Studio71 has dramatically stepped up Facebook video distribution efforts — with the digital content studio and network claiming its efforts have already produced more than 1 billion views on the platform. In addition, the company announced that it has signed several top creators to its roster, including Whitney Port; Epic Meal Time, the cooking show
When director Dean Fleischer Camp and star Jenny Slate wrote and produced their viral 2010 short film “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On,” they created the title character (voiced by Slate) as simply as possible. The tiny creature was made from a real seashell, doll shoes, a spot of clay and a googly eye. Becky
Netflix and ‘Spencer’ director Pablo Larraín have gone into production on “El Conde,” a black comedy picturing bloody Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet as a 250-year-old vampire. Larraín will share screenwriting credits with Guillermo Calderón, Chile’s foremost playwright and Larraín’s writing partner on “Neruda” and Berlin Grand Jury Prize winner “The Club,” the movie which persuaded
Disney, Netflix, Paramount, Comcast, Sony, Meta and more media companies have confirmed they will cover travel costs for employees seeking abortions following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. Disney reached out to employees on Friday to stress that they recognize the “impact” of the Supreme Court’s decision and “remain committed to providing comprehensive
The Supreme Court today overturned Roe v. Wade, effectively ending federal protections of abortion rights. The final opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, fully repudiates the 1973 decision which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights. It also effectively strikes down the 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey that largely maintained the right established
Kyrre Holm Johannessen, the creator and showrunner of Netflix series “The Girl From Oslo,” has signed with CAA for representation. Originally from Norway, Johannessen began his career in television, writing on the 2016 comedy drama “Meglerne,” about a corrupt real estate broker who suddenly finds himself tutoring a self-absorbed student. He is also a well-known
Madison Avenue’s growing interest in sports and streaming video helped Fox Corp. nab new ad dollars amid a softening market. The owner of the Fox broadcast network, Fox Sports and Fox News Channel expects an uptick in advertising commitments made in advance of its next programming schedule, according to a person familiar with the matter,
“No Time to Die” producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson were honored by Prince William in an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace today (Friday, June 24). The duo, who run James Bond production company EON, were both awarded Commanders of the Order of the British Empire (CBEs) in Queen Elizabeth II’s New Year’s Honors list
Georgian director Ana Kvichidze is in production with her first feature documentary, the Georgian/French coproduction “Heart, Don’t Be Afraid.” The film is supported by the Georgian National Film Center and France’s CNC, Film New Europe reports. Vardo lives alone and unlike the witches from the fairytales, she is a kind character. She was a popular
After 13 years on the road with Spain’s iconic singer-songwriter-poet Joaquin Sabina, “The Good Boss” director Fernando León de Aranoa has finally wrapped his documentary, “Sintiendolo Mucho” (roughly translated to “Deeply Felt”). “This film is a rare privilege that, as a filmmaker, I would like to share with the public: to spend some time alone
“Elvis,” Baz Luhrmann’s kaleidoscopic look at the “King of Rock,” grossed $3.5 million in Thursday previews, while “The Black Phone,” a child abduction chiller from Blumhouse,” scared up $3 million. The two films are hoping to make a mark at the box office this weekend, but they face stiff competition from holdovers such as “Jurassic
When Sir Bryson Robert Hall II – aka Bobby Hall, aka rapper-producer-mental health activist Logic – talks about the self-titled “fuck-it-have-fun” moment when his gleeful, new, return-to-rap’s-old-school album, “Vinyl Days,” was conceived, he doesn’t mince words about its motivation: leaving Def Jam for BMG. Signed to Def Jam since 2014, Logic made a splash at
Absence can make the heart grow fonder, and one of the ironies of the power-pop revival of the mid-1980s was how hard it was to find records by some of its main archetypes, even if those earlier groups had genuine hits: The brace of great early-‘70s albums and singles by Beatles-obsessed bands like Badfinger, Big
Netflix has made no secret that it would rely on third-party partners to roll into the ad-supported VOD space. Now word has emerged that Google and NBCUniversal are the top contenders to potentially land a coveted deal with the streamer to sell and serve ads for Netflix’s lower-cost plan with ads. Google and Comcast’s NBCU
COMMISSION Former “The Great British Bake-Off” host Mel Giedroyc is set to present a raunchy new show for Channel 4 featuring celebrities and puppets. In each 30-minute episode of “The Really Really Rude Puppet Show,” Giedroyc will invite a different celebrity to read some erotic fan fiction written by viewers in which the celebrity is
