami to Showcase Expanded UNICAM Camera and Monitoring Lineup

Exhibit will feature new variable-ND functionality, OLED viewfinders, remote-camera tools, and UHD production monitors...

06/08/2026

Sony Introduces FE 100-400mm Super-Telephoto Zoom Lens

Compact full-frame E-mount lens targets sports, wildlife, and other long-range shooting applications...

06/08/2026

Tennis Channel Lands Exclusive U.S. Coverage of 2026 International Tennis Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

Live broadcast will honor Roger Federer and Mary Carillo on Aug. 29, with onsite...

06/08/2026

UTEP Upgrades Sun Bowl Stadium Video Display With Daktronics

End-zone board receives higher-resolution LED technology and an updated Show Control system ahead of the 2026 football season...

06/08/2026

Fender launch Fender Motion controllers

New 16- and 32-pad MIDI controllers now available Fender have just announced that the two new performance-focused controllers that were unveiled at NAMM 202...

06/08/2026

Lewitt update Space Replicator plug-in

Standalone version, performance improvements & more Lewitt have just released a significant update for their speaker and room virtualisation software, intro...

06/08/2026

Hallowed Bells from ebbandflow

Combines celeste samples with synth engine After launching earlier in 2026 with deFORM, ebbandflow have returned with their first sampled acoustic instrumen...

06/08/2026

SGL Carbon: Still on track to meet its 2026 annual targets

SGL Carbon's consolidated sales in the first half of 2026 totaled 394.2 million, down 13.0% from the prior year (H1 2025: 453.2 million). On the one hand,...

06/08/2026

BritBox & BBC's Poirot Origin Series Hercule' Reveals Cast

The BBC has announced casting for the forthcoming six-part series Hercule from Mammoth Screen and Agatha Christie Limited. Joining Bluemel are Henry Ashton (A ...

06/08/2026

FCC Votes to Modify TV Station Ownership Caps

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

06/08/2026

LTN Showcases Live Event Master Control Capabilities for...

Proven offering builds on more than 20,000 live sporting events with greater automation, flexibility, and operational control LTN , the industry leader in tran...

06/08/2026

Hornets Tech brings new encoder and decoder range to IBC2...

Hornets Tech, a specialist in broadcast connectivity and IP video, is bringing a new range of encoders, decoders and an IPTV platform to IBC2026. Broadcast in...

06/08/2026

Introducing Adobe for ChatGPT: Create, edit and get work done - all in ChatGPT

Introducing Adobe for ChatGPT: Create, edit and get work done - all in ChatGPT Deepti Pradeep August 6, 2026 0 Comments The Adobe plugin in ChatGPT br...

06/08/2026

Hisense Adds Dolby Vision 2 to Select Models

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

06/08/2026

MediaKind to showcase one unified portfolio at IBC2026

At IBC2026, MediaKind will make its first major appearance as a unified global powerhouse in video, showcasing one of the world's most comprehensive video i...

06/08/2026

Big Blue Marble to unveil AI-assisted piracy detection an...

Big Blue Marble (#5.A63) will demonstrate how its integrated technology and operational expertise help media companies scale premium services with less complexi...

06/08/2026

NIH expected to award Scripps Research nearly $4.2 million over 5 years to advance tools for vaccine design

LA JOLLA, CA-Scripps Research has received more than $500,000 in first-year fund...

06/08/2026

Improving vaccine design for Ebola, HIV and more

LA JOLLA, CA-Viruses are masters at invading our cells thanks to specialized proteins that coat their surfaces. When scientists design vaccines, they often crea...

06/08/2026

How a chemical reaction triggers brain inflammation in Alzheimer's disease

LA JOLLA, CA-The brain has its own immune system, which detects threats and mounts a defense. A growing body of evidence has shown that in Alzheimer's disea...

06/08/2026

Jin-Quan Yu elected to the National Academy of Sciences

LA JOLLA, CA-Scripps Research chemist Jin-Quan Yu has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), one of the highest honors a scientist can achieve....

06/08/2026

Scripps Research ranks third in 2026 Cure Innovation Index

LA JOLLA, CA-Scripps Research ranked third in the inaugural 2026 Cure Innovation Index recognizing the top-performing institutes and centers across the United S...

06/08/2026

Scripps Research chemist Benjamin Cravatt elected to American Philosophical Society

Benjamin Cravatt, the Gilula Chair of Chemical Biology and a professor of chemis...

06/08/2026

Scripps Research immunologist Dennis Burton elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

LA JOLLA, CA-Dennis Burton, professor and the James & Jessie Minor Chair in Immu...

06/08/2026

How changes to proteins can alter drug interactions for new precision therapies

LA JOLLA, CA-Inside every human cell, proteins are constantly being tagged with small chemical modifications after they're produced. Known as post-translati...

06/08/2026

Scripps Research establishes endowed chair honoring renowned structural biologist Ian Wilson

LA JOLLA-Scripps Research has established the Ian Wilson Endowed Chair, a new fa...

06/08/2026

Scripps Research's Skaggs Graduate School awards doctoral degrees to 34th graduating class

Scripps Research's Skaggs Graduate School of Chemical and Biological Science...

06/08/2026

Scripps Research chemist Jin-Quan Yu is named a Fellow of the Royal Society

LA JOLLA, CA-Professor Jin-Quan Yu of Scripps Research has been elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society, the U.K.'s national academy of sciences and ...

06/08/2026

Experimental HIV vaccine achieves a long-sought goal

LA JOLLA, CA-For years, researchers have been hoping for vaccines that protect people against not just one strain of HIV, but every strain of the quickly mutati...

06/08/2026

Calibr-Skaggs advances CLF065, a regenerative GLP-2 therapy, into two Phase 2 IBD studies

LA JOLLA, CA-The Calibr-Skaggs Institute for Innovative Medicines, the nonprofit...

06/08/2026

Chemists snap together complex 3D molecules from highly reactive radicals'-without losing their shape

LA JOLLA, CA-Building the complex 3D molecules needed for new medicines has alwa...

06/08/2026

A fentanyl countermeasure that adapts to combat future black-market drugs

LA JOLLA, CA-Fentanyl and related variants of the synthetic opioid kill more Americans each year than car accidents and gun violence combined. In too-high doses...