In this week’s International TV Newswire: spring festivals and markets feel Le Crunch, Warner Bros. steps up Spanish scripted, Nordisk Film and Fantefilm join forces, “All Star Driving School” steers into Mexico. June Builds as a Virtual Market Smackdown Le Crunch used to refer to the France-England rugby match. Now, it pretty much sums up Europe’s virtual
Month: April 2020
Rapper Travis Scott has grabbed the “Fortnite” crown for drawing the biggest live audience in the hit game’s history on Thursday night. Over 12.3 million concurrent “Fortnite” players participated live in Scott’s “Astronomical” virtual performance, an all-time record, according Epic Games. The prodigious turnout, no doubt, was helped by stay-at-home quarantine conditions in many parts
In early March, one day before cameras were set to roll in Milan on upcoming Netflix Italian original “Zero,” about the lives of black Italian youths, producer Nicola De Angelis and the streaming giant decided to halt production on the show due to the coronavirus outbreak. Italy was not yet on lockdown, but De Angelis
It’s not hard to see what country fans are enjoying about Hot Country Knights, the group that subsists on 1990s tropes and nothing but 1990s country tropes. The band — whose debut album, “The K Is Silent,” arrives May 1 — would seem to be the brainchild of post-’90s country star Dierks Bentley, who will
Universal Music Group’s merchandise division Bravado is releasing a line of artist-branded face masks. Under the banner “We’ve Got You Covered,” the reusable, washable, cloth face masks are available via a special e-commerce site, www.wegotyoucoverednow.com, for the very affordable price of $15. Billie Eilish, Justin Bieber, The Weeknd, Willie Nelson and Bob Marley are among
Switzerland’s Close Up Films, producer of the Participant Media-backed Toronto-premiered “Sing Me a Song” and co-producer of high-profile Cannes title “The Swallows of Kabul,” is developing a new production, “The Gift” (“Faiseuse de Secret”). Set to be presented on Saturday April 25 as part of an RTS Prize: Documentary Perspectives showcase at Visions du Réel
When “Wake Up on Mars” director Dea Gjinovci read a 2017 New Yorker article about a pair of teenage refugees suffering from a mysterious coma-like condition, the young director knew she had to make contact. Though the article had already prompted a significant share of media interest from more established institutions, Gjinovci intuited different shades
MADRID – While Spain’s audiovisual industry anxiously awaits federal relief measures to be approved this coming Tuesday, April 28, the Comunidad de Madrid – the Madrid Region – has announced a €1 million ($1.08 million) investment to generate €40million ($43.14 million) of financial aid for the film, TV and performing arts sectors. Each will receive
NBC Sports has turned to digital and social venues to rouse sports fans who can’t get their fix. The NBCUniversal-owned unit has been trying to galvanize fans with the hashtag #onehometeam, under which it distributes everything from a scavenger hunt to an invitation for fitness videos to people who might follow events associated with NBC
Verizon posted first-quarter 2020 revenue of $31.6 billion, down 1.6%, citing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic for missing Wall Street expectations. The top-line decline primarily resulted from “sharp reductions” in wireless equipment revenue, after social distancing measures were adopted in March — prompting Verizon to close 70% of its retail stores. Verizon estimated COVID-19
Thousands of members of Israel’s entertainment industry convened in Tel Aviv Thursday night for a socially distanced protest calling on the government to provide desperately needed aid. The event began with a laser light show depicting “150” in huge numbers inside a ticking clock, a reference to the 150,000 entertainment industry workers in the country.
Apple CEO Tim Cook made a surprise appearance on BBC’s “Big Night In” fundraiser on Thursday to reveal the company is waiving fees on charity single “Times Like These.” Speaking remotely from his home, Cook said the tech giant is dismissing all royalties on the single, which is a cover of the Foo Fighters song
MADRID — Renamed Conecta Fiction Reboot, the on-site fourth edition of the Latin America-Europe TV co-production forum, a vibrant and fast-growing event on the market calendar, will take place in Spain’s Pamplona over Sept. 2-3, unspooling as a hybrid on-site and virtual event. Moved from its traditional mid-June slot – this year’s event was originally
Even Prince William can’t escape the sensation of Netflix docuseries “Tiger King.” The British royal appeared in a two-minute sketch on BBC’s “Big Night In” fundraising special Thursday evening, where he was in a Zoom call with actor Stephen Fry, playing his iconic “Blackadder” character, Lord Melchett. Prince William at one point asked, “Have you
“Robert the Bruce” sounds like it could be the title of a Mel Brooks parody of a rousingly high-minded chain-mail-and-Lochaber-axe medieval hero epic. (It’s a sword clank away from something like “Bruce the Lionhearted.”) I don’t mean to come off as ignorant or disrespectful, since Robert the Bruce was, of course, the 14th-century Scottish king
SAG-AFTRA has told 160,000 members that its staff is working with employers to determine the specifics of how television actors are going to be paid — if at all — during the production shutdown caused by the cononavirus pandemic. The union posted a message late Thursday on its website as a “COVID-19 Update” — admitting
Afrobeats superstar Davido is putting some muscle into the fight against Covid-19, enlisting R&B standout Summer Walker and producer London On Da Track for a visual to the track “Dolce & Gabbana.” Co-produced with Nigerian producer Kiddominant, it comes from Davido’s sophomore album “A Good Time.” In it, all three are decked in head-to-toe D&G.
