Sam Dean, the showrunner of Netflix’s unscripted breakout Love Is Blind, is headed to HBO Max.
Dean has signed a two-year overall first-look deal with the WarnerMedia streamer. The pact cements her relationship with HBO Max as she executive produced and was showrunner on its 12 Dates of Christmas, set to premiere later this year.
“Sam is an outstanding unscripted storyteller and a top-tier showrunner,” said Jennifer O’Connell, executive vp original nonfiction and kids programming at HBO Max. “After working with Sam on our reality rom-com 12 Dates of Christmas, it was clear that her ability to tell stories with heart, humor, and a wink to the audience made her a perfect fit for HBO Max. We count ourselves lucky to be in business with a producer of her caliber.”
As part of the deal, Dean will serve as showrunner on future HBO Max unscripted series. The streamer will also have first-look rights on all of Dean’s owned or controlled concepts for unscripted programming across all platforms.
“I am really looking forward to working with HBO Max,” said Dean. “It’s a new and ambitious platform with an unlimited appetite to create fresh and innovative content, yet it also brings with it WarnerMedia’s history of excellence that has continually kept them at the forefront of creativity and storytelling. It’s a great time to get involved as an unscripted producer. I feel blessed to be joining an incredibly strong and talented team, who I admire greatly and have loved collaborating with on 12 Dates of Christmas. I am excited to get started on new projects.”
Prior to joining HBO Max, Dean was an executive producer at Kinetic Content. In addition to Love Is Blind, her credits include Lifetime’s Married at First Sight franchise, ABC’s The Taste and NBC’s America’s Got Talent. She is repped by attorney Alex Davis.
HBO Max launched May 27 with several unscripted shows, including ballroom competition Legendary and kids’ maker show Craftopia. Competition series Karma debuted Thursday, and three other docuseries — Expecting Amy starring Amy Schumer, The House of Ho and The Dog House — are due by the end of July.
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