A potential writers strike would be incredibly harmful for many in Hollywood, but there’s one sector of the entertainment industry that is quietly optimistic that it could lead to a boom for them: the unscripted television makers. As history has shown, there’s also precedent for an uptick — from the 1988 strike that led to the creation of Fox’s Cops and the 2007-08 strike, which bolstered unscripted shows such as The Amazing Race and Keeping Up with the Kardashians. The issue was top of mind at this week’s Realscreen conference in Austin, where thousands of nonfiction producers, documentary filmmakers and buyers discussed the future of the unscripted business. Kathleen Finch, Chairman and Chief Content Officer of Warner Bros. Discovery’s U.S. Networks Group, told Deadline that while a strike would aid the unscripted business, she warned there would be “big repercussions” RELATED: WGA Writers Look Back At 2007-08 Strike For Lessons To Apply To Looming … [Read more...] about As Writers Strike Looms, Reality Producers Optimistic About Possible Unscripted Boom
Amazing race australia 2021
Sundance Film Festival Sets ‘The Persian Version’ And ‘Beyond Utopia’ For U.S. Audience Awards — Updating Live
The Sundance Film Festival has begun unveiling its Jury and Audience Award winners for 2023. Jurors present for the announcement, livestreamed to the festival’s social media channels from The Ray Theatre in Park City, Utah, included Jeremy O. Harris and Marlee Matlin for U.S. Dramatic Competition, Ramona Diaz and Carla Gutierrez for U.S. Documentary Competition, Funa Maduka for World Cinema Dramatic Competition, and Madeleine Olnek for NEXT. Deadline will update this story with the list of winners as they come in. The 2023 festival featured 111 features and 64 shorts, selected from 15,856 submissions, which were screened in Park City, Salt Lake City, and at the Sundance Resort. Over 75% of both short and feature-length works, along with many selected Indie Episodics, will be available for streaming via the fest’s online platform through January 29. Sundance’s first in-person festival since the Covid pandemic was marked by a number of major sales — most of which we were … [Read more...] about Sundance Film Festival Sets ‘The Persian Version’ And ‘Beyond Utopia’ For U.S. Audience Awards — Updating Live
‘Love Island’ Seller ITV Studios Unites Distribution Under Ruth Berry, With Arjan Pomper To Exit
There’s change afoot at Love Island seller ITV Studios. Current ITV Studios Managing Director of Global Distribution Ruth Berry has been upped to lead a unified global commercial division. This will comprise her Global Distribution arm and ITV Studios Global Entertainment. Arjan Pomper, currently Managing Director of formats division ITV Studios Global Entertainment, is stepping down. ITV Studios says uniting the units under single leadership “will enable ITV Studios to align more closely with buyers and reflects the evolution of the global market with the growth of the streaming platforms, on-going market consolidation and the adoption by many buyers of a single buying approach across all genres.” In effect, this means formats such as Love Island , My Mum Your Dad and The Voice will sit alongside finished series such as Line of Duty and LItvinenko . The catalog will comprise 90,000 hours and 285 unique formats. Dedicated format and finished programming … [Read more...] about ‘Love Island’ Seller ITV Studios Unites Distribution Under Ruth Berry, With Arjan Pomper To Exit
Spike Lee To Receive BFI Fellowship
Spike Lee is to receive a BFI Fellowship, the highest honor bestowed by the UK’s lead organization for film. The award will be presented to filmmaker Lee at an event at BFI Southbank, hosted by BFI Chair Tim Richards and BFI Chief Exec Ben Roberts, with an on stage Q&A with Spike Lee accompanied by a screening of Summer of Sam , on 13 February 2023. While in the UK, Lee will visit teams at the BFI National Archive, who have liaised with the director on a new 35mm print of Malcolm X (1992), to premiere at the BFI’s inaugural Film on Film Festival taking place at BFI Southbank in June. He will also take a masterclass with young filmmakers. Born in Atlanta in 1957 but raised in Brooklyn, New York City, Lee received his MFA in Film Production at NYU/Tisch. After graduation, he founded 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, based in Brooklyn. Among his string of acclaimed movies are Cannes title She’s Gotta Have It , Oscar nominee Do the Right Thing , Jungle Fever , … [Read more...] about Spike Lee To Receive BFI Fellowship
Joe Cornish Talks Netflix Ghost Hunter Series ‘Lockwood & Co’ & Updates On ‘Attack The Block 2’
