Variety’s new weekly series, “Hollywood How-To,” will tackle all things writing, with broader conversations about everything from crafting characters to navigating the writer’s room. The first chapter — “Conquering Writer’s Block” — aims at scaling the “wall” of lack of motivation of inspiration. Each video is paired with a longer, standalone conversation with creators diving
Variety’s new weekly series, “Hollywood How-To,” will tackle all things writing, with conversations about everything from crafting characters to navigating the writer’s room. There are few writers working in television today who have had a more varied (and venerated) career than Damon Lindelof. After working on the writing staff of CBS’s “Nash Bridges” and NBC’s
Walt Disney CEO Bob Chapek said that as the company sees “encouraging signs” in return to normalcy in China amid the ongoing global coronavirus outbreak, it plans to reopen Shanghai Disneyland on May 11. Among the strict social distancing measures that will be implemented are masks for guests and employees, temperature checks, contact tracing and
Else Blangsted, a Holocaust survivor and film music editor who worked on classic films such as “The Goonies” and “The Color Purple,” died May 1. She was 99. Blangsted died from natural causes at her home in Los Angeles, according to her cousin Deborah Oppenheimer, an Academy Award-winning filmmaker and producer. Blangsted was three weeks
Apple set a start date of June 22, 2020, for its first virtual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), held entirely online given the COVID-19 pandemic. The weeklong WWDC20 will include keynotes, sessions, news and other events, all available in the Apple Developer app and on the Apple Developer website for free to all developers. (The price
MADRID — Six days before producers will be allowed to restart production shoots in Spain, Pedro Sánchez’s PSOE socialist government has powered up the tax breaks cap for Hollywood and other foreign shoots as part of a relief package for Spain’s cultural industries. Plowed through a Spanish-tax-paying service company working on a foreign nationality shoot,
It’s game on for Cate Blanchett. Sources tell Variety the Oscar-winning actress is in talks to star as Lilith in Lionsgate’s “Borderlands,” an adaptation of the popular video game. Lionsgate had no comment. Eli Roth is directing with Avi and Ari Arad producing through Arad Prods along with Erik Feig, who is also producing via
As EU countries begin lifting coronavirus lockdown restrictions, the Brussels-based European Film Commissions Network has issued a baseline set of safety rules and protocols in an effort to help pan-European film production resume. The joint European film commissions’ document, posted by a group of Bulgarian production companies, lists what it calls the “Ten Commandments of
Check out newly announced release dates, which movies are coming to home video this week, and recommendations from your host Khail Anonymous and Screen Junkies contributor and YouTuber Roxy Striar in this new episode of ‘Weekly Ticket’! ► Buy or Rent Movies on FandangoNOW: https://www.fandangonow.com?cmp=MCYT_YouTube_Desc Tune-in to Weekly Ticket every Tuesday to help you decide
Among the Los Angeles-area cultural institutions taking to GoFundMe to raise money during the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns is the city’s most famous music nightspot, the Troubadour, whose operators tell the Los Angeles Times that the venue “can’t foresee being able to ride this out” without significant help from donors. “It looks tacky,” general manager Christine
An appellate court ruled on Tuesday that the Michael Jackson estate does not have to pay $6.9 million in royalties and fees to Quincy Jones. The three-judge panel of the 2nd Appellate District overturned the bulk of a 2017 jury verdict, finding that the trial judge had allowed the jury to misinterpret Jones’ contract. Jones’
Momentum Pictures has acquired U.S. rights to the drama “Black Bear,” starring Aubrey Plaza, Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon. Written and directed by Lawrence Michael Levine, “Black Bear” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Momentum Pictures will announce release plans at a later date. Set at a remote house in the Adirondack Mountains,
The British Film Commission has today begun its consultation on a draft set of protocols for inward investment film and TV production so the U.K. can restart high-end scripted production as soon as lockdown measures are eased. The BFC’s recommendations will be incorporated into the BFI’s COVID-19 Taskforce proposals, which will be sent to the
Check out the official The High Note Trailer starring Tracee Ellis Ross and Dakota Johnson! Let us know what you think in the comments below. ► Sign up for a Fandango FanAlert for The High Note: https://www.fandango.com/the-high-note-2020-222777/movie-overview?cmp=MCYT_YouTube_Desc Want to be notified of all the latest movie trailers? Subscribe to the channel and click the bell
D Smoke first wowed the music world when he won the inaugural season of “Rhythm + Flow,” Netflix’s hip-hop competition show with Cardi B, Chance the Rapper and T.I. as judges. Impressing both the panel and viewers at home with meaningful, uplifting verses, the Inglewood, Calif. native, whose real name is Daniel Farris, dropped his
