As Hollywood makes halting progress on its reopening, SAG-AFTRA’s Duncan Crabree-Ireland is expressing guarded optimism about production resuming fully — but without an exact date yet. Crabtree-Ireland, the union’s longtime chief operating officer and general counsel, told Variety, “A substantial resumption of production is gradually occurring right now, and I expect it will take several
Rafael Gomez is joining AMC Networks as head of business affairs for the company’s entertainment group, overseeing the development and execution of programming agreements across AMC, BBC America, SundanceTV, IFC and AMC Studios. He comes to AMC from NBCUniversal, where he was most recently senior vice president of business affairs for streaming service Peacock, and
Filming is underway on new police thriller “Parot” – a series based on the chaos that followed a controversial move seven years ago to reverse a piece of legislation in Spain that ensured prisoners served their full jail terms. The ten-part drama, made up of one-hour episodes, focuses on a series of retribution attacks on
Coronavirus can’t keep a drag queen down: The full “RuPaul’s Drag Race” TV franchise is currently in production in Los Angeles, Variety has confirmed exclusively. The Emmy-winning flagship series wrapped its 13th season last week, and production is already underway on one of the franchise’s spin-off titles. The “Drag Race” franchise usually shoots in the
In a Wednesday filing in Los Angeles Superior Court, Britney Spears’ attorney filed a motion opposing a request by her father, Jamie Spears — who is also her conservator — to to keep her conservatorship case sealed. “Far from being a conspiracy theory or a ‘joke’ as James reportedly told the media, in large part
During these unprecedented times, sometimes laughter is the best medicine. Luckily, Netflix has a library full of comedies to help lift your spirits up and put a smile on your face. Below, Variety has compiled a list of the best comedies now streaming on the platform. While there are plenty of classics on the streaming
Joining in from Lebanon on Thursday for the second helping of “Life Through a Different Lens: Contactless Connections,” virtual talks organized by the Venice Film Festival and Mastercard, Nadine Labaki – director of the Oscar-nominated “Capernaum” – wasn’t afraid to speak up about the situation in her country. “Exactly a month ago, we had the
WarnerMedia is looking to drive up HBO Max subscribers as the third quarter of 2020 winds down. Starting Friday, Sept. 4, new and returning customers who sign up for HBO Max are eligible to get the service for $11.99 per month for the next 12 months. That’s a 20% discount off the regular $14.99 price,
Peter Saji is staying put at Disney. The “Black-ish” producer and “Mixed-ish” co-creator has signed a new multi-year overall deal with ABC Signature, under which he will continue to create and develop TV projects for the studio. Saji signed his first overall with what was then ABC Studios in 2017 (Disney rebranded its TV units
Silk could soon be the next Marvel character to get her own TV series, Variety has learned from sources. Variety has learned that Sony, which controls the rights to the Spider-Man universe, is developing a live-action series centered on Silk. Lauren Moon is in talks to write. Like Silk, Moon is Korean-American. Her past credits include
Ann Sarnoff, head of WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group, took in a preview screening of “Tenet” at a movie theater on Wednesday night in Connecticut. Normally, that would not be a big deal. But with the Christopher Nolan espionage thriller leading the charge for the reopening of multiplexes in the U.S., Sarnoff was eager to
Saida Mouradova, a native of former Soviet Union republic Azerbaijan, had one wish: to design for Beyoncé. Mouradova, who goes by just Saida, creates headpieces designed to “deliver bold, powerful, and artistic experiences.” What she didn’t expect was getting a call from Beyoncé’s team with a request for 22 pieces. Her team not only wanted
Every time celebrities such as Clint Eastwood, Julia Roberts and James Hong are publicly endorsed for a star on the Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, Ana Martinez receives a slew of emails asking “why don’t they already have a star?” The Walk of Fame producer repeats her response. “You cannot just buy a star. People don’t
Netflix has given a platform to various voices in the Hollywood industry such as Alfonso Cuarón (“Roma”), Dee Rees (“Mudbound”), and most recently Martin Scorsese (“The Irishman”), in which filmmakers get to bring their distinct visions to life with the autonomy they wouldn’t be afforded at a traditional studio. As Oscars voters have become more
ABC has called in Luke Wilson to save its fall season. The Disney-owned network has announced a new unscripted series titled “Emergency Call,” which will be hosted and executive produced by Wilson, and will premiere Sept. 28 in the 10 p.m. time slot. News of the pick up comes exactly a week after ABC unveiled
