Warner Independent Pictures was established on August 7, 2003, at
Burbank, California. Mark Gill was the division's first president. After a controversial departure, Gill was replaced by former Warner Bros. production executive
Polly Cohen, who served as president of this division until fall
2008, when the division was officially shut down. While well versed in big-budget motion picture production, it was widely believed Cohen did not have strong enough backgrounds in independent film, or in the marketing/publicity aspects of film distribution, to hold that role. This led to a lackluster slate and output, after a successful initial run under Gill. In February 2008,
Time Warner announced that it would merge
New Line Cinema into Warner Bros. New Line's "independent" group
Picturehouse was expected to be merged into Warner Independent as part of this process. On May 8, 2008, however, it was announced that both of these specialty divisions would be shut down. In 2013, Picturehouse was relaunched under separate ownership. In December 2025, Warner Bros. would re-enter the independent filmmaking space, with former
Neon executives Christian Parkes, Jason Wald, and Spencer Collantes spearheading the creation of a new specialty label within the studio. At the 2026
CinemaCon in April 2026, the label's name was revealed to be
Warner Bros. Clockwork, with
Sean Baker's
Ti Amo! announced as its maiden release. ==Films==