Sports Illustrated Studios is launching to develop feature film and television projects as a joint venture between David Glasser’s 101 Studios and Sports Illustrated owner Authentic Brands Group. The company plans a slate of several television series and feature films per year. 101 Studios will be managing and overseeing all production, distribution and marketing for
At the 2001 Oscars, Russell Crowe took center stage at the Dolby Theater to accept best actor for “Gladiator,” using his speech to urge young viewers to follow their acting dreams. Now, Crowe tells Variety that his kids can look up the speech and realize that their father had something “relatively intelligent” to say. “Gladiator,”
Strand Releasing has scooped all North American rights to Lou Ye’s Second World War-set spy thriller “Saturday Fiction” from Wild Bunch. The film world premiered in competition at Venice last year and played at the New York Film Festival. “Saturday Fiction” stars Gong Li as a famous actress who has returned to Japanese-occupied Shanghai to
The National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) is moving its annual conference online. The organization announced on Tuesday that the 21st NALIP Media Summit will be virtual for the first time June 25-30. NALIP said it is considering postponing the summit’s Latino Media Awards and keynote luncheons to later in the year. “The organization
YouTube is pumping up 2020 virtual pomp-and-circumstance circuit with a video graduation ceremony, including commencement addresses delivered by former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama. YouTube’s “Dear Class of 2020” original special will feature other celebs and notable names including BTS, Lady Gaga and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The festival-style lineup will feature
BuzzFeed News has tapped a new editor-in-chief, veteran journalist Mark Schoofs who formerly worked at the digital-media company. But he will continue his work as a professor at USC. Schoofs takes over the role after former BuzzFeed EIC Ben Smith exited to join the New York Times earlier this year. BuzzFeed founder/CEO Jonah Peretti announced
Jason Bergsman has been named chief executive officer at Joe and Anthony Russo’s entertainment company AGBO. Bergsman, a veteran of Peter Chernin’s The Chernin Group, will lead all strategy and business operations at the film and TV shop and report directly to the directing team behind “Avengers: Endgame.” Founded in 2017, the company is riding
AMC Networks found a silver lining in the otherwise dismal end to the first quarter as pandemic shutdowns took a heavy toll. In releasing its first quarter earnings Tuesday, AMC Networks said subscriptions and viewership for its growing suite of niche streaming outlets — Sundance Now, Acorn, Shudder and Urban Movie Channel — have increased
Following the mid-April announcement of Netflix’s COVID-19 relief fund allocations for Mexico and Brazil, the streaming giant has unveiled its plans for Colombia where it has partnered with the Colombian Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences to extend aid to over 1,500 below-the-line workers in Colombia’s film and TV industry. To this end, Netflix
The Asian Pacific American Media Coalition issued its annual report card for the 2018-2019 television season, examining ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox’s on-screen and off-screen representation of Asian Americans. ABC once again scored highest among the four major broadcast networks, though the media-watch organization noted that “the biggest gains for APAs now seem to be
Netflix released the teaser trailer for Steve Carell’s new series “Space Force” on Tuesday, showing “The Office” star in his latest workplace comedy. “Space Force,” inspired by President Trump’s proposal for sixth branch of the military, centers around decorated pilot and four-star general Mark R. Naird (Carell), who has dreamed of running the Air Force,
The BBC has appointed Turner executive Patricia Hidalgo as its new director of children’s and education. Currently senior VP, chief content and creative officer at Turner EMEA, Hidalgo takes up her new role in September. She replaces Alice Webb, who announced in December she is taking up the role of CEO at Universal Music-backed Eagle
A 30-year veteran of music rights and sample clearances, Deborah Mannis-Gardner has long been on the frontlines of negotiating complex licensing deals, whether it’s clearing samples for songs by big-name artists (Eminem, Lady Gaga, Beyonce and beyond), film music for Oscar-winning directors (Martin Scorsese, the Coen Brothers) or Tony-winning Broadway scores (Lin Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton.”)
J.K. Rowling’s immensely popular book that started it all — “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” — will be read by a lineup of celebrities chapter-by-chapter, in a series of free videos and audio recordings to be doled out over the next several months. Rowling’s Wizarding World announced seven readers for the special event on
“I always wanted to play a character that was the opposite of the public’s perception of me — and of course make fun of myself,” The Weeknd told Variety about his guest appearance on Seth MacFarlane’s long-running animated series “American Dad,” which aired Monday, and, it’s safe to say he succeeded on all counts. In