Gina Torres has found her latest role. The “Suits” alumna is set to join Fox’s “9-1-1: Lone Star” as a series regular in its upcoming second season, Variety has learned. News of her addition comes around five months after both “Lone Star” and its “9-1-1” originator were renewed by Fox. Season 2 of “Lone Star” is
The rather incompetent folks at the Reno Sheriff’s Department are coming back for more antics. Quibi has renewed its revival of “Reno 911!” for a second season, right as the first season on the short form content platform comes to an end. The revival, which is produced by Comedy Central Productions, recently received a pair
BET will air a primetime news special on Sunday night to honor Chadwick Boseman, who died Friday at the age of 43 after privately battling colon cancer for four years. “BET and ET Present Chadwick Boseman: Life and Legacy” is hosted by Kevin Frazier and was produced in partnership with “Entertainment Tonight.” Featuring never-before-seen footage
The finale of “Tough As Nails” didn’t quite nail the landing for CBS. The Phil Keoghan-hosted series signed off its first season with a 0.4 rating among adults 18-49, a tick down from the penultimate episode, and just over 3 million total viewers. Earlier on, “Big Brother” also lost a little ground, ticking down around 10%
Facebook and Twitter both placed warning labels on Donald Trump’s messages shared on the platforms encouraging U.S. voters to cast mail-in ballots and then show up in person at local polls to “see whether or not your your Mail In Vote has been Tabulated (Counted).” On Thursday, in identical messages posted to Facebook and Twitter,
When he came onboard as artistic director at the Deauville American Film Festival in 1995, Bruno Barde went about retooling the event. He started by introducing the official competition — to showcase new voices in American independent cinema before a predominantly French jury — and thought to make his vision for the festival clear with
When organizers of the Deauville American Film Festival, which runs Sept. 4-13, forged ahead with this year’s edition, they knew they were running a risk. Though France eased out of lockdown throughout May and June, the national government maintained a summer-long ban on large public gatherings — thus sealing the fate of festivals including Cannes
Paramount Pictures will release a new edit and restoration of Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather Part III” in theaters in December, followed by a digital and DVD debut. The film, which bowed in 1990, has been retitled “Mario Puzo’s The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone.” Paramount said Thursday that the new cut achieves
UMC, AMC Networks’ streaming service dedicated to Black film and TV, has found its latest project. The service has given the greenlight to “Millennials,” a multi-cam comedy from “In the Heat of the Night” Rugg Williams and his son Oren Williams. “Millennials” will explore the lives of four 20-something roommates – a business student, a YouTuber,
“Star Trek” is aiming to keep its fans… engaged. To commemorate the 54th anniversary of the original “Star Trek” TV premiere on Sept. 8, 1966, CBS All Access is mounting an all-day celebration of the full “Star Trek” franchise, including panels featuring cast members from and a marathon of selected episodes of every “Star Trek”
“American Crime Story: Impeachment” — which was supposed to begin filming in the spring, but didn’t because of the coronavirus pandemic — will now shoot in early fall, Variety has learned. Michael Uppendahl, who has directed other Ryan Murphy productions, such as “Ratched” and “Hollywood,” will take over for Richard Shepard as EP/Producing Director. Uppendahl has directed
Take a fanatical worldwide following that’s no less fervent in America than anywhere else, add a peppy song that will serve as the group’s first single recorded entirely in English, map a clever way to deliver it to radio, top it with a performance on MTV’s Video Music Awards and you’ve got a recipe for
The coronavirus pandemic crippled production around the world across many months, enforcing an unavoidable hiatus in business that has wreaked havoc on film and TV production schedules. The summer saw a number of troubling flare-ups in certain countries as borders began reopening, but overall, the pandemic has stabilized enough in some nations to allow specific
WarnerMedia has tapped Jay Levine to serve as chief strategy officer and executive VP of business operations for its studios and networks group. An 11-year veteran of the studio, Levine recently served as Warner Bros.’ executive VP of television business strategy and digital services. The studio also announced that Thomas Gewecke, long seen as a
BAFTA chair Krishnendu Majumdar has described the “collective grief” experienced by him and members of the academy, during meetings that are part of its wide-ranging diversity review stemming from a not very diverse pool of 2020 film award nominations. “I chaired the majority of the 50 plus meetings, and some were a very emotional experience,”