Month: April 2019

April 6, 2019 10:28PM PT Channel 4 has snagged the U.K. rights to a documentary series about an expedition to the depths of the Black Sea and a shipwreck graveyard that includes what is thought to be the oldest intact wreck ever found. “Lost Worlds: Deeper into the Black Sea” has also already been picked

CANNES — Next stop Latin America. Having powered up high-end drama series production in Spain to 14-15 series this year via pay TV unit Movistar +, Telefonica has unveiled its first premium original series projects in Latin America. Both set to shoot in a couple of months, they open up a further theater of production

Banijay Rights will bring soon-to-launch Scandi-Noir crime thriller “Wisting,” based on the best-selling novels of Jørn Lier Horst, to the market at this year’s MipTV. “Wisting” was co-created by Kathrine Valen Zeiner and director Trygve Allister Diesen, and follows homicide detective William Wisting on the most difficult case of his career, hunting down a dangerous

The Writers Guild of America has announced a six-day delay on tightened rules on Hollywood agents, averting a potentially scenario that has unnerved the industry in recent days. The WGA announced in a message to members just before 10 p.m. Saturday that it would wait until 12:01 am April 13 to implement its new “Code

For the second year in a row, Montreal-based production company St Laurent Web (St Laurent TV) has a series in the official selection at Canneseries. “La Maison des Folles,” (“Home Turf”) world premieres at this year’s digital series competition as one of the most buzzed-up titles. Last year the company’s digital short-form series “Dominos” was

With “Game of Thrones” star Kit Harington hosting the April 6 episode of “Saturday Night Live,” it was inevitable the late-night NBC series would parody his HBO epic. But rather than take on the final season of the series, “SNL” instead looked ahead at the “prequels, sequels and spinoffs” still to come. First up was

U.K.’s Fearless Minds is joining forces with Spain’s “Hierro” producer Portocabo and Vaca TV to co-produce high-end historical mini-series project “Garbo, el espía que engañó a Hitler” (“Garbo, The Spy Who Double-Crossed Hitler”). Inspired by the life of the one-off Juan Pujol, alias Garbo, a Spanish double agent who helped change the course of World

“Game of Thrones” star Kit Harington hosted the April 6 episode of “Saturday Night Live” and naturally had to field questions during his monologue about “who wins ‘Game of Thrones’.” But surprisingly, some of those questions came from his own co-stars, Emilia Clarke and John Bradley, and his real-life wife Rose Leslie. Clarke stood up

Jason Sudeikis made a surprise appearance on the April 6 episode of “Saturday Night Live” as the late-night sketch comedy series kicked off with a cold open focusing on the recent allegations that former vice president Joe Biden inappropriately touched women at political events in the past. Sudeikis previously portrayed Biden during his time as

CANNES — Netflix’s “How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast)” kicks off with a police special unit, automatic rifles trained, moving in silently for  asking. The target, a buff teen drug dealer, at work in his basement lab lair. He bolts on his scooter, doesn’t get 10 yards before he’s arrested. So this is how the

Amazon Prime Video is planning an unprecedented worldwide release of its first original Spanish-language scripted comedy series, (“How to Survive Being Single” (“Como Sobrevivir Soltero”). Jointly created by Mexico’s Zurita brothers, both actors, the series is co-produced by L.A.-based Campanario, Sony Pictures, which also handles international sales, and the Zuritas’ shingle, Addiction House. Described as

For Benoît Louvet, the managing director of Canneseries, “the Golden Age of television is ahead of us.” He hails the wealth of creativity of the series – both the projects in development and the completed shows – to be found at this year’s drama series festival, which runs to Wednesday in Cannes. Attracting financing for

Diana Rigg, who rose to stardom in “The Avengers” in the 60s and continues to attract admirers today in “Game of Thrones,” received the Variety Icon Award at Canneseries Friday. The actress, who won a BAFTA for “Mother Love” and an Emmy for “Rebecca,” underscored the longevity of her career, and the progression of the

One of the favorites heading into this year’s Canneseries Short-Form Competition has to be the star-studded anthology series “Do Not Disturb,” spearheaded by the U.K.’s Pulse Films. Michael Haussman and Larry Volpi created the series, and its nine, 10-minute episodes were written by the two along with Olivia Poulet, Mike O’Leary, Nida Manzoor and Davey

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched the series finale of “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.” After four seasons of sending up romantic comedy tropes, expanding the quintessential love triangle into a quadrangle, and delivering 157 original music videos, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” came to an end without a romantic resolution for Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom). “What