Television

The U.K.’s Film and TV Charity is rolling out a new COVID-19 Recovery Fund that will distribute up to £2 million ($2.5 million) to film, TV and cinema workers who have been hit hardest by the pandemic. The fund is designed to support those impacted financially by the crisis and who are most likely to

Hot off its announcement of strategic co-production alliances for film and TV with Gaumont and Spain’s Planeta and Amor y Lujo, Colombia’s Fidelio Films has linked up with Karlakum Film in Turkey. In its latest international collaboration, Fidelio partner Mauricio Leiva Cock is partnering with Esra Saydam, founder of Karlakum Film, to adapt Murat Menteş’

Albin Lewi, the artistic director of the international series festival Canneseries, unveiled the lineup for the event’s third edition Tuesday in Paris. The festival, which runs Oct. 9-14, will open with the world premiere of “La Flamme,” with star Jonathan Cohen in attendance. The event will close with Season 4 of “Call My Agent.” The

Spain’s Basque Country has a storied tradition this century of producing feature films which find international success at festivals and awards shows. Now, with a new generation of Spanish series making waves abroad, the region is shifting towards premium TV fiction production, backed by a top class talent pool and local broadcasters looking to get

Sony Pictures Television is the latest company to roll out a bespoke virtual event in October. SPT, which pulled out of Cannes TV market Mipcom in July, is set to debut a month-long showcase of its latest format offerings, beginning Oct. 1. The studio’s Virtual October Formats Fest follows ITV Studios, which unveiled plans for

People are raising money online for “Battlestar Galactica” actor Michael Hogan’s medical care after he had a serious fall in February. According to a GoFundMe page created on behalf of his wife Susan Hogan, the actor has been suffering from paralysis on his left side, memory loss and other health problems from a fall on

In today’s TV news roundup, HBO Max announces Kate Winslet and Priyanka Chopra Jonas as narrators for its series “A World of Calm,” and Dr. Anthony Fauci returns to “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah.” CASTING Kate Winslet and Priyanka Chopra Jonas will join HBO Max’s “A World of Calm,” a 10-episode series that combines

Former Writers Guild of America West president Patric Verrone and negotiating committee co-chair Betsy Thomas have won re-election to WGA West board seats. Incumbents Deric A. Hughes, Ashley Gable, Patti Carr, David Slack and Travis Donnelly also won re-election along with “Empire” and “Power” co-executive producer Eric Haywood. Other candidates were Katherine Beattie, Daniel Kunka, Rob

There’s never been a better time to binge “Schitt’s Creek.” Fresh off of the show’s historic night at the Emmy Awards, the final season is not only heading to Netflix, but the whole series will air on Comedy Central as well. Comedy Central will air all six seasons of “Schitt’s Creek” beginning Oct. 2, in

Hollywood unions have reached an agreement with the major studios on protocols to allow the industry to safely restart production amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The agreement was announced Monday, three and a half months after the unions issued their “Safe Way Forward” guidelines on June 12 following a June 1 “white paper” by the Industry-Wide

Netflix will not be returning to the planet of Thra. The streamer has canceled its fantasy puppet series “The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance” after only a single season, Variety has confirmed. The show was a prequel series to the original 1982 Jim Henson film, which tells the story of a group of young Gelflings who discover

Tim Pastore is stepping down as CEO of All3Media America, exiting the role after two years at the top of the “Fleabag” and “The Circle” production group. Pastore joined All3Media back in Sept. 2018, having previously served as president of original programming and production at National Geographic. “It’s been a privilege to lead such a

Natasha Lyonne and Alia Shawkat are developing a half-hour series at Amazon, Variety has learned exclusively. Titled “Desert People,” the series follows a family of Iraqi immigrants who run a gentleman’s club in Palm Springs. Shawkat will star as the parents’ adult daughter in LA who is coming to terms with her sexuality and identity

A particularly strange year in television and beyond got a fittingly strange Emmys show to match, with nominees awaiting the results from home while Jimmy Kimmel threw jokes into an empty Staples Center. But with a smart, lively production and a string of winners both expected and surprising, the 2020 Emmys ended up more memorable

Will Arnett’s horoscope must have told him that great news is heading his way. And that news is that his “Your Daily Horoscope” animated series has been picked up for a second season by Quibi, Variety has learned exclusively. The short-form content platform has ordered another 26-week run of the show, which airs five episodes per week.

