Awards ceremony 2018

The 2023 Oscars drew another million viewers in the week following the live telecast. According to ABC , the 95th annual Academy Awards drew an average audience of 19.9M total viewers after seven days of viewing across linear and digital platforms. It also scored a 4.43 rating among the key 18-49 demographic. That’s up 8% from the 18.8M viewers that tuned in live on March 12 . It marks the second year in a row that the Oscars grew its audience in the days after the live ceremony. While 8% may not seem like a huge jump, most live ceremonies draw little to no delayed viewers, unless something significant occurs. ABC also says the Academy’s digital content views of the 95th Oscars increased year-over-year by 359%, up to 109.2M vs. last year’s 23.8M. The Academy also accumulated more than 760,000 new followers between January and March, leading up to this year’s ceremony. This year’s live audience was already a positive sign for the Oscars, having increased its … [Read more...] about 2023 Oscars Inch Toward Audience Of 20M After 7 Days Of Multiplatform Viewing

EXCLUSIVE: Non-English language drama streamer Walter Presents has acquired a package of five drama titles from Beta for release on its services in Australia and New Zealand. The titles include Italian YA drama The Sea Beyond , Spanish investigative drama Rapa and German WWII miniseries The Turncoat . The Sea Beyond , revolving around young inmates in a Naples prison, has enjoyed strong ratings in Italy on Rai, RaiPlay and Netflix since its launch in late 2020. The third season is currently enjoying linear success on Rai2. Rapa , which was the most watched show on Spanish streamer Movistar Plus+ in 2022, follows a high school teacher and local police officer in the Spanish port city of Ferrol, who form an unlikely team in solving a murder case. Two-part, event mini-series The Turncoat is about a young German soldier in 1944, who is posted to a small unit in the Polish woods, where he connects with local partisans and becomes torn between a sense … [Read more...] about Walter Presents Seals Five-Title Drama Deal With Beta For Australia & New Zealand

EXCLUSIVE: Jenna Lamia ( Good Girls ) has been tapped to write and executive produce The Perfect Couple adaptation, based on Elin Hilderbrand ’s bestselling novel, which is in the works at Fox . The previously announced one-hour mystery drama hails from Fox Entertainment’s SideCar Content Accelerator. Based on Hilderbrand’s book, The Perfect Couple centers around wedding season on Nantucket. The beautiful island is overrun with summer people – an annual source of aggravation for year-round residents. When one lavish wedding ends in disaster before it can even begin – with a body discovered in Nantucket Harbor just hours before the ceremony – everyone in the wedding party is suddenly a suspect. As Chief of Police Ed Kapenash digs into the bride, the groom, the groom’s famous mystery novelist mother, and even a member of his own family, the chief discovers that every wedding is a minefield – and no couple is perfect. Lamia executive produces with Hilderbrand and … [Read more...] about Jenna Lamia To Pen ‘The Perfect Couple’ Adaptation Based On Elin Hilderbrand Book In The Works At Fox

EXCLUSIVE: Fox has put in development The Perfect Couple , a one-hour mystery drama based on Elin Hilderbrand ’s bestselling novel, from Fox Entertainment ’s SideCar Content Accelerator . Search is underway for a writer to pen the adaptation. Based on Hilderbrand’s book, The Perfect Couple centers around wedding season on Nantucket. The beautiful island is overrun with summer people – an annual source of aggravation for year-round residents. When one lavish wedding ends in disaster before it can even begin – with a body discovered in Nantucket Harbor just hours before the ceremony – everyone in the wedding party is suddenly a suspect. As Chief of Police Ed Kapenash digs into the bride, the groom, the groom’s famous mystery novelist mother, and even a member of his own family, the chief discovers that every wedding is a minefield – and no couple is perfect. The Perfect Couple was published by Little, Brown & Company in 2018. Hilderbrand executive produces … [Read more...] about ‘The Perfect Couple’ Drama Based On Elin Hilderbrand Book In The Works At Fox From SideCar

Imagine Entertainment co-founders, Oscar winners and USC School of Cinematic Arts alums Brian Grazer and Ron Howard will deliver the school’s commencement address in May, the university said Thursday. Grazer, who also serves on the School of Cinematic Arts Board of Councilors, received a BA in Psychology at USC in 1974. Howard attended courses at the School of Cinematic Arts. Both received honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degrees from USC in 2022. The pair, who have teamed on the likes of Oscar Best Picture winner A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13 , 8 Mile and 24, Parenthood and Friday Night Lights among other hits join a list of previous commencement addressees that includes Matt Reeves last year along with Ryan Coogler, Jon M. Chu, Donna Langley, Ron Meyer, Paul Feig and more. The ceremony, to be held Friday, May 12 at the Shrine Auditorium, will also see producer-writer-director Tracy Oliver honored with the Mary Pickford Alumni Award, an award Grazer also has … [Read more...] about Imagine That: Ron Howard And Brian Grazer To Give This Year’s USC School Of Cinematic Arts’ Commencement Address

