Month: October 2021

Bringing the television industry one step closer to its global business partners, RX France and Mip Markets, the entertainment content market giant, are launching the multifaceted, online TV-business platform OneMip, it was announced at Mipcom in Cannes. Building on the momentum created for online markets during the pandemic, the new destination will provide a year-round
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Sky Studios and leading Nordic producer Sagafilm have renewed their multi-year development and distribution deal following the recent success of the Icelandic drama series “Sisterhood.” Sagafilm entered a partnership with Sky Studios, the European production and commissioning arm for Sky Original, back in 2019. Under the renewed pact, Sky Studios will continue to co-develop Sagafilm’s
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Jan Mojto’s Munich-based sales and production powerhouse Beta Film, whose Mipcom slate includes “Sisi” and “La Fortuna,” has closed pre-sales across the Nordic Region and in the Netherlands’ for the PBS-ITV period drama series “Hotel Portofino.” The British show, created and written by Matt Baker, stars Natascha McElhone, whose credits include “Ronin,” “Californication” and “Designated
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Netflix has reinstated three employees, including a trans senior software engineer who criticized the streamer’s new Dave Chappelle comedy special, after suspending and investigating the group for crashing a meeting of its top executives. Terra Field, one of the suspended employees, shared her reinstatement by the company on her Twitter. Field also included a screenshot
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After the success of 2019’s “Suk Suk,” in which he examined the late blooming love of two elderly men, Hong Kong based filmmaker Ray Yeung is proposing to take an adjacent track in his upcoming film “Today… Tomorrow…” After the death of her partner, a 60-something lesbian finds herself at the mercy of the partner’s
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Fully booked production facilities are one bright spot in New York City’s commercial real estate landscape. “Speaking as a New Yorker, the pandemic proved the importance of this industry to the economic diversity of New York,” says Hal Rosenbluth, CEO of Kaufman Astoria Studios. The Kaufman Astoria facilities and all available borough full-service soundstages are
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Sony Pictures has acquired “No Hard Feelings,” an R-rated comedy package with Jennifer Lawrence attached to star. Along with Lawrence, the film will be directed by Gene Stupnitsky, a writer and co-executive producer on NBC’s “The Office.” “No Hard Feelings” will be Stupnitsky’s follow-up to the 2019 coming-of-age ensemble comedy “Good Boys,” his feature-length directorial
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Ricarlo Flanagan, an actor, rapper and stand-up comedian who was a semifinalist on “Last Comic Standing,” died over the weekend of COVID complications, his talent representative confirmed to Variety. He was 40. “Sadly this pandemic has taken the life of an extremely talented performer and even nicer human being. Ricarlo will be greatly missed,” Golfman told Variety.
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Back in the age when what we used to call the press was first discovering itself as “media,” there were unprecedented events — standoffs and uprisings, mass gatherings and cataclysms — that the new media world, transmitting and shaping the reality of those events, wound up making even more unprecedented. George Wallace, in 1963, standing
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In a surprise move, the Coachella festival has reversed its plan to require vaccinations for ticketholders to its April 2022 events, and instead will only require proof of a negative test taken within 72 hours of the event (although proof of full vaccination will work as well). Curiously, the announcement was made Tuesday afternoon via
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The rapper Tyga — real name: Michael Stevenson — was arrested Tuesday morning and booked by the L.A. Police Department’s Hollywood division after surrendering on charges of felony domestic violence. The LAPD confirmed the arrest in a tweet. He was subsequently seen leaving the Hollywood station after posting bail, which had been reported at $50,000.
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Alana, Este, and Danielle Haim of Haim, the Grammy-nominated California-cool girl rock trio, may have the hit song “Summer Girl” under their belt, but make no mistake: the band lives for fall. For the sisters, the season is synonymous with spontaneous drives up the Pacific Coast Highway, Joni Mitchell on repeat, and haunted hay rides.
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Taraji P. Henson has signed with CAA for representation in all areas, Variety has learned exclusively. She continues to be repped by M88, attorney Matt Johnson and The Lede Company. Henson is a star on both the big and small screen, with her iconic role as fearsome family matriarch Cookie Lyon on the Fox music drama “Empire”
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Bread Charity, a non-profit founded by Mustafa Sheikh (a.k.a. rapper Lil Mussie) with a mission to aid children living in poverty, has launched Bread Studios in Nipsey Hussle’s former middle school, Edwin Markham Middle School, in the Watts area of Los Angeles. The 1,000-foot studio features five free musical recording facilities aimed at assisting kids
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Andrew Lloyd Webber has made no secret of his distain for Hollywood’s movie adaptation of his long-running musical “Cats.” Though the cinematic version offered up the rarity of A-list talent like Taylor Swift, Judi Dench, Jennifer Hudson, Jason Derulo and James Corden pretending to be full-sized felines, “Cats” was widely panned and flopped at the
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Range Media Partners has launched a new international division and hired Oliver Riddle as head of international content. As head, Riddle will oversee the development and production of Range Media’s international film and television content, with an initial focus on content originating out of Europe. Riddle will join Range manager and producer Caroline Marques in
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All products and services featured by Variety are independently selected by Variety editors. However, Variety may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. Grateful Dead’s famous dancing bears carry whisks and pans in the iconic rock band’s new collaboration with kitchen
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Kacey Musgraves’ “Star-Crossed” album has been ruled ineligible to compete in the Grammys’ country category this year, according to a letter written to the Recording Academy by her record company president, who is vehemently protesting the decision. Musgraves was widely expected to contend as a country artist again, as she has in the past, but
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