If you're biting your fingernails in wild anticipation of the long-awaited denouement of Game of Thrones, or are hooked on the science fiction-western mashup that is Westworld, you can thank Casey Bloys.
As president of programming at HBO, Bloys oversees all the creative aspects of the cable network's original output, including documentaries, films and comedy and drama series. It's an enviable job for anyone enamored of the high-stakes, uber-competitive and often cutthroat
industry that is Hollywood. “Every day I wake up, and it's like, ‘Okay, what's on fire today,'” Bloys says with a laugh. “Some days are more difficult than others.”
But, once upon a time, Bloys was just another young man wandering the halls of Bethlehem's Freedom High School, pondering a future outside of the Lehigh Valley. “I always felt like [moving to a bigger city] was what I was going to do.”
That's not to say he doesn't have fond memories of his old stomping grounds. His parents, both New Jersey natives, settled in the area when his father's employer, IBM, assigned him to a Bethlehem office. Later, Dave Bloys, a Lafayette College graduate, would go on to co-found the software company Pentamation in the early 1970s. The youngest of three boys, Casey Bloys recalls palling around with a large group of friends at Asa Packer Elementary School and Nitschmann Middle School, and engaging in some mildly reckless behavior on those long summer days. “We would all ride our bikes with no helmets to Hanover Pool,” he says.
And, as one might expect of a future entertainment executive, the young Bloys spent a lot of time parked in front of the family's television set. “[Looking back], I am shocked at the amount of TV I was allowed to watch.” He was hooked on re-runs of Leave It to Beaver, Gilligan's Island, I Dream of Jeannie and The Munsters, as well as then-contemporary fare like The Cosby Show. Although he may not have known it at the time, Bloys was compiling a mental catalog that would serve him well as reference material in his future career. “A lot of the old shows still hold up now,” he says. “A good show is a good show.”
Of course, watching TV and working in TV are two entirely different things. Says Bloys, “I didn't understand how the business worked. I did have to figure out, ‘How do you get into TV?'” But Bloys did know that moving to New York City or Los Angeles was always part of the plan, and not just because of his career goals. Bloys says, as a then-closeted young, gay man coming of age in the 1980s, a bigger city with a more diverse population base seemed a better fit. Plus, he was reared by a former city dweller—his mother had lived in New York City for a while. “I just thought that's what you did after high school,” he says.
Following his graduation from Freedom in 1989 (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson donned a cap and gown there the following year), he enrolled at Northwestern University in Illinois and earned a BA in economics. His “in” to the TV biz would come via a job in advertising in New York City. One of his clients happened to be Paramount Pictures, who offered him a job in Los Angeles in 1996. “I thought, I'll get out to LA, then I'll figure out how TV works.” He was a quick study; Bloys was hired as an assistant for an executive at CBS. “I got her coffee, egg whites, whatever had to be done. And I was happy to do it. The most valuable thing you can do is work for someone.”
Bloys has come a long way since those days of fetching breakfast sandwiches and lattes. His tenure at HBO began in 2004, when he was brought on as director of development at HBO Independent Productions. He was promoted to vice president there the following year. In 2006, Bloys was named vice president of HBO Entertainment, where he spearheaded the development and production of comedy series. He earned a promotion to senior vice president in 2009, and was named vice president of HBO Programming in 2013. The network named him to his current post in May of 2016.
When pressed to name the best perk about his high-profile gig, Bloys says it's being in the trenches with the best his business has to offer. “The talent that comes in here is kind of extraordinary,” he says. “I'm hard-pressed to name someone I haven't worked with, who I want to. I try not to forget that.” Among the highlights: David E. Kelley's 2017 miniseries Big Little Lies brought together a powerhouse female cast, including Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman, both of whom also served as executive producers. Game of Thrones has inspired an almost rabid following among its fans. The Julia Louis-Dreyfus showcase Veep has been a critical darling since its inception; Bloys says the show's multiple Emmy Award wins for Best Comedy have been proud moments for his team. “A lot of work goes into making a show great.”
Even though he's a full-time resident of Los Angeles, Bloys makes frequent trips back to the East Coast and to the Lehigh Valley. Last September, he shared his know-how with Moravian College students for a moderated discussion the school dubbed “Inside the Moravian Studio.” He made sure to give a shout-out to his alma mater, which can also boast of having actor Daniel Dae Kim among its graduates. “Clearly, Freedom High School is a rigorous high school,” he told the crowd, which responded with loud applause.
Other trips back home are strictly for R & R. He often has his two children (twins—a boy and a girl) and husband (media attorney Alonzo Wickers) in tow. His parents still live in the area, as does one of his brothers. Bloys says he's shown his kids his childhood home and his former schools, and marveled at the changes that have encroached on the landscape of his formative years. “There are so many houses now where there used to be cornfields,” he says. And yet, some things have remained the same. Bloys cites Bethlehem's Main Street as one example. “It's still really charming,” he says. “They do a very good job of maintaining the charm.”
The Casey Bloys taking in the sights of the Lehigh Valley as one of the most powerful executives in television may have come a long way from the Casey Bloys who was zipping around town on his trusty bicycle, but don't expect him to rest on his laurels anytime soon. “I tend to think I've never made it, because that's what keeps you running,” he explains. Although he may be loath to appear complacent, as someone who's been steadily ascending in the industry of his choice for nearly two decades, Bloys has learned a thing or two along the way. “If you want to work in entertainment, you have to go to where the industries are,” he says. “You have to move to Los Angeles or New York. You have to be around the people who do what you want to do.”
And it's not just location, location, location. Bloys says part of the deal means embracing every opportunity, no matter how small. “I'm a big believer in working hard no matter what job you have. You can tell when someone is phoning it in.” And yet, Bloys concedes that his path may not be the same path the next big entertainment executive takes. “There's no one way to do it. It's not like you go to law school, then you graduate and become a lawyer,” he says.
It's safe to say, the kid from Bethlehem figured it out.
