Amandla Stenberg, who has played guitar and violin since childhood, is named after the 1989 Miles Davis album. So her latest role in “The Eddy,” Damien Chazelle’s grainy, Paris-based love letter to jazz centered on a nightclub owner (André Holland), might not seem like too much of a stretch. But Stenberg stepped into the role
Television
Normally, around 1,600 people work out of the CBS Broadcast Center on West 57th Street in New York. But these aren’t normal times. Just about a dozen key staffers are still coming into the office, keeping the lights on as most everyone else works from home. “Things have definitely changed,” says Glenn Oakley, CBS executive VP
Disney Plus has ordered an eight-episode series based on the RL Stine graphic novels “Just Beyond.” Seth Grahame-Smith will pen the series which is described as a horror-comedy anthology. Grahame-Smith will also executive produce along with David Katzenberg through their KatzSmith Productions banner. Stephen Christy and Ross Richie will also executive produce, with Stine co-executive
George Dixon, global editorial director for BBC Studios, has left the producer-distributor after six years, Variety has confirmed. The executive, who is expected to leave formally in October, led on editorial for BBC Studios’ commercial linear and non-linear global services such as BBC Earth and BBC First. He also took the editorial lead in integrating commercial
Colombia’s entertainment industry is up in arms over a government decree which has reduced the 70% national production quota for primetime TV to 20% due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Its beleaguered producers, actors, screenwriters, crew members and ancillary services will face even greater challenges if demand for homegrown productions begin to fall. Independent producers org
ViacomCBS said first-quarter profit tumbled as the company suffered a 19% decline in advertising revenue due in part to the cancellation of the NCAA “March Madness” men’s basketball championship this year. The New York owner of the CBS television network, MTV and the Paramount movie studio said overall revenue fell 6%, to nearly $6.67 billion,
YouTube TV subscribers will finally be able to tune into ViacomCBS’s BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon and eight other cable nets starting this summer. Under an expanded, multiyear pact between Google and ViacomCBS, YouTube TV will add 14 cable networks from the legacy Viacom — which have been missing from YouTube TV ever since it
MADRID — Fulfilling predictions, John Malone’s cable company Liberty Global and Spain-based Telefonica have created a 50-50 joint venture, merging Liberty Global’s broadband network Virgin Media and Telefonica’s mobile platform O2, Telefonica and Liberty Global announced Thursday. The merger creates the leading fixed-mobile provider in one of the biggest telecoms market in Europe, with O2
Back in the ’90s, “Seinfeld” fans wanted to know how the series ended so badly that they resorted to bribery. George Costanza actor Jason Alexander revealed that his publicist asked if he’d leak secrets about the series finale in exchange for money. Alexander virtually reunited with his co-star Julia Louis-Dreyfus on Tuesday to reminisce about
The American Cornhole League (ACL) announced Cornhole Mania 2020 will be televised on ESPN and ESPN2 on Saturday, May 9. The event will be held in Rock Hill, S.C. at the Rock Hill sports and events center. The doubles competition is slated for 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. ET on ESPN, with singles in primetime
Sky Studios has taken a minority stake in new drama producer Longboat Pictures, founded by “Bridgerton” director Julie Anne Robinson and former ITV executive Victoria Fea. The outfit was founded in 2019 by Los Angeles-based director-producer Robinson and ex-ITV commissioner Fea. The deal marks the latest investment for Sky Studios, which recently took a minority
In today’s TV news roundup, Netflix announced the cast and creator of “Dead to Me” will host a live table read in celebration of its Season 2 premiere, and Paramount Network released the trailer of “Yellowstone” Season 3. DATES CNN Films has announced “Scandalous: The Untold Story of the National Enquirer,” will premiere May 17 at
Former HBO president of programming Michael Lombardo has joined Entertainment One, Variety has learned exclusively. While he is currently working with the company as a consultant, Lombardo is expected to officially board the company in the near future to lead all of television. At eOne, the television veteran is consulting on ongoing and new project
“The Masked Singer” will be back for more crazy singing and dancing. Fox has renewed the popular competition series for a fourth season, and is tentatively aiming for a fall premiere. The news was announced on the network’s investors earnings call. Based on the international format, the show features celebrities facing off against one another
Hundreds flocked this weekend to the reopening of Tiger King Park, the exotic animal zoo that was featured in Netflix’s docu-series “Tiger King” and previously owned by Joe Exotic. According to the Daily Mail, the Wynnewood, Okla. animal park was given clearance to reopen as long as both workers and visitors followed the Centers for
