National team development program

Starzplay has announced its first Arabic-language original series, created in collaboration with Emirati content powerhouse Image Nation Abu Dhabi . The international streaming service of Starz has a big following in the Middle East and North Africa where its regional offering Starzplay Arabia is available in 19 territories. The new show, called Kaboos , features five standalone episodes and is billed as a modern-day retelling of Arab folklore. It explores urban legends in Saudi Arabia , Kuwait, Egypt and the UAE, across a variety of genres from classic horror stories to noir psychological thrillers. Some of MENA’s hottest rising young directors are attached to the show, including the UAE’s Majid Al Ansari ( Zinzana , Paranormal ) and Hana Kazim ( Makr ) as well as Iraq-born, Abu Dhabi-based Yasir Al Yasiri ( 122 ), Egypt’s Ahmed Khaled ( 30 March ) and Bahraini, U.S.-based director and producer Hala Matar ( Streetcar ). The horror anthology … [Read more...] about Starzplay & Image Nation Abu Dhabi Unveil Streamer’s First Arabic Original Series ‘Kaboos’

The Steve Wilkos Show has been picked up for a 16th season in national syndication. The daytime talk show, distributed by NBCUniversal Syndication Studios , tackles issues such as family and criminal justice, true-crime and relationship conflicts. Additionally, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios has sold its catalogue of daytime talk Shows, Maury, hosted by Maury Povich, and The Jerry Springer Show, hosted by Jerry Springer, into national syndication. The Steve Wilkos Show , in its 15th season, is averaging 900,000 daily viewers for the 2021-22 season, while delivering a large percentage of its audience from the Adults 25-54 demographic. “ The Steve Wilkos Show is one of the best success stories in first-run syndication and I am so proud of Steve and his entire team who puts their incredible passion for storytelling into making a show that resonates with viewers,” said Tracie Wilson, Executive Vice President, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios & E! News. … [Read more...] about ‘The Steve Wilkos Show’ Renewed For Season 16 In National Syndication

UPDATED with final winners: The Oscar-winning documentary Summer of Soul , Bo Burnham’s Emmy-winning musical comedy special Inside , Barry Jenkins’ The Underground Railroad and Raoul Peck’s Exterminate All the Brutes are among the final list of winners of 2022 Peabody Awards . The Peabodys, in their 82nd year, honor the year’s most powerful content across the fields of entertainment, documentary, news, podcast/radio, arts, children’s and youth, and public service programming. The organization based at the Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia wrapped up a a weeklong rollout of all 30 winners Thursday. This year’s awards were presented by the likes of Melissa McCarthy, Morgan Freeman, John Legend, Kevin Bacon, H.E.R., Ethan Hawke, Jon Stewart, Hasan Minhaj, Riz Ahmed, LeVar Burton, Jenny Slate, Malcolm Gladwell and Adam Scott. Newsman Dan Rather and Fresh Air ‘s Terry Gross have already won this year’s Career Achievement Award and … [Read more...] about Peabody Awards: The Complete List Of 2022 Winners

Noah Cowan , former co-director of the Toronto Film Festival and executive director of SFFILM in San Francisco, died Wednesday of cancer in Los Angeles, Deadline has confirmed. He was 55. Cowan died of glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive form of brain cancer he was diagnosed with in December 2021. Born on July 22, 1967, in Hamilton, Ontario, he joined TIFF in 1984 as a box office staffer after volunteering with the fest in summer 1981. He later ran its print traffic department before becoming one of the programmers of TIFF’s Midnight Madness program in 1989. He was promoted to Program Administrator in 1992, and co-ran Midnight Madness with Colin Geddes in 1997. Cowan served as TIFF’s international programmer from 1997-2001, during which time he was promoted to associate director of programming and then associate director. He left the festival in 2001 but returned three years later as co-director, serving in the role until 2008. From 2008-14, he was artistic … [Read more...] about Noah Cowan Dies: Former Toronto Film Festival Co-Director, Indie Distributor & SFFILM Exec Was 55

The Berlinale ’s European Film Market was the last major physical market to take place in 2020 as the world began shutting down because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The virus would force the event online in 2021 and 2022. The EFM’s traditional home of the Gropius Bau looked strangely empty last February, playing host to an exhibition by South African artist Zanele Muholi, as the event unfolded online alongside a scaled-down physical festival. Its vast atrium and halls are set to be packed with hundreds of stands and thousands of professionals once again this year for EFM’s 2023 edition, running February 16-22. Both the Gropius Bau and the market’s other key exhibition space of the Marriott Hotel are already fully booked. “The good news for us is that we are completely at the same level in terms of accreditations as we were at this time of the year in 2020. This means that we are forecast to reach the same amount of market participants,” EFM director Dennis Ruh . As … [Read more...] about Berlin’s EFM Boss Reveals Size Of U.S. & Asia Contingents, Talks Growing Importance Of TV

