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EXCLUSIVE : StudioCanal is returning to the UK television production investment scene as it finalizes a deal with an outfit co-founded by a Vigil and Downton Abbey director. The French production group will back Strong Film & Television, which was co-founded by BAFTA-winner James Strong and Matt Tombs, a former BBC and Paramount executive. Strong Film & Television was established in late 2020 and appears to have added Loretta Preece to its ranks. Preece was most recently the series producer on Casualty , the long-running, BAFTA-winning BBC continuing drama. StudioCanal is close to finalizing an announcement for the investment, which would mark one of its first notable television deals in the UK for years. In 2016, the Canal+ Group company took stakes in Urban Myth Films , producer of Fox’s ​​War of the Worlds , and SunnyMarch , co-founded by Benedict Cumberbatch. StudioCanal has not been inactive in the acquisitions space but has focused on … [Read more...] about StudioCanal Returns To UK Production Investment By Backing ‘Vigil’ Director

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 ’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’

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

EXCLUSIVE: Amelia Brown, Managing Director of Britain’s Got Talent , The X Factor and Too Hot to Handle producer Thames , is leaving after two decades to set up an entertainment production company. Brown handed her resignation in several weeks ago and will exit in July. She has been with Thames since 2003 and became MD when the company merged with Talkback in 2017 – a merger that was undone two years later at which point she kept her post. She will launch her own production company later this year and becomes the second Fremantle label boss to be revealed to be leaving in the past fortnight, following Fatima Salaria , who is exiting The Apprentice indie Naked in the spring . During her lengthy stint with Thames, Brown has shepherded ITV stalwarts The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent , for which she was a key creative on almost every series. The Simon Cowell creations are co-produced with Cowell’s Syco shingle and while The X Factor has not … [Read more...] about Amelia Brown To Exit ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ Label Thames & Launch Indie

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

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

EXCLUSIVE: Two-time Academy Award nominee Liz Garbus is set to direct and executive produce the Untitled Orphan Project that’s in the works for Hulu . The ABC Signature drama will star Ellen Pompeo and is inspired by the true story of a Midwestern couple who adopts who they believe is an 8-year-old girl with a rare form of dwarfism. But as they begin to raise her alongside their three biological children, they slowly start to believe she may not be who she says she is. The real-life story has drawn parallels to the 2009 horror movie Orphan . The plan is to produce an eight-episode limited series. Pompeo will executive produce through her production banner Calamity Jane with Laura Holstein. The project was created and written by Katie Robbins ( The Affai r). Erin Levy will serve as showrunner on the series and executive produce alongside Robbins. Other exec producers are Andrew Stearn, Niles Kirschner, Mike Epps and Dan Spilo. Garbus’ first episode of … [Read more...] about Liz Garbus Set To Direct and EP Untitled Orphan Project For Hulu That Stars Ellen Pompeo

EXCLUSIVE : Activist Artists Management has signed award-winning Mongolian filmmaker Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir . She’ll be represented at the full-service music and talent management firm by Bernie Cahill and Jon Kanak. Purev-Ochir has generated buzz around town after winning Best Short Film Prizes from both the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals in 2022, for her sophomore effort, Snow in September . She’s been celebrated for exploring the contradictions of modern-day Mongolia, having previously seen her debut short, Mountain Cat , win the Sonje Award for Best Asian Short Film at the 25th Busan Film Festival, also screening in the short films competition at Cannes 2020. Purev-Ochir is currently in post-production on her debut feature, ZE , set in the Yurt districts of her hometown of Ulaanbaatar. The coming-of-age film, starring Tergel Bold-Erdene and Nomin-Erdene Ariunbyamba, examines shamanism and sexual awakening between two teens as they attempt to navigate … [Read more...] about Activist Artists Management Signs Venice & Toronto Prize-Winner Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir

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