It was Callender's first credit as a producer and he went on to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries in a category that included other nominees The Winds of War (1983) and The Thorn Birds (1983).
During his tenure Callender oversaw the production of over 115 award-winning movies and mini-series, among them:[11] Callender was also responsible for HBO's theatrical films such as the breakout indie hit My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) and Gus Van Sant's provocative movie Elephant (2003), about a Columbine-like, high-school shooting, which won Best Director Award as well as the coveted Palm d'Or at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.
[16] Under Callender's stewardship, HBO Films received: Callender was also the driving force behind HBO's joint venture with New Line Cinema – the distribution company Picturehouse[17] whose slate included Robert Altman's highly acclaimed Prairie Home Companion (2006), Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (2008), Run Fatboy Run (2007), Rocket Science (2007), Last Days (2005), Mary Harron's The Notorious Bettie Page (2005), JA Bayona's The Orphanage (2007), Olivier Dahan's La Vie en Rose (2007) for which Marion Cotillard won the Academy Award for Best Actress,[18] and Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth (2006) that won three Oscars at the 2006 Academy Awards.
[20] Playground's first stage production was Lucky Guy (2014) starring Tom Hanks by the late Nora Ephron, which tells the story of tabloid reporter Mike McAlary, winner of a 1998 Pulitzer Prize.
[24] Callender also produced the production of Kenneth Branagh's New York stage debut in Macbeth (2014) at the Park Avenue Armory,[25] and was a co-producer of Jez Butterworth's The River starring Hugh Jackman.
[31] Harry Potter and the Cursed Child opened on Broadway on 22 April 2018 in the newly renovated Lyric Theatre and was nominated for ten Tony Awards and went on to win six, including Best Play.
In 2024, the show started its US National Tour, with performances scheduled in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C..[36] Playground company has produced over 120 hours of television since its inception.
[45] Callender currently produces the hit adaptation of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small for Channel 5 and Masterpiece on PBS,[46] Peter Kosminsky's The Undeclared War starring Simon Pegg, Hannah Khalique-Brown, Adrian Lester and Mark Rylance for Channel 4 and Peacock,[47] and a reimagining of the classic novel Dangerous Liaisons for Starz.
[51] Callender is a trustee and supporter of the NYU Tisch School of the Arts, the New York Public Theater and The Creative Coalition.