EXCLUSIVE : The Gotham Film & Media Institute has unveiled the winners of its fourth annual Focus Features & JetBlue Student Short Film Showcase. The five filmmakers chosen are Saleem Gondal ( Post Term , Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema), Yingtong Li ( The Silent Whistle , Emerson College), Taylor Mannsman ( Obscura , University of Texas at Austin), Shannon M. Sutherland ( They Flew Like Blackbirds , Florida State University) and Cheryl Wong ( Stigma, Style , NYU). The Gotham’s Short Film Showcase aims to discover and empower a diverse group of emerging filmmakers, and to foster multi-platform distribution of their work. Winners of this year’s showcase, supported by returning partners JetBlue and Focus Features, as well as new partner Soho House, had their works selected by a jury of filmmakers, curators and critics, with shorts from 23 graduate schools having been submitted. Each was recognized during the 2022 Gotham Awards Ceremony on November 28, received … [Read more...] about The Gotham Names Winners Of 4th Annual Focus Features & JetBlue Student Short Film Showcase

NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell said execs at the company and parent Comcast are “more confident” than they were a year or two ago that investments in streaming service Peacock will soon yield profits. How soon remains a bit unclear, however. “We’ve been clear from the start that we’re going to see a return on that investment — I think we feel better about that now based on where we are,” Shell said during Comcast’s fourth-quarter earnings call. The company said Peacock had passed 20 million subscribers by the end of 2022, more than double its size at the start of the year. It added 5 million subscribers in the quarter thanks to Spanish-language World Cup coverage as well as original programming, other live sports and the addition of first-window movie titles and NBC and Bravo series that used to go to Hulu. Over the rest of the year, CEO Brian Roberts said, “subscriber cadence will follow content launches, which will fall more heavily in the second half of 2023” than … [Read more...] about NBCUniversal And Comcast Execs “More Confident” Than They Were A Year Ago In Peacock Profit Outlook, Jeff Shell Says

Dateline will be back for its seventh season in national broadcast syndication. NBCUniversal Syndication Studios announced Thursday that it has renewed the popular newsmagazine show with the NBC Owned Television Stations Group. The syndicated version of Dateline airs weekdays on stations from leading broadcast groups, including NBC Owned TV Stations, Tegna, Fox, Gray, Cox Media Group, Scripps, Nexstar, Hearst, Sinclair, Sunbeam, Graham Media, Weigel, Block, Hubbard and more. Averaging 1.6 million daily viewers, Dateline in syndication has grown its audience +21% year-over-year and ranks as a Top 5 one-hour Monday-Friday show in syndication, according to NBCU and Nielsen. “When we first launched Dateline in syndication six years ago, it was primarily scheduled as a utility program on various types of stations airing in a wide variety of time periods but this has evolved,” Sean O’Boyle, EVP of Syndication Sales, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios said in a … [Read more...] about ‘Dateline’ Renewed For 7th Season On NBC Television Stations

Executives at NBCUniversal and Comcast took the stage at Studio 8H at Rockefeller Center on Thursday and offered their first financial projections for streaming service Peacock during an investor presentation. Four years after it launches, first to some Comcast subscribers in April and then nationally by July, the service will be bringing in $2.5 billion in revenue and breaking even. There will be 30 million to 35 million “active users” by that point, the company said. “We are creating the equivalent of a 21 st century broadcast business, delivered on the internet,” NBCU chairman Steve Burke said. While cord-cutting is a reality, counting on-demand and digital viewing, he continued, “More people are watching more video today than ever.” Peacock Investors Day: Deadline’s Complete Coverage While subscriptions ranging from $5 a month to $10 a month will be sold to non-Comcast subscribers, the company is counting on advertising revenue being a mainstay … [Read more...] about NBCUniversal Expects $2.5B In Peacock Revenue, Break-Even By 2024

SPOILER ALERT: This post contains details from the first four episodes of Peacock ’s Poker Face . Natasha Lyonne is a casino waitress with an uncanny ability to tell when people are lying in her latest collaboration with Rian Johnson , Peacock’s Poker Face . She’s not reading their faces or their body language. It’s “just a feeling,” her character Charlie explains in the first episode, which debuted Thursday along with three additional episodes. As the premiere unfolds, Charlie agrees to help her boss take down a high-profile gambler, only to realize that he had previously been responsible for murdering her co-worker to keep her silent about the sins of that very same gambler. Rather than stick around and meet her own demise, Charlie goes on the lamb. Along the way, the finds herself embroiled in a series of small-town murder mysteries in each place she stops. “I’ve learned that this is a character who just really can’t stand bullsh*t. She just really … [Read more...] about ‘Poker Face’: Natasha Lyonne Breaks Down Debut Episodes & Discusses Collaborating With Rian Johnson For Peacock Series