Warner Horizon Television Announces First Executive Appointments and Program Deals

May 08, 2006

Warner Horizon Television, the newly formed television company focused on lower-budgeted scripted and reality primetime series for cable and broadcast, has named David Auerbach Senior Vice President, Alternative Programming and Alan Saxe Senior Vice President, Business Affairs. Additionally, Mike Fleiss' Next Entertainment's overall deal with Telepictures Productions, as well as all subsequent installments of The Bachelor reality television franchise, will shift and now be with Warner Horizon Television. These announcements were made today by Peter Roth, President, Warner Bros. Television who also has executive oversight of Warner Horizon Television.

Announcements regarding Warner Horizon's scripted programming team are forthcoming.

"Having David and Alan come on board so quickly allows Warner Horizon to hit the ground running," said Roth. "They're both terrific executives with a great understanding of the business we're in. These appointments send a strong message to the industry that Warner Horizon is open for business.

"We're also very excited that Mike Fleiss and his Next Entertainment have agreed to move from our sister company Telepictures Productions to Warner Horizon. Mike is incredibly talented, having already produced a number of successful primetime reality series for both broadcast and cable, including 11 installments of the ever-popular The Bachelor/Bachelorette franchise for ABC, and we look forward to his creating new series with us."

"I have known and respected Peter for years and look forward to working with him," said Fleiss. "This relationship will allow us to continue our reality business as well as work to explore new interesting business models on the scripted side."

Prior to his new post, Auerbach most recently served as senior vice president, primetime programming and new media, Telepictures Productions where he oversaw the production of more than 150 hours of primetime reality programming, including The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Steve Harvey's Big Time, The Real Gilligan's Island, High School Reunion and The Starlet and the launch of TMZ.com (a 24/7 on-demand entertainment news network on the Web powered by AOL and Telepictures Productions).

He also served as senior vice president, development, Telepictures, having joined the company in 1991 as vice president, development. Auerbach has also held a variety of positions at Viacom Productions, including vice president posts in both drama development and current comedy programming; served as executive vice president of Alan Landsburg Productions; and was the very first employee of Aaron Spelling Productions.

Prior to his new post with Warner Horizon, Saxe had served as a consultant to independent television production companies. Before that, he was Executive Vice President, Telepictures Productions, a post he was promoted to in January 2002 after serving as the company's executive vice president, legal & business affairs. Saxe also served as executive vice president of business and legal affairs at Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. He initially joined Telepictures Productions from Warner Bros. Television, where he served as senior vice president, labor relations, having joined Warner Bros. as manager, labor relations and later moving to Lorimar Television. He began his professional career as an attorney at the law firm Finkle, Hersh & Stoll.

Fleiss is a leading producer of reality programming and has made a significant impact on the genre. His Next Entertainment has produced eight installments of The Bachelor as well as three installments of The Bachelorette and Trista and Ryan's Wedding, all for ABC. Next Entertainment has also produced The Will for CBS, two installments of The Real Gilligan's Island for TBS, three installments of High School Reunion for The WB, Superstar USA and The Starlet for the WB Network. In total, he has produced over 250 hours of primetime television, which also includes Who Wants to Marry A Multi-Millionaire, Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic Secrets Finally Revealed I, II and III, Before They Were Stars and Are You Hot?, a reality show in search of the sexiest person in America. In feature films, Fleiss served as a producer on the 2003 remake of the classic feature film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hostel and Warner Bros. Pictures' upcoming Poseidon.

Also joining Warner Horizon will be leading reality television producers Lisa Levenson and Scott Einziger who have deals with Next Entertainment will now be developing programming for Warner Horizon, and Brooke Karzen, who will work with Auerbach on the development of reality programming.