In a competitive situation, Tracy Oliver has signed an overall film and television deal at Apple. Under the multi-year deal, Oliver and her her Tracy Yvonne Productions shingle will work to develop projects across film and TV with an emphasis on diverse and meaningful stories. Oliver is best known for co-writing the film “Girls Trip,”
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TV news is latching on to an old standby to help it gain attention in a new — and often less flashy — news cycle. Coverage of the court trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with causing the death of George Floyd, will surface Monday across many mainstream TV outlets. Some
One of Jessica Walter’s most memorable roles, of course, was the boozy matriarch Lucille Bluth on “Arrested Development.” Credit goes to “Arrested” creator Mitch Hurwitz for dreaming up the character, but Hurwitz marvels at the serendipity of getting the perfect actor in Walter to personify the role. Variety asked Hurwitz to reminisce about working with
After news broke on Thursday that the legendary Jessica Walter had died, celebrities took to social media to share condolences and fond memories of the award-winning actress. Walter, who was 80, was best known for her portrayal of Lucille Bluth in “Arrested Development.” Her career spanned more than six decades and included other iconic roles,
Molly Neuman is the President of Songtrust. She has previously held leadership roles at Kickstarter, A2IM, Rhapsody, and eMusic. She is on the Advisory Boards of Music Business Association, Women in Music, and has previously served on the boards of SoundExchange and A2IM. Her career in music began as the drummer in the ’90s indie
Krista Vernoff has renewed her multi-year overall deal at ABC Signature. Vernoff will continue to serve as president of Trip the Light Productions, with Alexandre Schmitt serving as president of production and development. In addition, Kasha Foster has been named Trip the Light’s director of diversity, equity, and inclusion. In this role she will work
The news of beloved and revered French filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier’s death has struck a chord in France and around the world with a flurry of cinephiles, filmmakers, critics, industry figures and talents remembering him on social media on Thursday. Aside from his prolific career as filmmaker, Tavernier (“Round Midnight,” “Coup de Torchon,” “A Sunday in
Billie Piper has joined the cast of Lena Dunham’s feature adaptation of “Catherine, Called Birdy” for Working Title and Amazon. Piper stars in the medieval coming-of-age comedy opposite “Fleabag’s” Andrew Scott and “Game of Thrones” breakout Bella Ramsey. The film, written and directed by Dunham, is in the early stages of production. “Catherine, Called Birdy”
The Mondo.NYC music and tech conference has announced its 2021 dates and schedule — which is currently a four-day virtual interactive meeting and livestream, although organizers are “hopeful” that conditions will allow at least some elements to take place in person. The conference is produced by the longtime organizers of the CMJ Music Marathon. “Navigating
Fox’s Tubi streaming service has nabbed streaming rights to the 1990s children’s hit “Barney & Friends” starting April 9. In a deal with 9 Story Distribution, Tubi will have rights to the show’s first six seasons. It will become the exclusive home to Seasons 7-9 of “Barney,” which features future stars including Selena Gomez and
Keri Putnam, a fixture in Hollywood thanks to her longtime shepherding of America’s preeminent film festival, is resigning her post as CEO of the Sundance Institute. Putnam has served in the role for over a decade, guiding the organization’s numerous programs and initiatives to fund and uplift indie filmmaking and marginalized voices, as well as
Jessica Walter, an Emmy-winning actress known for her work as the stalker in Clint Eastwood’s “Play Misty for Me,” and for the TV series “Arrested Development” and “Archer,” died Wednesday in New York. She was 80. Walter received an Emmy nomination in 2005 for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy for playing the manipulative alcoholic
Paradigm has promoted five staffers to agent status and tapped Gersh alum Michael Romero-LoSasso as the talent agency tries to reposition itself after a year of hard losses, layoffs and the sale of its music division. Paradigm has upped Olivia Falletti, Sam Fischer, Lindsay Hatcher, Dahlton Hubbard and Phoebe Schmidt to agents. Romero-LoSasso joins the
President Joe Biden held his first televised news conference Thursday with a limited amount of journalists, starting off with the good news on America’s progress with COVID-19 vaccinations. “By my one-hundredth day in office, we will have administered 200 million shots in people’s arms. It’s ambitious, and no other country has done it,” Biden said
Nominees for the 93rd Academy Awards are a reminder that Oscar is like a Rorschach test: It means different things to different people. And in the 21st century, there is a growing gap between awards and the public. For decades, Oscar’s best picture winner was often the year’s top box office hit, including “Gone With