Famed chef and restauranteur, entrepreneur and philanthropist Wolfgang Puck is getting into the kids business. Puck is set to announce plans to launch a new children’s animated series, “Wolfgang Puck’s Secret Chef Academy,” which he plans to pitch to networks and streamers. Puck has partnered with Genius Brands International to launch the project. “Wolfgang Puck’s
Cameroon’s Cyrielle Raingou has won the Kirch Foundation Award, which comes with a €5,000 cash prize, for her film project “I’m Coming for You.” The award comes at the conclusion of the first edition of Munich Film Up!, an eight-month mentoring and residency program for film school graduates that started in November. The program was
Glastonbury Festival — the biggest live music event in Europe — gets into full swing today, for the first time since 2019. There will be 200,000 people on site in Somerset, in the west of England, watching thousands of performances across 93 different stages, including headliners Billie Eilish, Sir Paul McCartney and Kendrick Lamar, and
U.S. actor David Dastmalchian (“Dune,” “The Suicide Squad”) is attached to star as the host of a late-night talk show that goes horribly wrong in upcoming indie chiller “Late Night With the Devil,” which is currently shooting in Australia. Directed by Australian writing-directing duo Colin and Cameron Cairnes (“100 Bloody Acres,” “Scare Campaign”), “Late Night”
Ten projects by first- and second-time directors searching for European partners took the stage this week during the Transilvania Pitch Stop, one of the leading co-production and co-financing platforms for filmmakers from Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the wider Black Sea region. The forum’s ninth edition reflects a generation of up-and-coming filmmakers looking to find
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you haven’t yet watched the final episode of “Man vs Bee.” It was three years ago that director David Kerr unexpectedly got a call from an old producer colleague, Chris Clark, with whom he’d worked on 2018’s “Johnny English” sequel “Johnny English Strikes Again.” Clark had been developing an
International collaborations, new voices and renewal were the overarching themes of the 33rd edition of documentary market Sunny Side of the Doc, which concluded on Thursday. Industry professionals heard from major international players including PBS, NHK, France Televisions, Docu Box Nairobi, Sodec, Arte, RTBF, RAI, Telefilm Canada and Canal+ Group, among many others, who provided
David Cronenberg will receive the honorary Donostia Award at the 70th San Sebastian Film Festival. The gala ceremony will be followed by the presentation of Cronenberg’s latest film, “Crimes of the Future,” a daring science fiction movie starring Viggo Mortensen (“A History of Violence,” “Eastern Promises”), Kristen Stewart and Lea Seydoux. The movie world premiered
Joe Donaldson, producer of “Peaky Blinders” and “Cobra,” has launched new production company Magic Hour Television and signed a first look deal with All3Media and New Pictures. Donaldson will develop a slate, funded by All3Media and All3Media International, and partner with New Pictures co-founder and CEO Willow Grylls, to produce new scripted television content. He
Film and high-end TV production spend in the U.K. is predicted to hit up to £7.66 ($9.4 billion) by 2025, according to new research commissioned by industry body ScreenSkills. That is an annual average growth rate of 7.3% over the next three years. While that’s good news for the industry, it will also impact the
French sales agency Loco Films has boarded erotic love story “Borders of Love,” which world premieres in competition at Karlovy Vary Film Festival. The company has debuted the film’s first trailer. The Czech-Polish movie centers on Petr and Hana, who – after years together – share their unspoken erotic fantasies. What begins as an innocent
For a long time, if you said the name “the Reverend Al Sharpton,” you were guaranteed to get a response that seemed to erupt from the very gut fauna of mass-media outrage. “Loudmouth,” the fascinating new documentary about Sharpton, makes a convincing case that most of that moral high dudgeon was fatally overblown. In the
“Agneepath” director Karan Malhotra’s epic “Shamshera” is gearing for a theatrical release in a post-pandemic moment when audiences are flocking back to cinemas. The film is set in the fictitious city of Kaza in the 1800s, where a warrior tribe is imprisoned, enslaved and tortured by ruthless authoritarian general Shudh Singh (Sanjay Dutt). It tells
K-pop superstars BTS have committed to playing a live concert in support of Busan as host city of the 2030 World Expo. The group has also been appointed as ambassadors for the bid. Bang Si-Hyuk, chairman of BTS’ management agency HYBE, and the company’s CEO Park Jiwon on Friday (local time) signed an agreement with
Stars Piolo Pascual and Lovi Poe head the cast of the Philippines adaptation of Korean Series “Flower of Evil.” It begins airing across East Asia and parts of the Middle East. The romance-thriller series involves a female detective who suspects that her husband is a serial killer. The original show was produced by CJ ENM’s