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EXCLUSIVE: Deadline has learned that Hello Sunshine is shuttering its kids and animation business as part of a strategic decision to focus Candle Media ’s kids and animation efforts under Moonbug , the family production studio the corp snapped up for a near $3 billion in November 2021. Hello Sunshine will collaborate with Moonbug on future kids and animation projects. As a result, a few individuals will be departing Hello Sunshine over the coming weeks. The Blackstone-backed Candle Media, which is also co-run and co-founded by Tom Staggs, acquired Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine in August 2021 for $900M. At last April’s MIP TV , Candle Media co-founder Kevin Mayer spoke about synergies between both Hello Sunshine and Moonbug. The latter is the production company behind popular kids shows like CoComelon. CoComelon was one of the top three streaming programs in 2022 with 37.8 billion minutes viewed on Netflix per Nielsen, behind Stranger Things (52B) on … [Read more...] about Hello Sunshine Shuts Down Kids & Animation Division

EXCLUSIVE: In a competitive situation, Sony Pictures has acquired feature rights to Gnomes , based on Dutch filmmakers Richard Raaphorst and Ruwan Heggelman’s breakout horror short film. The project is currently in early development with 21 Laps’ Shawn Levy, Dan Cohen & Dan Levine producing with Raaphorst. Emily Feher overseeeing for 21 Laps.  Heggelman will direct the feature. Plot details are under wraps. The short film had its North American premiere at the 2022 Fantastic Fest as well as featured in the official selection of the 2022 Frontières Platform at the Marché du Film at Cannes. Gnomes is written by Heggelman, Jasper ten Hoor, and Richard Raaphorst and produced by art department master Raaphorst ( Frankenstein’s Army ). Next up for 21 Laps is the 20th Century adaptation of Stephen King’s The Boogeyman , which they are producing. That film bows this June in theaters. Heggelman and Raaphorst are repped by 3 Arts Entertainment and Ziffren … [Read more...] about Sony Pictures Lands Rights To Richard Raaphorst and Ruwan Heggelman Short Film ‘Gnomes’ With 21 Laps Producing

Sony Pictures Classics has taken North American on Maryam Keshavarz’s The Persian Version which won the Audience Award (U.S. Dramatic Competition) and The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award (U.S. Dramatic Competition) at this year’s Sundance. Keshavarz is the first filmmaker to have two films win the Sundance Audience Award in the Dramatic Competition category. This is the second title that SPC has snapped out of Sundance, Deadline first telling you about their acquisition of A Little Prayer, which they took global rights on. Logline: Coming from two countries at odds with each other, Iranian-American Leila (Layla Mohammadi) strives to find balance and embrace her opposing cultures, while boldly challenging the labels society is so quick to project upon her. When her family reunites in New York City for her father’s heart transplant, Leila navigates her relationships from arm’s length in an effort to keep her “real” life separate from her family life. However, when her secret … [Read more...] about Sony Pictures Classics Picks Up Sundance Winner ‘The Persian Version’

EXCLUSIVE: Which guild will go first at the bargaining table – the DGA , the WGA or SAG-AFTRA – remains undetermined for the upcoming cycle of film and TV contract talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers. If history is any judge, who goes first could foreshadow whether there will be a strike – or more than one strike – this year. In the end, it will be up to each guild, working in consultation with the AMPTP , to decide when, and in what order, they start bargaining. The DGA has gone first in each of the past three three-year bargaining cycles, even though its contracts expire at the same time as SAG-AFTRA’s – on June 30 – and two months after the WGA’s contract on May 1. The DGA often begins its negotiations many months in advance of the expiration of its contracts. “When it comes to making the decision about when to start negotiations,” the DGA said recently, “we are guided by one simple principle: We will only begin bargaining … [Read more...] about Going First At Bargaining Table Means A Lot, But No Word Yet If It Will Be DGA, WGA or SAG-AFTRA

Negotiators for a new SAG-AFTRA film and TV contract have wrapped their second week of bargaining with six weeks to go before the current pact expires and no sign of an early deal. This is the first film and TV contract the union has negotiated since SAG and AFTRA merged in 2012, and one of its key goals is to bring their old contracts into alignment. “That’s what everyone has been talking about,” said a SAG-AFTRA official. “We’ve got to combine the contracts.” Related: SAG-AFTRA Talks: What To Expect The union actually is negotiating two separate TV contracts with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers – one SAG’s and the other AFTRA’s, whose basic rates are 3.5% higher than SAG’s. “We want to bring the SAG contract up to AFTRA’s,” said the SAG-AFTRA official. “We certainly don’t want to lower AFTRA’s to SAG’s.” And that may just prove to be the toughest sticking point in these negotiations. Beyond that, most of the heavy lifting for a new actors … [Read more...] about Guild Official: Merging SAG And AFTRA TV Deals Key Goal Of Ongoing Contract Talks

