Television

After 13 years at the premium cabler, president of HBO Films, Miniseries and Cinemax Len Amato is departing. The move comes as Cinemax continues to phase out original programming and HBO focuses on acquired film content. All drama programming is being consolidated under HBO exec VP of programming Francesca Orsi. According to a source familiar with

Peacock has landed the series reboot of “Clueless” centered on the character Dionne for development, Variety has learned exclusively. The untitled comedy series is described a baby pink and bisexual blue-tinted, tiny sun-glasses wearing, oat milk latte and Adderall-fueled look at what happens when queen bee Cher disappears and her lifelong number two Dionne steps

Anthony Anderson’s Hollywood career has been consistently characterized by successful pivots, from scene-stealing comedic roles to searing dramatic turns to effervescent hosting duties and many disparate points in between. But even he couldn’t have predicted his latest foray into the unforeseen, as the first person to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Netflix has ordered a documentary feature based on the life and career of civil rights attorney Ben Crump, Variety has learned. The yet-to-be-titled documentary will be directed and produced by Nadia Hallgren, who recently received two Emmy nominations for her work on Netflix’s Michelle Obama documentary “Becoming.” Kenya Barris will produce via Khalabo Ink Society, while Roger

Two years ago, Ivana Mikovic—former COO of public broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia—took a look at the booming local TV landscape and saw an opportunity for a bold new venture. Partnering with Boban Jevtic, the former head of Film Center Serbia, she hatched a plan to build a sprawling, state-of-the-art film studio on the outskirts

Not many companies can say they won an Academy Award with their first film. But Lion Forge Animation’s Carl Reed and David Steward II, who formed the U.S.’s only Black-owned animation studio last year to address a lack of representation in the genre, took home the hardware in February for the studio’s involvement in animated

Marie Moore has been named senior vice president of communications of Warner Bros. Global Kids, Young Adults and Classics division, Variety has learned exclusively. Moore will report jointly to Tom Ascheim, president of the division, and Johanna Fuentes, Warner Bros. executive vice president of corporate communications and public affairs. She will begin in her new role

Change and growth play pivotal roles in Season 3 of Netflix’s original series “Ozark.” The show, recently renewed for a fourth and final season, features a divergence from its signature color palette as well as moments of integral character development. Members of the “Ozark” cast and crew joined Variety‘s Marc Malkin in the Variety Streaming Room

Speed and star-power: Those are the two clear goals for the DC Fandome virtual event on Aug. 22, which released its full schedule Friday. Over 100 hours of content stretching across the film, TV and comic book properties from DC Entertainment will unfold over a 24-hour period on the Saturday event, including panels featuring the

The most unusual of years for the Emmy Awards will include the most unusual of tasks: This year, everyone nominated for a Creative Arts Emmy has been asked to pre-tape an acceptance speech. In a letter to nominees, the Television Academy has asked all of the contenders to record an acceptance speech as if they

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced Thursday that it has named Ali Sar as president, replacing Lorenzo Soria, who was halfway through a two-year term when he died suddenly last Friday. Sar has been a member of the HFPA for more than 35 years and most recently served as vice president. “We were shocked by

In today’s TV news roundup, VH1 revealed a first look at “RuPaul’s Drag Race: Vegas Rescue,” and Netflix released a trailer for Season 2 of “Trinkets.” DATES The third season of “Big Hero 6: The Series” will premiere Sept. 21 on Disney XD and DisneyNow. The new season will feature two 11-minute stories and follow

For the first time in “The Bachelor” franchise history, Chris Harrison is stepping aside as host — but only for a handful of episodes, as Harrison is heading into quarantine as a safety precaution, after briefly leaving the set of the upcoming season of “The Bachelorette.” Former “Bachelorette” star JoJo Fletcher, who starred on Season

Apple reportedly is teaming with ViacomCBS for the first bundle tied to Apple TV Plus, which would offer a steep discount of about 50% for customers who buy CBS All Access and Showtime together. Per a Bloomberg report, subscribers to Apple TV Plus (which costs $4.99) will be able to get both CBS All Access

The Writers Guild of America East has reached a deal to represent workers at NBC News Studios, resolving a labor complaint the union had filed earlier this year. The guild had accused NBC of union-busting when it shut down Peacock Productions, the network’s in-house documentary unit. Workers at Peacock Productions had fought a four-year battle

Janet Mock, the writer, director and producer of “Pose,” will receive the African American Film Critics Association Adcolor Breakout Creative of the Year Award. She will be honored during the AAFCA TV Honors virtual awards show on Aug. 22. Mock became one of the best-known advocates for transgender women of color, through her 2014 memoir

HBO has set an all-star lineup of featured performers in the adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ “Between the World and Me.” The HBO version’s cast will include Angela Bassett, Oprah Winfrey, “Black Lives Matter” founder Alicia Garza, Joe Morton, Phylicia Rashad, The Roots’ Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter, Courtney B. Vance, Pauletta Washington, and Susan Kelechi Watson.

