The speechwriter who helped President Barack Obama pen his stirring address memorializing the victims of the Charleston church massacre will release a memoir about his time working in the White House. Sugar23 Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books & Media, has acquired “Grace: A President, His Speechwriter, and Ten Days in the Battle
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Laurence Fishburne is set to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2021 edition of the SCAD aTVfest. The “Black-ish” star and executive producer is only the second actor to receive the honor from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), after Phylicia Rashad was awarded the comparable Outstanding Achievement in Television prize during
Kenan Thompson, the longtime cast member of “Saturday Night Live” and “All That” alum, has been tapped to embark viewers on a wild celebratory ride at the ever-slimy Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, airing live on Saturday, March 13, at 7:30 p.m. ET. For the first time in its more than 30-year history, the goopy, fun
Universal Music Group has announced the promotion of Will Tanous to Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, effective immediately. He will continue to serve as a member of the company’s executive management board. In his new position, Tanous, who will continue to report to UMG Chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge, will retain his current responsibilities and add new
Dolly Parton has reimagined her classic 1980 song “9 to 5” as “5 to 9” for a Squarespace commercial celebrating office workers getting their entrepreneurial side hustles going after hours. The minute-long spot, already available for view now, is set to have its broadcast premiere during the Super Bowl telecast on Sunday. Oscar winning filmmaker
Italy’s CAM Film and Fremantle’s The Apartment have teamed up to acquire rights to bestselling Italian author Carlo Rovelli’s “Helgoland,” an origin story about quantum physics, with plans to turn the book into a high-end TV series. A bestseller in Italy, “Helgoland” will soon be published in the U.K. and elsewhere around world. It’s the story
Eric Pertilla is joining Endeavor Content to become its vice president of television development and production. He was most recently director of original content at CBS All Access for the past two years, where he oversaw Richard Linklater series “That Animal Rescue Show” and led development of “The Twilight Zone,” “Star Trek: Discovery,” “The Good
Jason Alexander has an intriguing assignment this Sunday: He’s got 60 seconds to convince Super Bowl audiences they need a new kind of Tide detergent — and he will have to complete the bulk of his assignment without saying a word. Alexander, the actor known for his roles in “Seinfeld,” “Pretty Woman” and on Broadway,
Satellite radio giant SiriusXM saw a 6% revenue gain and added 279,000 subscribers in its satellite radio business, although it faced “headwinds” with its Pandora unit, which lost 63,000 subscribers and recorded a $976 million impairment charge, due primarily to royalty payment costs. The company had warned investors of the charge last month in its
If you want to know who’s in line to be the next fashion superstar, it helps to ask a current one. Christopher John Rogers, the CFDA’s 2020 American Emerging Designer of the Year, has his money on Edvin Thompson, whom Rogers calls “undoubtedly one of New York’s most promising stars.” Thompson landed the cover of
They’re more than friends, they’re family. That’s how Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig, the writers and stars of “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar,” see not just their creative relationship but their connection that spans decades. “I think it’s like the lightning bolt of finding a marriage partner,” says Mumolo. “I feel lucky
When Cedric the Entertainer appeared in commercials for Bud Light about two decades ago, they “made me more famous than any TV show or movie,” he recalls. The first one “was off the Richter.” Anheuser-Busch InBev is hoping its next ad for the beer causes a similar metaphorical earthquake during this Sunday’s broadcast of the
The Los Angeles-based music and technology company Create Music Group has launched a beta version of Create Carbon, a credit card that it says will give music creators the ability to access their royalties as soon as they’re earned, rather waiting to receive them via regular monthly payouts. The company prides itself on showing artists
In lieu of a New Years Resolution, Paloma Elsesser has her word of the year: joy. Following the chaos of a year that robbed us of that very emotion and then some, the IMG model says she has been prioritizing her happiness. Right now, as we chat over the phone, that happiness looks a lot
James Graham, creator of hit ITV, AMC and Sony show “Quiz,” and writer of Emmy nominated “Brexit: The Uncivil War,” has created crime drama “Sherwood” for U.K. broadcaster BBC. Inspired in part by real events, the six-part series is set in the Nottinghamshire mining village where Graham grew up. The contemporary series sees two murders