EXCLUSIVE: It’s a happy Fourth of July in Hollywood. After nearly two months of talks and three last-minute 24-hour extensions, a tentative agreement has been reached on a new three-year SAG-AFTRA film and television contract. Terms were not announced. Here is the sides’ verbose joint statement: “Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) today reached tentative agreement for motion picture production. Negotiations, which began on May 5th, resulted in a new 2014 Producers-SAG-AFTRA Codified Basic Agreement and an industry-wide 2014 SAG-AFTRA Television Agreement as the successor agreement to Screen Actors Guild Television Agreement, Exhibit A of the AFTRA National Code of Fair Practice for Network Television Broadcasting, The CW Supplement, and the basic cable agreements. The terms of the new agreements will be presented to the SAG-AFTRA National Board of Directors at its … [Read more...] about SAG-AFTRA, Producers Reach Tentative Agreement On New Film & TV Contract

UPDATE: 5:57 PM: Neither embracing nor directly rebuffing the WGA West’s new Late Pay Initiative, the AMPTP today said it will “pledge our cooperation” to the move. The parsed statement comes just weeks before the WGA and AMPTP are expected to sit down to start talks on a new contract — where money will be doing most of the talking. Here’s the statement: “We agree with the Writers Guild of America that writers should be paid on time. We pledge our cooperation to address compliance in this important area. We encourage the Guild to advise us of instances when writers have not received timely payments in accordance with the terms of the collective bargaining agreement.” PREVIOUS 4:13 PM Tuesday: Representatives of the Writers Guild of America West haven’t sat down with the Alliance of Motion Picture and TV Producers yet to negotiate a new master contract, but it’s starting to look for more money for its members – money they’re owed. Today the guild started a new … [Read more...] about UPDATE: AMPTP Responds To WGA West Plan To Go After Deadbeat Producers For Scribes’ Pay

EXCLUSIVE : Eon Productions and MGM have set distribution plans for James Bond 25 . The most hotly sought after film franchise in recent memory has been won by Universal Pictures for international as well as for home entertainment, sources said. Domestic distribution will be handled by MGM and Annapurna through the joint venture they signed last year. The 25th installment of James Bond will first be released in the UK on October 25, 2019, and in the U.S. on November 8, 2019. Production begins December 3. The deal was just closed by EON’s Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli , MGM chairman of the board of directors Kevin Ulrich , MGM Motion Pictures Group president Jon Glickman and Universal Pictures chairman Donna Langley. It puts the MGM logo front and center as distributor on a Bond film for the first time in nearly two decades. As expected, Daniel Craig is back for his fifth film as 007, and Oscar-winner Danny Boyle is now set to direct a film that his … [Read more...] about James Bond 25 Sets Distribution: Universal Wins International, MGM Releases Domestic Through Annapurna Joint Venture

The U.S. economy added 517,000 jobs in January, unexpectedly high employment growth after predictions that job growth would slow as the Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates. The unemployment rate was 3.4%, falling slightly from December. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said that job growth was spread across industries, including leisure and hospitality, professional and business services and health care. There also was a rise in the government payroll. The robust report belies some of the headlines of mass layoffs, particularly in the tech industry, as well as cutbacks in media. According to the seasonally adjusted figures, jobs in movies and sound recordings were unchanged from a month earlier, at 465,900. But jobs in broadcasting and among content providers fell 2.7% to 355,900. Publishing industry employment fell 1.3% to 952,600. Telecommunications jobs fell 1.4% to 656,700. Average hourly earnings on private payrolls rose by 10 cents to $33.03. … [Read more...] about U.S. Economy Added 517,000 Jobs In January; Unemployment Rate At 3.4%

Oscar-nominated All Quiet on the Western Front director Edward Berger has launched a production outfit and struck a first-look deal with Fremantle. Berger has forged Nine Hours with partner Luke Rivett ( The Tomorrow Man) and producer Jeanne Tremsal ( So Long Daddy, See You in Hell) and the indie will make global TV and film projects. Fremantle will house Nine Hours’ TV projects for the next two years as well as being given second-look access to Berger’s new film pipeline. Berger is fresh off the back of nine Oscar nominations for critically-acclaimed Netflix adaptation All Quiet on the Western Front , which has also secured a record 14 BAFTA noms. Other high-profile credits include Patrick Melrose, Your Honor, The Terror and Deutschland 83 , the latter of which he made with Fremantle. “Great drama comes from filmmakers who have an undeniable urge to tell their story,” said Berger. “We intend to find and nourish these filmmakers in their endeavors to … [Read more...] about ‘All Quiet On The Western Front’s Edward Berger Launches Production Outfit & Partners With Fremantle