Month: November 2020

DJ Cassidy’s popular “Pass the Mic” webcast series is going to TV on Thanksgiving weekend… and going totally ’80s. BET’s Nov. 29 broadcast of “The Soul Train Awards” will be immediately followed by a second prime-time special that will bring Cassidy’s all-star medleys, usually seen via Twitch and YouTube, to a network for the first
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Newly-launched Taiwan production company Screenworks Asia is to be involved in a wide range of screen content. But it is to be particularly involved in development of international projects. The company was given its official launch in July and is jointly backed by quasi-government organization Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA) and locally-based streaming platform Catchplay.
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Disney Plus is barely a year-old streaming service, but it already has cornered a particular sub-genre of unscripted programming that should surprise no one. Shows like “Inside Disney, “One Day at Disney” and “Marvel’s Hero Project” offer in-depth looks at the creative minds behind the Walt Disney Company and its extraordinary impact on the world,
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SAG-AFTRA and Actors’ Equity have settled a bitter jurisdictional dispute over which should cover the streaming of live events. The performers unions announced the settlement late Thursday. Actors’ Equity, which represents 51,000 theater actors and stage managers, had accused SAG-AFTRA of raiding its turf and undercutting its contracts by negotiating lower-paying deals with theaters for
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In today’s TV news roundup, ABC unveiled the premiere dates for its early 2021 scripted series, and NBC announced details for its annual “Christmas in the Rockefeller Center” special. CASTING Starz cast Luis Guzmán as a guest star in the second season of crime drama “Hightown.” Guzmán will portray Jorge Cuevas, Frankie’s (Amaury Nolasco) charmingly
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Warner Bros. didn’t have a lot of good options. After the studio released Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” in September to lackluster ticket sales, it was hesitant to unveil another hundred-million dollar movie in the middle of a pandemic. And yet, just three months after “Tenet” tried and largely failed to reignite moviegoing, Warner Bros. had to
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A proposal to provide a federal backstop for pandemic insurance ran into stiff opposition from some House Republicans during a hearing on Thursday. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., authored the Pandemic Risk Insurance Act, which would provide up to $750 billion in federal backing to allow insurers to issue policies that would cover losses from COVID
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Local stories will play an increasingly important role amid the accelerating globalization and exponential growth in OTT platforms, says Aileen Li, winning produce at the Golden Horse Film Project Promotion. “There have been lots of talks about co-production in the past, but I feel that local stories will take on a leading role. Characteristics of
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Taiwan’s Studio76 is joining hands with Singapore’s MediaCorp launch a new script competition to be launched in 2021. The mission is to boost Chinese-language storytelling in the pan-Asia region. Unveiled at the Taiwan Creative Content Fest, “Rising Stories” will begin accepting applications from Feb. 1, 2021 to April 15, 2021. Five winners will be selected,
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The Sundance Institute is honoring “The Forty-Year-Old Version” filmmaker Radha Blank with the 2020 vanguard award. The award honors the artistic achievement of her feature film directorial debut, “The Forty-Year-Old Version,” which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival — where it earned her a directing award — and was developed at the Institute’s Labs.
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It’s Cris Abrego’s time to shine. The Endemol Shine North America CEO has been tapped to lead Banijay’s North America and Latin America operations. Abrego will now hold the title of Banijay’s chairman of the Americas, as well as president/CEO of Endemol Shine Holdings. He reports to Banijay CEO Marco Bassetti, who is putting his
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ViacomCBS is looking ahead to a post-coronavirus world, one in which approximately 70% of its more-than-20,000 employees will work at least partly from home, according to an internal memo from CEO Bob Bakish that Variety has obtained exclusively. The move toward a hybrid work model allows staffers more flexibility, but it also has financial advantages.
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ViacomCBS’ MTV Entertainment Group is launching Culture Code, a diversity, equity and inclusion orientation for its staff, talent and production partners, in a bid to “construct a communal set of values, understanding and baseline cultural norms to create a more inclusive and welcoming creative community.” A slew of social justice groups have partnered with the
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Bunim-Murray Prods. chairman/CEO Gil Goldschein is leaving after a 20-year run at the pioneering unscripted production company. Goldschein, who was elevated to the supremo role in April 2015, said he plans to pursue other opportunities “at the intersection of technology and entertainment.” Goldschein will remain with Bunim-Murray (also abbreviated as BMP) until Feb. 15, 2021
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