Sinclair Broadcast Group agreed on Wednesday to pay a record $48 million fine to resolve a series of allegations with the Federal Communications Communication. The FCC announced that the agreement will end three investigations into the broadcaster, including charges that it failed to disclose the sponsor of paid content, and that it misled the FCC
The Super Bowl telecast in February and rising political advertising revenue at Fox News made for a strong start to the year for Fox Corp. Fox Corp. on Wednesday posted solid revenue and adjusted operating income games for the quarter ended March 31, which is the company’s fiscal third quarter. Revenue was up 25% to
BJ Novak has landed a series order at FX for his half-hour anthology series that was first announced last year, Variety has learned. “Thrilled, excited, humbled — these are the words in every press release, and I can’t believe how much I actually mean them,” Novak said. “This is my dream show, and FX is the
Nicole Clemens has been an agent, a producer and a creative executive for a major producer and a top network. But in her current role as president of Paramount Television Studios, she sometimes functions as a banker managing a portfolio of investments in TV series that have different underlying business models. On the latest episode
As the U.K.’s film and TV industry looks to restart, a crucial 10-day consultation period is underway on production guidelines that are now circulating across the industry. More than six weeks on from the March 23 lockdown, industry figures such John McVay, head of producers’ trade body Pact, warns that restarting business “is not like
Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service, will spread its wings over Apple’s family of devices for the national U.S. launch this summer. Under a deal between NBCU and Apple, Peacock will be available on Apple devices including iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD when it launches nationally on July 15, 2020. At
Ricky Gervais is making Netflix his more permanent home. The British comedian, who created “The Office” and has hosted the Golden Globes multiple times, has signed an overall deal with the streamer. As part of the deal, his show “After Life” has been renewed for a third season. The news comes less than two weeks
CBS announced Wednesday that it is renewing most of its current scripted and unscripted fare for the 2020-2021 season while also canceling four shows. The network announced renewals for the following dramas: “All Rise,” “Blue Bloods,” “Bull,” “FBI,” “FBI: Most Wanted,” “MacGyver,” “Magnum P.I.,” “NCIS,” “NCIS: Los Angeles,” “NCIS: New Orleans,” “SWAT,” and “SEAL Team.”
France’s President Emmanuel Macron outlined in a televised address on Wednesday new relief measures for the culture sector, including a temporary indemnity fund for canceled or postponed TV and film shoots during the pandemic. Macron said the temporary indemnity fund will be launched by the National Film Board (CNC), in collaboration with the regions and
Walter Murphy’s “A Fifth of Beethoven” was released in 1976 and it’s the perfect disco anthem for FX on Hulu’s “Mrs. America.” “It’s smart, classical and not too serious,” says Carol Wong, executive producer at yU+co, the design company behind the show’s main title sequence. “Mrs. America,” which comes from creator and showrunner Dahvi Waller,
“Chernobyl,” “Fleabag,” “Ramy,” “Stranger Things,” “Succession,” “Unbelievable,” “Watchmen” and “When They See Us” are among the 13 entertainment series nominated for this year’s Peabody Awards. The Peabody Awards Board of Jurors on Wednesday announced this year’s nominees for entertainment, children’s and youth, documentaries, news, podcast/radio, and public service. A total of 60 nominees were revealed
Tuesday night on TV featured a flurry of finales across the major networks, none of which scored a boost of any kind. On ABC, “The Conners” aired its last episode of season 2 to a 0.9 rating and just over 6 million total viewers, which represents a slight tick down week-to-week in the former metric.
Derek Cianfrance, writer-director of the HBO limited series “I Know This Much Is True,” has set a two-year overall deal with HBO. The deal calls for the helmer to develop a range of projects for the pay TV powerhouse. The pact comes a few days before the six-episode series bows on May 10. Cianfrance partnered
BBC factual controller Alison Kirkham is set to join streaming platform Apple TV Plus. Kirkham will join Apple TV Plus this summer, reporting into creative director for Europe Jay Hunt. Based in London, the executive will have responsibility in Europe for unscripted original series and films. Kirkham is the first major hire for Apple’s U.K.
As much of Europe begins to ease restrictions imposed on business and travel to curb the spread of coronavirus, Hollywood studios are looking ahead to summer and early fall when production is expected to resume in Hungary and the Czech Republic, Central Europe’s biggest production hubs. Executives at Mid Atlantic Films and Stillking Films, who