Fox is launching its first digital short series. The network has given an eight-episode series order to “Bucket List Bistro,” hosted by Christy Carlson Romano (“Kim Possible”). The show, premieres Thursday, Aug. 27, will run on Hulu and Fox’s YouTube channel. New episodes will continue to roll out every Thursday through the fall. “Bucket List

Kevin Hart is getting his “Celebrity Game Face” on once again. E! has ordered five more episodes of the Hart-hosted quarantine game show, which was previously a one-off special on July 6. These five new episodes will continue to see Hart and his wife his wife Eniko go up against four other celebrity couples in

One of the most infamous events in “Star Wars” history is getting resurrected on Disney Plus, through a lens made of Lego. “The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special” will debut on the streaming service on Nov. 17. Set after the events of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” the special continues the partnership between Lucasfilm

The Comedy Central shows “The Other Two” and “South Side” are moving to HBO Max. In a deal between Comedy Central Productions and the streaming service, the first seasons of both shows will become available on HBO Max in 2021, with future seasons debuting exclusively on HBO Max instead of Comedy Central. In addition, HBO

Approximately seven weeks into the coronavirus pandemic “Good Trouble’s” Joanna Johnson made a deal with Freeform for a two-night special event series about relationships strained by social distancing. After about another two months, this series, “Love in the Time of Corona,” was filming in its actors’ homes. Filming this way, with only a few crew

Fresh off the considerable success of her Netflix action feature “The Old Guard,” Gina Prince-Bythewood is eyeing up more projects in the TV space. The “Love & Basketball” director and her producing partner Reggie Rock Bythewood have inked a multi-year first-look TV deal with Touchstone Television, the recently rebranded Disney unit which used to be

U.K. public service broadcaster ITV has upped current director of creative diversity Ade Rawcliffe to the position of group director of diversity and inclusion. Rawcliffe will report to the group CEO, Carolyn McCall, and will be a member of the management board. With this appointment, ITV becomes the first Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100

Taiwan’s ambition to ramp up production for overseas Chinese-speaking audiences has been given another boost by Studio76, a newish firm with expanding plans. The Taipei-based company has had a busy two-year history producing original web shows and short dramas. It is now planning a slate of new titles with hybrid storytelling, both on-screen and in

European broadcasting group RTL, whose bouquet of companies include “American Idol” producer Fremantle, has seen group revenue down 16.4% to €2.7 billion ($3.3 billion) in the first half of 2020, according to half-yearly results declared on Thursday. Adjusted earnings before interest and amortization (EBITA) fell 52% to €258 million ($305 million). Fremantle’s half-yearly EBITA stood

Amid routine testing on an unnamed production from Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook, 10 people in Los Angeles tested positive for COVID-19 last week. But after just a few days of quarantine and another battery of tests, all 10 then tested negative, Variety has learned exclusively, underscoring the challenges that production companies and

Actor Drake Bell has denied allegations of abuse that arose in a video posted to TikTok from his ex-girlfriend, Melissa Lingafelt. In the video, Lingafelt, who uses the stage name Jimi Ono on her TikTok account, alleged Wednesday that Bell verbally and physically abused her when they dated and lived together more than a decade

SAG-AFTRA’s health plan announced changes that would see premiums for members increase and rules around eligibility tighten. The changes are, according to a memo sent to union members Wednesday night, in response to projected deficits in the tens of millions of dollars for 2020 and 2021. “Without restructuring the Health Plan, we are projecting a

In a sprawling keynote conversation with Ziffren Brittenham partner Ken Ziffren at the UCLA Entertainment Symposium, CAA managing partner and co-chairman Bryan Lourd opened up about his thoughts on the ongoing Writers Guild conflict, the Black Lives Matter movement and the agency’s efforts to diversify, and the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the entertainment industry. Lourd