EXCLUSIVE: Peter Smith is leaving MBC Studios after four years as Managing Director. We’ve learned the international industry veteran is stepping down from the premium production arm of Middle Eastern and North African network MBC, though he’ll continue to advise on production and distribution. In a statement to Deadline, MBC CEO Sam Barnett confirmed the exit and said a successor would be named “in due course, in coming days.” Smith is a former NBCUniversal International President and was CEO of Cineflix Studios and Greece-based broadcaster Antenna Group. He joined MBC Studios in 2018 as it launched as the production arm of free-to-air network MBC, which is the largest media company in the MENA region. He was tasked with increasing MBC’s original film and TV output and and he has gone on to overseen the launch of shows such as Rashash , Rise of the Witches and The Devil’s Promise . “Peter Smith is stepping aside as Managing Director of MBC Studios,” said … [Read more...] about MBC Studios Boss Peter Smith Exiting Saudi-Owned Media Group
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Peabody Awards: The Complete List Of 2022 Winners
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
Godard Is Gone: A Remembrance Of The Stubborn & Iconoclastic Film Director
Stubborn and iconoclastic as always, Jean-Luc Godard has passed to another realm –and by his own choice–at age 91. Ever impudent and exasperating, forever pushing boundaries but remaining elusive, and an artist in every fiber of his being, Godard always did exactly what he wanted to do; for a few years many followed him ardently, and for lots of us in the 1960s he led the way into a vastly exciting and personal form of cinema. Thereafter he went entirely his own way, losing most of his audience but remaining at the forefront of exploring what cinema is, could be, and, sometimes, what it absolutely shouldn’t be. The official obituaries and tributes will certainly convey Godard’s importance and influence through the 1960s, the way he helped liberate cinema from its literary and orderly appearance to something far more energized, unexpected, jarring and often exhilarating. Although Godard consumed and brilliantly wrote about the existing cinema as a young critic, he … [Read more...] about Godard Is Gone: A Remembrance Of The Stubborn & Iconoclastic Film Director
Larry Wilmore Inks Major Overall Deal With Universal Television
Larry Wilmore is moving to Universal Television with a rich four-year overall deal. Under the pact, The Bernie Mac Show creator will develop new projects through his Wilmore Films production company. In addition to creating The Bernie Mac Show, which ran on Fox for five seasons, Wilmore co-created Fox/the WB’s The PJs, Freeform’s Grown-ish and HBO’s Insecure. “The number of successful shows that Larry has had a hand in launching is impressive and he shows no signs of slowing down,” said Universal TV President Pearlena Igbokwe. “I could not be more excited and consider us lucky that he has chosen to call Universal his home for the next few years.” Wilmore is coming off an overall deal at ABC Studios. Joining him at Universal TV is Candace Rodney, VP of development for Wilmore Films. “I’m beyond thrilled to be back at Universal Television to join Pearlena and her amazing team!,” Wilmore said. “As a teen I actually used to sneak on the Universal lot and … [Read more...] about Larry Wilmore Inks Major Overall Deal With Universal Television
‘Poker Face’: Natasha Lyonne Breaks Down Debut Episodes & Discusses Collaborating With Rian Johnson For Peacock Series
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
Larry Wilmore To Headline Late Night-Themed Comedy ‘Lately’ In Works At ABC
EXCLUSIVE : Larry Wilmore is tapping into his experiences in late-night for a primetime comedy in development at ABC . Wilmore is writing, executive producing and is set to star in Lately , described as a behind-the-scenes look at the upstairs-downstairs dynamics of the people who work at a late-night talk show, sources tell Deadline. Tamara Gregory, Head of Television at Wilmore’s Wilmore Films, also executive produces. The project comes from Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, where Wilmore is under an overall deal . Wilmore was host of his own late-night talk show, Comedy Central’s The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore , which ran for nearly two years . He also appeared as “Senior Black Correspondent” on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and more recently hosted and executive produced Wilmore, a limited weekly special talk series for Peacock. This marks Wilmore’s return to ABC, where he helped to launch Black-ish as an executive … [Read more...] about Larry Wilmore To Headline Late Night-Themed Comedy ‘Lately’ In Works At ABC
‘I May Destroy You’s Paapa Essiedu Joins Melissa McCarthy In Peacock’s Richard Curtis-Penned Christmas Pic
EXCLUSIVE : Paapa Essiedu ( I May Destroy You ) is set to star opposite Melissa McCarthy in the untitled New York Christmas movie from Universal and Working Title that we were first to report on. The film heading to Peacock is written by Love Actually ‘s Richard Curtis, with Love Life creator Sam Boyd on board to direct. It’s billed as a fairy-tale comedy about a workaholic man who enlists the help of a magical genie to help win his family back before Christmas. Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner will produce for Working Title, with Riva Marker for Linden Productions. Universal’s Senior EVP of Production Development Erik Baiers and Director of Development Christine Sun will oversee the pic for the studio, with Alexandra Loewy overseeing for Working Title. Best known for his Emmy- and BAFTA-nominated supporting turn opposite Michaela Coel in the hit miniseries I May Destroy You from HBO and BBC One, Essiedu boasts additional small-screen credits including The … [Read more...] about ‘I May Destroy You’s Paapa Essiedu Joins Melissa McCarthy In Peacock’s Richard Curtis-Penned Christmas Pic
Netflix, Fox, Bleacher Report, Coachella Music Festival On Very Long List Of FTX Creditors In Crypto Firm Bankruptcy
A parade of media and tech companies are apparently owed money by FTX along with hundreds of other creditors, according to an extensive list that runs from banks, insurers, hedge funds, airlines and hotels to universities, federal agencies and every state in the nation from Alabama to Wyoming. Creditors run 116 pages of small print in a bankruptcy filing in Delaware by the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange. Media and entertainment names include Netflix, Fox, CAA Sports, WME Entertainment, Turner, Bleacher Report, Bloomberg, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Sirius XM and the Coachella Music Festival. Other creditors run the gamut from Amazon to Apple, Amtrak and AT&T, Comcast to Conde Nast, Google to Goldman Sachs to Gamestop, Meta to Marriott to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to Mercedes Benz to the Miami Heat Charitable Foundation. Twitter is there, Time Magazine and Thompson Reuters. There’s Peloton, The Container Store, the Nasdaq, U.S. Department of Labor, the … [Read more...] about Netflix, Fox, Bleacher Report, Coachella Music Festival On Very Long List Of FTX Creditors In Crypto Firm Bankruptcy
Berlin’s EFM Launches “Room Of Stillness” For Mental Health Awareness, May Team With Other Festivals & Markets
The Berlinale ’s European Film Market (February 16-22) has unveiled a pioneering initiative offering a phone and laptop-free “safe space” where delegates can reflect and decompress. Called the Room Of Stillness, the space is situated in the Documentation Centre for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation, which is a five-minute walk around the corner from the market’s main Gropius Bau hub. “It’s a space where you can recharge, reflect, even just take a minute to calm down,” explains EFM director Dennis Ruh. “It’s part of our campaign around mental health and life balance in the film industry which we began some years ago.” The Documentation Centre, which opened in the summer of 2021 with a focus on politically, ethnically and religiously motivated forced migrations in the 20th Century, will host most of EFM’s industry talks and conferences this year. In addition to the Room of Silence, the EFM will also offer an event bannered “Monday For Mindfulness”, exploring … [Read more...] about Berlin’s EFM Launches “Room Of Stillness” For Mental Health Awareness, May Team With Other Festivals & Markets