Phillipa Soo and Jake McDorman have joined the cast of Hulu’s upcoming drama “Dopesick” in recurring guest star roles, Variety has learned exclusively. The series looks into the epicenter of America’s struggle with opioid addiction, taking viewers from a distressed Virginia mining community, to the hallways of the DEA, and to the opulence of “one

In her second career iteration as a talk-show host, Ellen DeGeneres has been buoyed by generalities. Her show’s success lies in the degree to which it could conceivably be for any viewer; other than an occasional tension thrumming under the show’s studious politeness when DeGeneres is at odds with a guest, the show is sanded

CAA has promoted theater agent Kevin Lin and multicultural business executive Ruben Garcia to co-heads of cultural business strategy. Lin and Garcia will work with CAA president Richard Lovett and the CAA board to strengthen companywide strategies that maximize creative opportunities and business growth for the agency’s diverse clients. “CAA is on a mission,” Lovett

The Emmys may have had a “Friends” reunion with Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow and Courteney Cox, but Tuesday night the celebrated sitcom is getting revamped for a new generation. Gabrielle Union is hosting an all-Black cast reading  of “Friends.” The star-studded Salli Richardson-Whitfield-directed event, taking place Tuesday from 6 p.m.-7 p.m. ET at Zoom Where

Quibi, the mobile subscription TV startup founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg, is exploring “strategic options” including a potential sale, the Wall Street Journal reported. Launched in April 2020, Quibi has raised about $1.75 billion from major studios and other investors and has banked dozens of original series from Hollywood A-listers. The major question is who, exactly,

The producers of this year’s 72nd Emmy Awards promised some unexpected moments, and it didn’t take long for that to come true. That is, if you classify “almost burning down the Staples Center” as unexpected. While announcing the very first Emmy on Sunday night with presenter Jennifer Aniston, host Jimmy Kimmel sprayed the envelope with

Starz is in early development on a drama series titled “The Venery of Samantha Bird,” Variety has learned exclusively. The project hails from writer and executive producer Anna Moriarty. Should the show get ordered to series, it would mark her first TV writing credit. Jessica Rhoades will also executive produce, with Jessica Yu attached to executive

“Mr. Mercedes” will live on, with Peacock officially picking up the Stephen King crime drama for its third season. The show previously aired on Audience Network and had been renewed for a third season, but Audience Network shutdown before the season aired. AT&T pulled the plug on Audience Network in January, leaving the show’s remaining

UPDATED: The Emmys have hit their lowest ever viewership once again. Per the Nielsen Live+Same Day fast nationals for Sunday night, the awards telecast averaged just a 1.2 rating in adults 18-49 and 6.1 million viewers. That is a drop off of approximately 12% from last year’s low in viewership and a drop off of

“The Walking Dead” is edging up, this October, to its tenth anniversary on the air. That decade of ratings dominance has seen our own world grow nihilistic enough to make the series feel more tonally appropriate to the mood of the moment. It has also seen AMC, which when “The Walking Dead” premiered was in

“The Bridge” is coming back to the Beeb. Germany’s ZDF Enterprises has licensed award-winning Nordic crime drama “The Bridge” to U.K. broadcaster BBC. All four seasons of the show will air simultaneously on BBC Four and BBC iPlayer. This is the second time that “The Bridge” has been licensed to the BBC. It originally showed

Nominations for the 48th annual British Documentary Awards, known as the Griersons, include episode two of Netflix docuseries “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness,” Waad Al-Kateab and Edward Watts’ Oscar-nominated and BAFTA-winning “For Sama,” and a best presenter nod for David Olusoga for “The Unwanted: The Secret Windrush Files.” The awards are given by The

Beta Film’s drama “The Turncoat,” which was just honored as best TV movie at the Seoul Intl. Drama Awards, has scored a series of territory deals, including the U.S. The German miniseries, based on the bestseller by Siegfried Lenz and directed by Florian Gallenberger, winner of the Oscar for best live-action short, was sold around

One of Spanish pay TV Movistar Plus’ most ambitious pushes into original, international TV yet, the 20th Century-spanning period drama “Tell Me Who I Am,” will headline Monday evening’s Movistar Gala at the San Sebastian Film Festival, screening episodes out of competition. Director Eduard Cortés will be joined on the red carpet by lead actors

Variety has confirmed its earlier report that HBO plans to begin filming Season 3 of “Succession” later this fall. The show won four Emmys Sunday night, including the top prize for drama, as well as awards for writing (creator Jesse Armstrong), directing (Andrij Parekh) and lead actor (Jeremy Strong). It won seven Emmys overall. “Succession”