Turbine studios

EXCLUSIVE: Aria Studios , a new two-stage £1.6M ($2M) facility that boasts 20,000 sqft of filming space, has officially opened for business in Anglesey, North Wales . The facility, located near the popular Welsh region of Eryri, has been established by indie production company Rondo Media and Welsh broadcaster S4C’s commercial arm S4C Digital Media Limited, with the support of the Welsh Government through Creative Wales. The studio has two fully-soundproofed stages and is located amongst acres of unspoiled grounds in the Eryri region. Rondo Media is currently filming the drama series Rownd a Rownd for S4C for 27 weeks in stage 2 at Aria. The studio has said they expect further bookings from drama and film producers commissioned by S4C. However, the studio has said its principal target clients are high-end film and television productions from the UK and the US. Wales has long been the shooting location of productions like Doctor Who , and more recently, HBO’s … [Read more...] about Wales Hopes To Lure Next ‘Doctor Who’ And ‘Sex Education’ With New Film & TV Studio

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

French studio Pathé and film and TV financier and producer Logical Pictures have announced a three-year co-production and co-financing deal. The operation involving Logical Content Ventures, a new fund operated by Logical Pictures, will see Pathé open up the financing of its films to private investors for the first time in its history. Under the deal with Pathé, Logical Content Ventures will contribute to the financing of all films produced and acquired by Pathé between 2022 and 2024. The aim is to co-finance and co-produce more than 20 pictures together with the first projects being released as soon as Spring 2023. The first films included in the agreement are Dany Boon’s Life for Real (Pathé – 26DB Productions), Just Philippot’s environmental thriller Acid (Pathé – Bonne Pioche), starring Canet and Laetitia Dosch, and Kirill Serebrennikov’s English feature debut Limonov: the Ballad of Eddie (Pathé – Chapter 2 – Wildside – Fremantle) starring Ben Whishaw. … [Read more...] about Pathé & Logical Pictures Team On Slate Financing Deal As French Studio Targets Big Budget Local & European Tentpoles

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

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

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

Streaming service Peacock closed 2022 with more than 20 million paid subscribers, helping Comcast slip past Wall Street estimates during a challenging fourth quarter in the media business. Total revenue came in at $30.55 billion in the period, less than 1% ahead of the prior-year quarter but just above analysts’ consensus. Earnings per share of 70 cents fell short of estimates, but exceeded them on a non-GAAP basis. Along with Peacock, a strong return for theme parks helped NBCUniversal post solid numbers on the top line, with revenue up 6% to $9.9 billion. Advertising revenue increased 4%, which the company credited to Spanish-language coverage of the World Cup by Telemundo and rising Peacock ad revenue. The profit story was less encouraging, with adjusted EBITDA falling 36% to $817 Theatrical revenue at the film studio soared 47% over the prior year, with Ticket to Paradise , Puss , Violent Night and Halloween Ends closing the year on a high note. … [Read more...] about Peacock Clears 20M Subscribers, Helping Comcast Nip Wall Street Q4 Estimates

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

EXCLUSIVE: Bill Nighy ( Living ) and Jeremy Swift ( Ted Lasso ) have signed on to join the voice cast of CG animated family comedy 10 Lives . The pair will join already-announced cast members Mo Gilligan ( That’s My Jam ), Simone Ashley ( Bridgerton ), Sophie Okonedo ( Hotel Rwanda ), Dylan Llewellyn ( Derry Girls ), and musician Zayn Malik. Nighy, who picked up an Oscar nom this week for his leading role in the Kazuo Ishiguro-scripted Living , will voice the character of Professor Craven, while Swift will lend his voice to a wise-cracking dog called Happy. The pic tells the story of Beckett, a pampered and selfish cat who has taken the lives he’s been dealt for granted. After carelessly losing his ninth life, he begs to be given a second chance and an opportunity to show he can learn from his mistakes. Eventually, his wish is granted, but with certain stipulations. The film is directed by Chris Jenkins ( Duck Duck Goose ) and produced by Guy … [Read more...] about Bill Nighy & Jeremy Swift Join Voice Cast Of Animated Feature ‘10 Lives’

Multi-platinum selling recording artist, producer and philanthropist Zayn Malik has inked with UTA for representation across music, film and television, among other areas. The most recent album release for the British artist, who rose to fame as a member of the boy band One Direction, was 2021’s acclaimed Nobody is Listening . His debut solo album, Mind of Mine (2016), made him the first UK male solo artist to simultaneously chart at #1 on the UK and US album charts in the first week of release, with his lead single “Pillowtalk” hitting #1 in 68 countries around the world and being certified 5x platinum by the RIAA. Malik’s sophomore solo effort, the gold certified Icarus Falls , was released in 2018. The artist known for his hybrid style of pop and R&B, who is currently at work on his fourth studio album, was with One Direction from 2010-2015. It was his time with that group that launched his career into the stratosphere, with Malik contributing to its hit … [Read more...] about Zayn Malik Signs With UTA