Can Gunn & Safran Keep the WB Exec Cooks Out of the Kitchen?

Today, in a massive announcement, the new slate of films and television shows from DC Studios was unveiled for everyone to see. Right now, it seems like everyone, from the media to the fans, is still processing the massive dump of information. Still, there is something that can’t be announced, and we can only see if it will happen as James Gunn and Peter Safran get farther into their task of guiding DC Studios. Everyone has been saying that DC has needed its own version of Kevin Feige, but that isn’t exactly true. They don’t need a producer who meticulously ensures that all of these projects are connected. DC projects need a line of defense between the creatives and the executives. Gunn and Safran are poised to be that line of defense.

Too Many Cooks In The DC Studios Kitchen

Executive meddling has kneecapped entire productions and cinematic universes without breaking a sweat. There is a massive difference between people like David Zaslav and the various writers, producers, and directors that DC Studios will be bringing on. Zaslav and other executives like him have a different way of viewing movies than those actually making them. You don’t need to look any further than the big HBO Max call that happened back in August when Zaslav referred to the films and television that Warner Bros. Discovery makes as “stuff.” An executive will see a film work and then think that the logical thing is to copy and paste pretty much the exact same thing and get another hit. However, that rarely ever works because why would people want to see the very same thing again? People who are on the creative side, like Gunn, Safran, and Feige, all know this.

Gunn and Safran being a steady hand over all of this is essential and will help, but having creatives with experience making films standing between executives and filmmakers is the most important role that these two can play for the DC Universe in the future. The first line of defense for Marvel is Feige; for Lucasfilm, it’s Kathleen Kennedy; Pixar is Pete Docter, and so on. All of these people were creatives or producers of some sort. They know the road to success is not “making the same thing and hoping that lightning will strike again.” These people know that true success comes when you let creatives take risks and make the movies they want to make with minimal studio and executive meddling.

“One of the things that’s very important for me in all of these movies and TV series is that the director’s vision and the vision of the writers and all of the creators is unique and special,” Gunn said in a video posted to social media. Storytelling is always king. That’s all that matters to us”

It’s still unclear whether or not this entire thing will work, but letting people take risks and making sure that no one is going to get nervous when taking those risks is an essential part of creating art. Gunn and Safran both have experience and seem to know that, and we can hope they will help keep Zaslav and others away from the final cuts of films. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Safran talked about Zaslav wanting a standalone studio.

“Zaslav had a vision in mind of a standalone studio that would have everything DC centralized,” said Safran. “And that was the appeal for us, coming in and having access to any character, any story, and to tell the stories we wanted to tell across all the mediums.”

So it sounds like they are on the right track, and Zaslav might even be self-aware enough to get out of the way and let DC Studios flourish under new leadership.