Richard brown

EXCLUSIVE : Renowned documentarian Lisa Cortés has entered into a first-look development agreement with the Museum of the City of New York , the goal being to hone documentary IP based on the museum’s exhibitions. News of the deal — initiated by producer Jon Sechrist — follows the Sundance world premiere of Cortés’ latest critically acclaimed feature doc, Little Richard: I Am Everything , which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize in U.S. Documentary Competition and sold to Magnolia Pictures. Cortés will now look to build a creative pipeline from MCNY’s 100 years of exhibitions to the screen, with plans for projects on food, social justice, music, and more. The first being made under the deal is a docuseries based on Gingerbread NYC: The Great Borough Bake-Off , an exhibition inviting bakers from every borough to design New York City-inspired gingerbread creations. Cortés will develop and produce all projects through her New York-based production company Cortés … [Read more...] about ‘Little Richard: I Am Everything’s Lisa Cortés Strikes First-Look Development Deal With Museum Of The City Of New York

EXCLUSIVE: WME Independent has unveiled the first image of Haley Bennett in the upcoming 19th Century champagne drama Clicquot ahead of launching sales on the title at the European Film Market . Bennett stars in the titular role of Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot, who is popularly known in France as the “Grande Dame of Champagne”. This real-life historic figure defied convention to take over her late husband’s fledgling wine business in Reims in 1805 after being widowed at the age of 27. The production, announced on Deadline last year, is based on the 2008 novel The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It by Tilar J. Mazzeo. Filming took place the French regions of Chablis and Reims last fall. Thomas Napper ( Jawbone) directs from a screenplay by Erin Dignam ( Land, Submergence ) and Christopher Monger ( Temple Grandin ). Other previously announced cast members include Tom Sturridge (DC Comics and … [Read more...] about Haley Bennett First Image In Champagne Drama ‘Clicquot’ Revealed As WME Independent Sets EFM Sales Launch

Prime Video is restructuring its international business along regional lines in EMEA, APAC and the Americas. Kelly Day , VP of Amazon ’s Prime Video, has rejigged the Bosch and The Boys streamer with expanded roles for Barry Furlong and Gaurav Gandhi. Furlong, currently VP of Prime Video Europe, is adding all Africa and Middle East businesses to his role and will lead EMEA. Gandi takes on a new role as lead for the APAC region, adding Japan and South East Asia to his current role overseeing India. Sushant Sreeram, Director – SVOD Business, will become Prime Video Country Director for India to replace Gandhi. Kari Roe remains in charge of the Americas (Brazil, Mexico, Latin America and Canada), Australia and New Zealand. Director of International Expansion, Josh McIvor, who has overseen Prime Video’s expansion in Africa and South East Asia, will continue to own “priority international Prime Video initiatives that sit outside a regional remit.” The changes … [Read more...] about Amazon’s Kelly Day Restructures Prime Video International

EXCLUSIVE : Kino Lorber has acquired all North American distribution rights to Four Quartets , the film version of the Ralph Fiennes -starring stage adaptation of T.S. Eliot’s seminal poem. Directed by Sophie Fiennes, the film will get its U.S. premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival later this week followed by a theatrical release this spring. One of the giants of modern literature, the poet, playwright, critic, and editor T.S. Eliot is best known as one of the central figures of the Modernist movement in poetry. Consisting of four poems published over a six-year period – Burnt Norton, East Coker, The Dry Salvages , and Little Gidding , each titled after the landscape that inspired their writing – Four Quartets is widely considered Eliot’s masterpiece and the culminating achievement of his career as a poet, offering four interwoven meditations on the nature of time and the quest for spiritual enlightenment. Following the completion of Four Quartets … [Read more...] about Ralph Fiennes’ ‘Four Quartets’ Gets North American Distribution Deal Ahead Of Stateside Bow At Santa Barbara

EXCLUSIVE: Kelly Hu ( BMF , The Orville) has joined the cast of the CBS series East New York in a recurring role. She will make her debut in episode 112 titled “Up in Smoke,” airing February 19. She will play Allison Cha, a tenacious and straightforward political policy advisor brought into shadow Suarez (Jimmy Smits) to understand the day-to-day duties of the NYPD. From William Finkelstein and Mike Flynn, East New York follows Regina Haywood (Amanda Warren), the newly promoted deputy inspector of East New York, an impoverished, working-class neighborhood at the eastern edge of Brooklyn. She leads a diverse group of officers and detectives, some of whom are reluctant to deploy her creative methods of serving and protecting during the midst of social upheaval and the early seeds of gentrification. The series also stars Jimmy Smits, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Richard Kind, Olivia Luccardi, and Lavel Schley. William Finkelstein, Mike … [Read more...] about ‘East New York’ Adds Kelly Hu In Recurring Role