The Production Music Conference set for fall has been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Production Music Association announced Thursday. The annual confab for the global production music community was set to take place Oct. 5 but will now wait it out till fall 2021. The show will go on for the conferences’s Mark
Penned in by stay-at-home measures to fend off a pandemic, America’s audiences are turning to their television screens for comfort and distraction. Netflix, for one, saw an estimate-crushing 15.8 million jump in paid subscribers in its most recently reported quarter, more than twice as many as the streaming company expected. It is not the only
There are more “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.” Original director André Øvredal, Guillermo del Toro, and writers, brothers Dan and Kevin Hageman, are all returning for a sequel. Paramount Pictures and Entertainment One will co-finance “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark 2.” The second installment will be based on a story by
In today’s film news roundup, Maisie Williams’ “The Owners” and crime thriller “Chameleon” get acquired and Adam Alleca’s sci-fi project “Singular” is in the works at Netflix. ACQUISITIONS RLJE Films has acquired the North American rights to the thriller “The Owners,” starring Maisie Williams (“Game of Thrones”), Jake Curran, Ian Kenny, Andrew Ellis, Sylvester McCoy
The good folks of the Parks and Recreation Department in Pawnee, Indiana are back for more hijinks, well, at least for a little while. NBC has announced that the cast of its iconic sitcom “Parks and Rec” is set to reunite for a half-hour scripted special airing on April 30, in aid of COVID-19. Almost
Sony/ATV Music Publishing has made an incredibly generous financial donation to organizations representing working songwriters: the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) and Songwriters of North America (SONA). The two will split $500,000 and provide additional support to their constituents struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic and shifting needs in the music marketplace. Both organizations will
Many of Fox Sports’ on-air anchors and analysts will take a temporary pay cut, largely in tandem with compensation decreases among top executives at parent company Fox Corporation, which is, like many other media conglomerates, grappling with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on operations. Fox Corp. said Wednesday that top executives, including Rupert Murdoch
The Emmys must go on, and the New York chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences will become the first to hand out awards in this current shelter-at-home environment. The 63rd annual New York Emmy Awards will be announced on Saturday via a pre-produced webcast that could serve as a template for
In today’s TV news roundup, Hulu released the trailer for “The Great,” and AMC dropped a teaser for “Quiz.” DATES Paramount Network has announced “Yellowstone” Season 3 will premiere on June 21. The series follows the Dutton family and the conflicts that arise along the shared borders of their large cattle ranch. This season welcomes
Taylor Swift was not pleased when fans began alerting her Thursday to the impending release of a live album from her early days as a recording artist, taking to social media to slam Big Machine for being “tasteless” and showing “shameless greed” in exploiting her catalog by putting out “Live from Clear Channel Stripped 2008”
Hanno Basse, former chief technology officer of 20th Century Fox Film, has landed at Microsoft’s Azure, where he’s the tech company’s liaison to the media and entertainment industry. Basse, who joined Microsoft last month, is CTO of Azure Media and Entertainment. Based in L.A., his charter is to work with Hollywood studios, television networks and
Fox Entertainment has brought on SideCar, its content development accelerator, and writer and executive producer Rob Long to develop the multi-camera comedy, “The Texanist.” Variety exclusively learned in January that Fox was in the very early stages of developing the series, which is based on a long-running advice column from writer David Courtney. According to
Beyoncé’s BeyGOOD has partnered with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s #startsmall to provide $6 million in funding to mental health and personal wellness services as the coronavirus pandemic continues to throttle the country. The mental health initiative includes a key national partnership with UCLA. BeyGOOD has also partnered with the National Alliance in Mental Illness, which
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