Joe Cornish ’s teen ghosthunter drama Lockwood and Co. launches on Netflix globally today. The show, the streamer’s latest young-adult scripted series from the UK, stars Ruby Stokes ( Bridgerton ) and newcomers Cameron Chapman and Ali Hadji-Heshmati as a teen trio who run an independent ghost fighting agency in London while competing with adult-run corporate rivals. The eight-part series, from Cornish’s Complete Fiction banner, is based on Jonathan Stroud’s books about an alternate modern world in which murderous ghosts have been attacking people since the 1960s, and only teenagers have the ability to see and repeal them. Netflix ordered it as one of seven British originals announced in December 2020. Several of these have been canned but anticipation around Lockwood has grown and reviews this week have been sparkling. “We have these brilliant books to draw on,” said Cornish in an interview with Deadline this week. “The challenge is to get it on screen with the … [Read more...] about Joe Cornish Talks Netflix Ghost Hunter Series ‘Lockwood & Co’ & Updates On ‘Attack The Block 2’
Sylvia Syms Dies: ‘The Queen’ & ‘Victim’ Star Was 89
English actress Sylvia Syms has passed away in the UK aged 89, according to her family. Syms was best known for roles in movies including Ice Cold Alex , Victim , The Tamarind Seed and Stephen Frears’ The Queen , in which she played The Queen Mother. Syms passed away this morning at Denville Hall, a care home in London for those in the entertainment industry. In a statement shared with The Sun , Syms’ family said: “She has lived an amazing life and gave us joy and laughter right up to the end. Just yesterday we were reminiscing together about all our adventures. She will be so very missed. “We would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at Denville Hall for the truly excellent care they have taken of our Mum over the past year.” Syms was born in London in 1934 and attended The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. In 1958, she landed a role in BAFTA-nominated film Ice Cold in Alex . A year later she starred in Expresso Bongo alongside Cliff … [Read more...] about Sylvia Syms Dies: ‘The Queen’ & ‘Victim’ Star Was 89
A3 Artists Agency Promotes Four, Moves Adam Loria and Samantha Schmidt To Senior Agents
EXCLUSIVE: Talent and Literary focused A3 Artists Agency has promoted four employees. Adam Loria and Samantha Schmidt rise from agents to senior agents, and Stephanie Nolan and Sydnie Rowland were upped from coordinators to agents within the Alternative Programming, Digital Media, Licensing & Branding division. Their new roles are effective immediately. All four have are part of a division which has grown from just two people in 2014 and now boasts 50 team members, representing over 300 creators Each will primarily focus on digital creators and the monetization of the talents’ platforms, as well as the expansion of their businesses off-platform and into traditional entertainment. Adam Loria has been with the agency since 2017, initially serving as an assistant before making the leap to agent in 2020. Loria’s clients include Lance Bass, Rod Thill, Hunter Woodall, Tara Davis-Woodall and others, for whom he manages brand partnership deals and crossover to traditional … [Read more...] about A3 Artists Agency Promotes Four, Moves Adam Loria and Samantha Schmidt To Senior Agents
‘The Hills’ Alumna Audrina Patridge Signs With A3 Artists Agency
Audrina Patridge, maybe known best for her starring role on MTV reality series The Hills and reboot The Hills: New Beginnings, has signed with A3 Artists Agency for representation. TV personality, podcast host and author Patridge rose to fame on The Hills which chronicled the lives of several young men and women living in Los Angeles. It aired for six seasons on MTV from 2006-2010. It was followed by reboot The Hills: New Beginnings which aired for two seasons from 2019-2021. Patridge currently co-hosts popular podcast Was it Real? The Hills Rewatch , with former co-stars Brody Jenner, Frankie Delgado and Heidi Montag. Each week, they break down a particular episode, and give fans the real lowdown behind-the-scenes on what was actually real and what was fake. This past May, Patridge released her memoir, Choices , that gave fans the inside scoop on life in Hollywood in the early 2000s, as well as the highs and lows of her personal relationships. Other … [Read more...] about ‘The Hills’ Alumna Audrina Patridge Signs With A3 Artists Agency
Nicole Kidman & Maya Erskine To Headline & EP ‘The Perfect Nanny’ Limited Series In Works At HBO From ‘Pen15’ Co-Creator & Legendary
EXCLUSIVE : Nicole Kidman is back at HBO with another high-profile limited series based on a novel, The Perfect Nanny . Kidman and Pen15 co-creator and co-lead Maya Erskine are set to star in the project, which HBO landed in a very competitive situation. Erskine is the creator and writer of the limited series, based on the book of the same name by Leïla Slimani. Legendary Entertainment is the co-studio with HBO. In The Perfect Nanny , a seemingly perfect nanny goes to work for a couple with two young children, but her helpful personality eventually deteriorates into something sinister. Kidman and Per Saari executive produce for Kidman’s Blossom Films; Erskine also executive produces alongside Pascal Caucheteux for Why Not Productions, and Philippe Godeau for Pan-Européenne. Kidman previously starred and executive produced HBO’s Big Little Lies , which originated as a limited series and earned her an acting and producing Emmy award, and The Undoing . … [Read more...] about Nicole Kidman & Maya Erskine To Headline & EP ‘The Perfect Nanny’ Limited Series In Works At HBO From ‘Pen15’ Co-Creator & Legendary