EXCLUSIVE : Avantika ( Senior Year ), Christopher Briney ( The Summer I Turned Pretty ) and Bebe Wood ( Love, Victor ) have landed major roles in Paramount Pictures’ film adaptation of the Tony-nominated Broadway hit, Mean Girls , which is itself based on the classic Paramount comedy of the same name. The actors join an ensemble for the Paramount+-bound feature that also includes Angourie Rice, Reneé Rapp, Auli’i Cravalho and Jaquel Spivey, as previously announced. The original film adapted by Tina Fey from the Rosalind Wiseman book Queen Bees and Wannabes follows high school new girl Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) in her attempt to fit in with A-list girl clique, The Plastics. The effort is sabotaged when she makes the mistake of falling for Aaron, the ex-boyfriend of alpha Plastic Regina George. Premiering on stage at Washington, D.C.’s National Theatre in 2017 and jumping to Broadway the following year, the Mean Girls musical was also written by Fey, with … [Read more...] about ‘Mean Girls’: Avantika, Christopher Briney & Bebe Wood Board Paramount Film Based On Tony-Nominated Musical Adaptation

EXCLUSIVE: Filmmaker, writer and actress Leslie Zemeckis has inked with Buchwald for representation in the directing arena. Zemeckis will film a new role in Here , the Robert Zemeckis adaptation of the Richard McGuire graphic novel starring Tom Hanks and Robin Wright for Miramax. Production on Here is underway on location in London. Zemeckis, an award-winning documentarian and novelist recently received critical acclaim for Grandes Horizontales , an in-depth look at the culture of the courtesan. Among other accolades, Grandes Horizontales won Best Documentary at the London Independent Film Festival and Best Editing and Best Documentary at the Independent Shorts Festival. Her previous directing efforts were Behind the Burly Q, Bound by Flesh , and Mabel, Mabel, Tiger Trainer . In addition, Zemeckis realized success in the book arena with such best-sellers as Behind the Burly Q, Goddess of Love Incarnate and Feuding Fan Dancers . She starred in such … [Read more...] about Filmmaker Leslie Zemeckis Signs With Buchwald

EXCLUSIVE: The Gotham Group , which most recently produced Disney+’s Stargirl based on the bestselling novel, has made its latest book deal. It has optioned Christina Hammonds Reed’s upcoming debut YA novel The Black Kids , setting Rafiki helmer Wanuri Kahiu to direct and Allison Davis to adapt it. The novel, to be published September 1 via Simon & Schuster, is a coming-of-age story of a wealthy African-American teenager whose family gets caught in the vortex of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Kahiu’s previous film Rafiki was banned in her native Kenya for a time ahead of its world premiere at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where it made history as the first Kenyan film selected. It explored LGBTQ issues in a country that criminalizes homosexual acts between consenting adults. The film’s success helped Kahiu land gigs in the U.S. Now managed by Gotham Group, she is also set to direct Millie Bobby Brown in The Thing About Jellyfish for Made Up Stories, … [Read more...] about ‘Rafiki’ Helmer Wanuri Kahiu To Direct Gotham Group’s YA Adaptation ‘The Black Kids’

EXCLUSIVE: United Talent Agency is trimming its personnel with cuts in several departments. According to sources, mostly admin/support staff are impacted, with the total number of layoffs in the low single-digits as a percentage of the company’s overall workforce. “We’ve grown a great deal over the last several years, and as a result decided to make some adjustments,” a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement to Deadline. “We’re unfortunately parting ways with a small number of colleagues and are grateful for everything they’ve contributed.” UTA has been on an acquisition spree over the past two years, buying such companies as UK agency Curtis Brown , publishing agency Fletcher & Company and MediaLink , a media and marketing advisory firm. Facing a possible economic downturn, many entertainment and tech companies have undergone layoffs in the past several months, with more cuts expected this year. Talent agencies previously reduced staffs during the … [Read more...] about UTA Undergoes Layoffs In Multiple Departments