AMC Networks and Toronto-based Shaftesbury have entered into a new strategic partnership that, through an investment in Shaftesbury, will grant AMC access to the production company’s slate and expand its content and development capabilities in Canada. The partnership, which builds on AMC and Shaftesbury’s existing production ties, was forged with the intention of growing Shaftesbury’s
Spain’s Bendita Film Sales has picked up worldwide sales rights to coming-of-age drama “The Saint of the Impossible,” the feature debut of Swiss director Marc Wilkins. Variety has had exclusive access to the film’s trailer. Based on a novel by Dutch writer and New York Times contributor Arnon Grunberg, “Saint” toplines Peru’s Magaly Solier (“The
Twenty-one projects have been selected to take part in the upcoming Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum’s Work-in-Progress section. It will be operated virtually alongside the Hong Kong FilMart that runs March 15-17, 2021. The ten documentary and eleven fiction film projects were selected from the 129 submissions, organizers said on Tuesday. The WIP section, open
Emmy and Tony winner Hal Holbrook, an actor best known for his role as Mark Twain, whom he portrayed for decades in one-man shows, died on Jan. 23. He was 95. Holbrook’s personal assistant, Joyce Cohen, confirmed his death to the New York Times on Monday night. Holbrook played the American novelist in a solo
A century ago, Winston Churchill made the case that “history is written by the victors,” but here in the year 2021, even — and sometimes especially — those crushed beneath the boot of authority have found ways to make their side heard. Every so often, with time, the underdog version of events wins out, putting
The sad spectacle of Brexit over the last five years has led many casual news-watchers to over-idealize the European Union, even as its uniform industry regulations and injunctions weigh harshly on a lot of innocent parties. A view from the other side comes in “Luzzu,” an honest, affecting slab of working-class portraiture, altogether bracing with
Jen Richards has joined the team at CBS’ “Clarice.” The transgender actor, writer, producer and activist was first recommended by GLAAD’s director of trans representation, Nick Adams, to consult on the show, but she will be appearing on-screen, as well. “All I can say is that the character intersects with Clarice’s storyline in a way
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched the Jan 25 episode of “The Bachelor.” Last week’s episode left viewers with Matt James’ commitment to getting to the bottom of the bullying between contestants. Katie Thurston brought the drama to Matt’s attention after Anna Redman circulated a rumor that newcomer Brittany Galvin
Jamie Tarses, the TV executive and producer who was the first woman to head a Big Three network entertainment division, was remembered Monday by former colleagues and television executives as a gifted, whip-smart “force of nature” who forged a path for others in a male-dominated industry. Tarses died Monday at the age of 56. Her
Silentó, best known for his 2015 hit “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),” has been arrested and charged with the alleged murder of his cousin, the DeKalb County Police Department confirmed to Variety. The rapper, whose real name is Ricky Hawk, is currently being held in the DeKalb County jail. Representatives for Silentó did not immediately respond
Rebecca Hall’s feature directorial debut “Passing” dives into the nuance of racial identity and the complex realities of racial passing, with Variety’s Sundance review touting Hall’s work: “This radically intimate exploration of the desperately fraught concept of ‘passing’ — being Black but pretending to be white — ought to be too ambitious for a first-time filmmaker,
Warner Bros. has announced that “Those Who Wish Me Dead,” a neo-Western film starring Angelina Jolie, has set its release date for May 14. As part of Warner Bros.’ 2021 lineup, the film will debut both in theaters and on HBO Max. Based on Michael Koryta’s 2014 novel of the same name, the film is
The enigma, at the beginning, is that the dog makes no noise. Unless you count the tinkling of his bone-shaped name-tag as he snuffles doggishly around the yard. Neighbors come by, politely, to complain about his whimpering, and his owner acknowledges the problem apologetically, but if he’s noisy, it happens offscreen. It’s that way with
If you had to say what the biggest difference is between the porn industry of the 1970s and the porn industry of today, you’d probably start with the obvious and overwhelming fact that people used to watch porn in grungy movie theaters and now access it on the Internet. You might talk about how even
Being a Hollywood assistant has always been a tough gig, but the COVID-19 pandemic has only made it tougher on the industry’s thousands of support staffers. According to the second annual #PayUpHollywood survey, which polled over a thousand support staffers, nearly 80% of respondents reported earning less than $50,000 in 2020, a 14.7% increase from