Month: April 2021

Swiss doc company Lightdox has just acquired world sales rights to documentary “Little Palestine, Diary of a Siege” Abdallah Al-Khatib’s debut, co-produced by Films de Force Majeure and Bidayyat for Audiovisual Arts, premieres in Vision du Réel’s platform on April 21 in  its main International Feature Competition A Lebanon, France and Qatar co-production, the film follows the
0 Comments
Global Citizen, which was synonymous with advocacy-themed entertainment specials in the early months of the pandemic, will return in May with “Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World,” a special that will be shot at L.A.’s new So-Fi Stadium to run on major TV networks as well as streaming platforms. Selena Gomez will host
0 Comments
Screen Media has acquired North American rights to “The Birthday Cake,” a mob crime drama that boasts a murderer’s row of talent. The film may be Jimmy Giannopoulos’ feature directorial debut, but the director attracted such stars and veterans as Shiloh Fernandez, Ewan McGregor, Val Kilmer, Lorraine Bracco, William Fichtner, Ashley Benson, Luis Guzman, Paul
0 Comments
U.K. production company Shakespeare Sisters has acquired the film rights to the popular YA novel “The Upside of Unrequited,” written by best-selling scribe Becky Albertalli. The author’s debut novel, “Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda,” was adapted as the gay teen romantic comedy movie “Love, Simon,” which – distributed by 20th Century Fox – grossed
0 Comments
Best known is its early decades as a sports broker, services provider and producer of auteur films, from Woody Allen and Roman Polanski to Spain’s Isabel Coixet and Fernando Aranoa, few companies have powered so fast and bullishly into high-end drama series production than Spain’s Mediapro. That drive has seen The Mediapro Studio launch in
0 Comments
Sky Studios, the pay TV network’s production arm, has promoted Gabriel Silver – who oversaw the commissioning of “Chernobyl” – to the role of director of commissioning, drama in the U.K., overseeing a broad slate of ambitious projects. Silver, who is currently senior commissioning editor and executive producer at Sky Studios, takes up his new
0 Comments
“The Crown” executive producer Suzanne Mackie has landed one of the first projects out of her newly formed production banner, Orchid Pictures, scoring the option on author Alice Feeney’s highly anticipated thriller “Rock Paper Scissors.” Feeney is the New York Times-bestselling author behind “His & Hers,” which is also being adapted into a series by
0 Comments
Among its slate of MipTV presentations, The Wit hosted its first-ever Fresh TV Young Adult Content. After the last series of in-person sessions hosted by The Wit at MipCom, the importance and influence of YA drama was unmistakable, inspiring this year’s MipTV dedicated session hosted by The Wit founder-CEO Virginia Mouseler. “It’s our mission at
0 Comments
Channel 4 format “The Write Offs” is getting local versions in Australia and Denmark, marking the first international deals for the Banijay-sold format. Originally created by Shine TV for Channel 4, “The Write Offs” finds former “Great British Bake Off” host Sandi Toksvig helping a group of adults improve their literacy. Metronome Productions will make
0 Comments
Spain’s Black Panther Films and Chile’s Invercine Prods. (“Dignidad”) have joined forces to co-produce a gangster thriller series based on the eponymous bestseller “Matadero Franklin” (“Slaughterhouse Franklin”) by Simon Soto. The first season, starring Chile’s most bankable star, Alfredo Castro (“My Tender Matador”), comprises six episodes while a second season is already in the works.
0 Comments
Newen Connect, the distribution branch of Newen, the Paris-based international production and distribution company owned by French’s biggest TV network, the TF1 Group, has boarded a bevy of upscale international drama series, including “Lost Luggage,” “Memento Mori,” Christian” and “Agent K.” The Paris-based company will help finance and sell internationally these shows. “Since creating Newen
0 Comments
Toronto-based Syndicado Film Sales has snapped up world rights to the CPH:DOX competition entry “Oh, It Hertz!” by Norwegian helmer Gunnar Hall Jensen and unveiled the trailer exclusively to Variety. [embedded content] The film, selected for the Nordic:DOX competition program, is produced by UpNorth Film, the company behind the festival hits “iHuman” (2019), “Golden Dawn
0 Comments
Warner Bros. International Television Production (WBITVP) has swooped for global distribution rights to International Emmy-nominated series “How to Buy a Baby.” The digital original from Canadian public broadcaster CBC is produced by Toronto-based LoCo Motion Pictures and follows a couple struggling to conceive a baby. The series, created by Wendy Litner, provides a voyeuristic view
0 Comments
A virtual 40th anniversary reunion of the original “Dreamgirls” dream cast — Loretta Devine, Jennifer Holliday and Sheryl Lee Ralph — was among the highlights of a virtual benefit Sunday for Broadway Cares, held under the auspices of RWQuarantunes, Richard Weitz’s and Demi Weitz’s ongoing series of all-star charity fundraisers. The online gala stretched just
0 Comments
“The Nevers,” Joss Whedon’s steampunk brainchild and HBO’s latest original series, drew over 1.4 million viewers across linear telecasts and digital during its premiere on Sunday night. The show scored the best debut for a new original series on HBO Max and surpassed viewership for other popular shows on the streamer, including Misha Green’s horror
0 Comments