Mahfouz Doss , an award-winning Egyptian journalist who was a former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association ( HFPA ) and nine-time board member, has died. No details on the cause, date of death, or location were provided. “We are incredibly saddened at the passing of Mahfouz Doss,” said Helen Hoehne, president of the HFPA. “He was a true pioneer of the HFPA, having joined the association in 1959 when the ceremonies were held at the famous Cocoanut Grove Club at the Ambassador Hotel. His six decades of service saw the growth of the Golden Globes into an iconic global brand. We are forever grateful for his leadership, generosity of spirit, and his dedication as a journalist and colleague.” Doss started his journalistic career in Egypt in the 1950’s at Al Ahram Financial , a monthly financial and business magazine published by the leading daily newspaper in the Middle East. After moving to the U.S. in 1959, he served as a Hollywood correspondent for the … [Read more...] about Mahfouz Doss Dies: Former President Of Hollywood Foreign Press Association Was 97

EXCLUSIVE: Canadian comedy Son of a Critch is establishing itself as a mainstay of CBC ’s schedule as it is greenlit for a third season before the second has finished airing. CBC said Season 2, which finishes next week, is the pubcaster’s most-watched English Canadian comedy series and most-watched show with 18-49 year olds. The series is produced by Schitt’s Creek’ s Andrew Barnsley and created by Mark Critch, who plays a fictionalized version of himself based on his award-winning memoir, with The Office scribe Tim McAuliffe. The show tells the story of 11-year-old Mark coming of age in St. John’s, Newfoundland in the ’80s, a boy much older inside than his 11 years – using comedy and self-deprecation to win friends and connect with the small collection of people in his limited world. Filming begins on Season 3 in Newfoundland this summer. “I’m honoured to have such talented people bringing my life story to the screen,” said Critch. “It’s a joy to start work … [Read more...] about ‘Son Of A Critch’ Renewed For Season 3 By CBC

EXCLUSIVE : Hot on the heels of their historic Oscars sweep with Everything Everywhere All at Once and The Whale , A24 has set the cast for Y2K , a dial-up disaster comedy to be directed for the studio by SNL alum Kyle Mooney . Jaeden Martell ( It ), West Side Story breakout Rachel Zegler and Julian Dennison ( Deadpool 2 ) lead a stacked ensemble that also includes Lachlan Watson ( Chilling Adventures of Sabrina ), Mason Gooding ( Scream VI ), 5x Billboard Music Award-winner The Kid Laroi, Tim Heidecker ( Us ), Eduardo Franco ( Stranger Things ), Miles Robbins ( Blockers ), Alicia Silverstone ( The Killing of a Sacred Deer ), Fred Hechinger ( Fear Street Trilogy ) and Daniel Zolghadri ( Funny Pages ). In the film penned by Evan Winter , which is set on New Year’s Eve 1999, two high school nobodies (Martell, Dennison) decide to crash the last big party before the new millennium. When the clock strikes midnight, the night … [Read more...] about A24 Sets Disaster Comedy ‘Y2K’, To Be Directed By ‘SNL’ Alum Kyle Mooney; Jaeden Martell, Rachel Zegler, Julian Dennison & More To Star

Oscar winner and Academy member Roger Ross Williams is saying publicly what many in the documentary community have stewed over privately – that the sums of money being spent on Oscar documentary campaigns has “gotten insane.” And Williams, a former Academy Governor representing the Doc Branch, says something may be done about it. “We in the Academy, in the Doc Branch, have a campaign finance reform committee… to sort of try to work through that and figure out solutions to that. It’s gotten insane. It’s gazillions of dollars to get seen and heard,” he said, “and that’s so troubling because it should be on the merit of the films.” His remarks, less than two weeks after the Academy Awards, came in a discussion with documentary programmer and Pure Nonfiction podcaster Thom Powers at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen. Powers asked the filmmaker about “the escalating attention that awards season sucks up in our industry,” and Williams didn’t hold back. “We know it’s awards, it’s the … [Read more...] about Oscar Winner Roger Ross Williams: Spending On Oscar Doc Campaigns Has “Gotten Insane” — CPH:DOX

EXCLUSIVE : Matt Reeves ’ 6th & Idaho is teaming with ZQ Entertainment to produce God’s Country — a new genre film starring Scream VI’ s Melissa Barrera , which will mark the American directorial debut of Egor Abramenko ( Sputnik ). The film going into production this summer will have Barrera playing a young Salvadoran woman who travels to Kentucky to meet her fiancé. What she uncovers is something sinister beyond comprehension, as her American dream curdles into a nightmare of biblical proportions. Will Soodik ( Westworld ) wrote the script. Reeves ( The Batman ) and Rafi Crohn ( Tales from the Loop ) will produce for 6th & Idaho, alongside ZQ Entertainment’s Ara Keshishian and Petr Jákl (who financed the development), Adam Kassan ( End of Watch ), and Barrera. WME reps foreign and co-represents domestic rights with CAA Media Finance, and will introduce the project at EFM. “Egor is an exciting emerging talent,” Reeves told Deadline, “and … [Read more...] about Matt Reeves’ 6th & Idaho, ZQ Entertainment Team On ‘God’s Country’ Starring Melissa Barrera; Egor Abramenko Directing – EFM