The long-awaited economic measures for the self-employed revealed by U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak on Thursday have elicited mixed response from the film and TV industry’s predominantly freelance workforce. Self-employed individuals can claim 80% of their average income over the last three years up to £2,500 ($3,000) a month, which is taxable. To
Television
Great news “Killing Eve” fans, AMC has announced it is moving up the season 3 premiere by two weeks. The acclaimed Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer series will now debut its third season on Sunday, April 12. The move comes as networks, cablers and streamers all contend with the programming and scheduling nightmare being caused
Niecy Nash is self-quarantined in her Los Angeles area home with her family. “I’m doing exactly that they told me to do,” Nash tells Variety. “I’m staying in the house and getting fat.” She lets out a big laugh before adding, “Did they say the get-stuffed part? Maybe I made that part up.” Even if
The BBC will donate £700,000 ($856,000) to the U.K.’s Film and TV Charity in support of coronavirus relief. The donation is aimed at those out of work because of halted production caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, with an emphasis on freelance workers. Around £500,000 ($611,000) will go to the London-based charity’s new Film and TV
March 27, 2020 6:47AM PT UPDATED: U.S. equities indexes dropped sharply in early trading Friday, scuttling hopes that a rebound was afoot after three days of strong gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down more than 700 points, or more than 3%, a few minutes into the session. That’s a reversal from the past
MADRID — In one of the first detailed breakdowns from a major European company of marketing strategies in the Series Mania/MipTV online marketplace, Germany’s Beta Film has announced that it will stage a virtual Beta Brunch on March 31. Nobody will be offered virtual food, but the event will retain some of its flavor, going
Max Conze is stepping down as CEO of German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1, with immediate effect. Chief financial officer Rainer Beaujean has taken on additional responsibilities as he becomes the chairman of the executive board. Along with Conze’s departure, the company announced late Thursday a change in strategic focus. “ProSiebenSat.1 Group is returning the primary focus of
Pamela Adlon is a true auteur. The co-creator, writer, producer, director and star of “Better Things” has the reins of the FX comedy, and she may hold them tighter than most performers who step behind the scenes, with her fingerprints on every stage of the storytelling, from outlines in the writers’ room to sound mixing
March 26, 2020 4:00PM PT Dr. Anthony Fauci is coming to Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” at an interesting moment for late-night TV. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, did an interview with host Trevor Noah earlier today. Comedy Central said the interview was one of four that Dr. Fauci
In today’s TV news roundup, Netflix released the trailer for “#BlackAF,” and NBC announced the series finale air date of “Will & Grace.” DATES NBC has announced the series finale of “Will & Grace” will air April 23 at 9 p.m. In the episode, “It’s Time,” Will (Eric McCormack) is determined to not reminisce about
While most of the entertainment and live event industries have shut down of late, WWE has forged ahead with its weekly TV programming amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Having relocated their shows to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, the company is embracing new measures to protect talent and crew members from the virus. “At
When HBO officially classified “Watchmen” as a limited series, the pay cabler’s competitors groaned. That’s because it made what was already a jam-packed and competitive limited series category even more stuffed this Emmy season. But then came the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, which has impacted production and post-production on countless TV projects, including episodes of programs
Netflix has canceled “Messiah” after one season, Variety has confirmed. Series star Wil Traval shared the news on Instagram, writing, “It’s a very sad day today. I have just received news from Netflix that there will be no season 2 of #messiah I wanted to say to all the fans thank you for your support and
Ad revenue for traditional “linear” media could fall as much as 12% in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, while digital media advertising could still rise more than 4%, according to a new forecast from Interpublic Group’s media-research unit Magna. The Magna forecast, a long-watched barometer of media spending, has been revised downward. Overall media
“Supernatural” fans are going to have to wait a while longer to find out how the show ends. Neither “Supernatural,” nor “The Flash,” nor “Legacies” will be able to finish their current seasons in the timeframe that was originally planned. All three CW series were among hundreds that were forced to shutdown production due to