Ahead of Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey testifying before the House Energy & Commerce Committee this afternoon, the RIAA, the National Music Publishers Association, the American Association of Independent Music, Songwriters of North America and the Music Artists Coalition have jointly penned a letter to committee leadership detailing how Twitter has “failed to meet the basic
Alex Castro, a three-time Emmy nominee and a former producer of “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” has joined Variety as VP of video. Castro will lead Variety‘s fast-growing video operation as the venerable entertainment news brand expands the scope of its video production for Variety.com and other digital and TV platforms. He will report to Variety
Paul Feig and Lionsgate are teaming with Sharon Horgan and Clelia Mountford’s Merman to adapt the hit BBC Two series “Motherland” for the U.S. market. “Grace and Frankie” writer Julieanne Smolinski is adapting the show, which is in early development. Horgan, who co-created and co-wrote the BBC show, is not part of the writing team
It doesn’t take long for “The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers” to both acknowledge and gently reject its roots. Opening on a middle school hockey tryout with all the flashy pomp and circumstances of a primetime NHL game, the new Disney Plus series from Steve Brill, Cathy Yuspa and Josh Goldsmith makes it clear that the
Jason Segel has been cast as Paul Westhead in the HBO series about the Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s. The untitled series was ordered at HBO in December 2019. It is described as chronicling the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers, one of sports’ most revered and dominant dynasties, in
“Everyone Is Doing Great,” the comedy created by “One Tree Hill” alumni James Lafferty and Stephen Colletti, is heading to Paramount Plus outside the U.S. The ViacomCBS-backed SVOD has picked up streaming rights to the eight-part Hulu series for the Nordics, Latin America and Australia — a deal that marks the show’s first international sale.
BookClub, a virtual book-club platform set to debut this spring, has hired entertainment marketing veteran Pamela Levine as its CMO. Levine most recently was president of worldwide theatrical marketing for 20th Century Fox (now part of Disney) and prior to that served as HBO’s chief marketing officer. Before joining HBO in 2011, she had worked
Attention, Cloud 9 shoppers: if you weren’t expecting Amy to return quite so soon, you weren’t the only one. “Superstore” star and executive producer America Ferrera didn’t anticipate her character Amy would head back to St. Louis during the same season she left for a corporate gig at the big-box retailer’s headquarters in California, but
Bo Burnham has been cast as Boston Celtics star Larry Bird in HBO’s upcoming series about the Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s. The untitled series was ordered at HBO in December 2019. It is described as chronicling the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers, one of sports’ most revered and
The Women in Animation (WIA) 2021 spring mentorship program will be taking applications starting March 31, with a special focus on mentoring women of color through its Mentor Circles series. In a new development, the WIA mentorship program is collaborating for the first time with Black N’Animated, LatinX in Animation, and Rise Up Animation to directly advance career opportunities for
Netflix just tacked on another Oscar nomination to its already record-setting haul. The streamer announced that it has acquired worldwide rights to the Academy Award-nominated live action short film “Two Distant Strangers” from directors Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe. “Two Distant Strangers” will be debut on Netflix on April 9. “When we set out
When the 20th annual Movies for Grownups Awards air March 28 on PBS, the winners will include career achievement honoree George Clooney, who turns 60 this year and whom AARP exec Tim Appelo described as “a slam dunk argument against ageism.” Hoda Kotb will host the event on “Great Performances,” the fourth time that the
On Sunday night, the Writers Guild Awards handed out its screenwriting prizes in a virtual setting, signaling a historic moment for women at the Oscars, specifically the screenplay awards. Emerald Fennell won best original screenplay for her revenge drama “Promising Young Woman” over Oscar-nominated films “Judas and the Black Messiah” (Will Berson, Shaka King, Keith
Cynthia Erivo knows that simply trying to impersonate Aretha Franklin for her starring role as the Queen of Soul in “Genius: Aretha” just wasn’t going to cut it. “The job is to transform and to find as much of the essence of this person to tell her story,” Erivo, who earned her first Oscar nomination
Andra Day was just 11 years old when she first heard Billie Holiday’s iconic anti-lynching song “Strange Fruit.” She recalls “prostrating before the speaker, just listening. It was scary and I just felt overwhelming sadness.” Even at that young age, Day says she wanted to help Holiday and “whatever it was she was singing about.”