Neal Baer is among the few people in the world who can list “licensed physician” and “experienced showrunner” on his resume. With that background, it’s telling that Baer’s most recent TV effort — steering the third season of Kiefer Sutherland drama “Designated Survivor” — revolved around the theme of a pandemic breaking out in the
Early on in his career, BD Wong wasn’t allowed to “be funny.” “I grew up as a young actor feeling like casting directors and producers would say to us, a way’s back, ‘Asian people are not funny,’” Wong said during a live interview on the “Variety After-Show,” streamed via Variety’s Instagram, getting emotional. “They would
Contrasting human paradoxes and complexities against the cold rationality of Scandinavian civic institutions, the Danish series “Cry Wolf” presents a searing social drama built from an initially ambiguous premise. Presented as part of Series Mania’s Buyer’s Showcase after having been selected for the festival’s international competition, the DR Drama-produced series tracks the cascading aftershocks once
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Unorthodox,” steaming now on Netflix. There’s a scene in Netflix’s limited series “Unorthodox,” which is streaming now, in which its then-17-year-old protagonist, Esther “Esty” Shapiro, a young Jewish woman from the Satmar Hassidic sect in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, stares deep into the mirror, sobbing. Esty has
Two of Latin America’s most energetic producers, Mexico’s Mónica Lozano and Argentina’s Paolo Suárez, are teaming to adapt Argentine bestseller “Záfiros en la Piel,” aiming to shoot in Mexico, in further signs of a fast-building pan-Latin American TV production scene. Also president of México’s producers assn., Lozano’s credits include milestone Mexican movies such as Academy
The TV station group Tegna has been the subject of acquisition rumors for nearly a year. Finally, bids started to surface earlier this month that pegged the company’s market value at about $8.5 billion. But in the space of a week, the assets up for grabs at Tegna have taken on a very different kind
Actor Mark Blum, who appeared in “Desperately Seeking Susan,” “Crocodile Dundee” and the TV series “You,” has died due to complications from coronavirus. He was 69. The Playwrights Horizons theater group and SAG-AFTRA executive vice president Rebecca Damon confirmed the news on Thursday. It is with such deep sorrow that I’m writing to share the news
Unprecedented times call for innovative measures and U.K. public service broadcasters are exploring a range of means to keep a nation in lockdown engaged. The BBC’s extremely popular “The Graham Norton Show,” for example, will be filmed at the host’s (pictured) home for the first time in its 13-year history with virtual guests, rather than
ESPN’s newsmagazine “E: 60” led all nominations (with 10) for the 41st Annual Sports Emmy Awards, as announced on Thursday by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The Sports Emmys, originally scheduled for April 28 at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall, has been postponed due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic,
Ariyon Bakare had his carry-on luggage packed and ready to travel from his London home to Prague where the second season of Amazon Prime TV show “Carnival Row” is filming. Then, the actor, who plays Darius, received the call that filming had abruptly stopped because of COVID-19. “I have no idea when we will start
Netflix’s “Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker,” the story of America’s first self-made female millionaire, takes place between 1908 and 1918. But the music, instead of focusing on the early jazz that might be expected, runs the gamut from ragtime to hip-hop. “Madam C.J. Walker is a central, seminal historical figure
German production companies Pantaleon Films and Carte Blanche Intl. are separately developing two series projects from writer Katja Eichinger that delve into the Hamburg underworld and the city’s unique high security prison. Pantaleon, part of actor-director Matthias Schweighöfer’s Pantaflix AG entertainment group, has optioned Eichinger’s “Santa Fu,” about life in Hamburg’s notorious Justizvollzugsanstalt Fuhlsbüttel prison,
Leaders of the Directors Guild of America have announced that major studios will pay two weeks’ salary to below-the-line DGA members losing jobs due to the coronavirus shutdown. DGA President Thomas Schlamme and national executive director Russ Hollander made the announcement Wednesday night in their latest message to their members. “Our contracts staff and field representatives
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 3, episode 9 of “The Masked Singer,” which aired March 25 on Fox. JoJo Siwa can finally reveal the truth to her fans: Yes, the T-Rex on “The Masked Singer” was her. Plenty of viewers had figured it out — but per the
In today’s TV news roundup, Apple TV Plus released the trailer for “Defending Jacob,” and Variety obtained an exclusive first look at the upcoming new season of “T.I. & Tiny: Friends & Family Hustle.” DATES VH1 announced “T.I. & Tiny: Friends & Family Hustle” will return with a new season April 13 at 9 p.m,