Eric Wattenberg, longtime CAA agent and co-head of its alternative television department, has joined producer Brent Montgomery’s Wheelhouse Group as chief content officer. Wattenberg will spearhead content development across Wheelhouse’s TV, film and digital operations, as well as its Wheelhouse Labs branded entertainment wing. The deal is a coup for the company, launched by “Pawn
Tubi is heading to Mexico: The free, ad-supported streaming service announced plans to launch in the country later this year as well as a pact with TV Azteca, one of the largest producers of Spanish-language television programming. Under the terms of their deal, TV Azteca will sell advertising and promote Tubi across broadcast and digital
Steven Canals, who co-created the groundbreaking series “Pose” with Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuck, has inked an overall deal with 20th Century Fox Television. Canals recently made his directorial debut with the eighth episode of “Pose” season 2 titled “Revelations,” and the deal marks his first with any studio. “Pose” is set to return for
Madrid-based The Mediapro Studio and Paraiso Pictures announced at Miami’s NATPE Tuesday a co-production agreement for a new series based on the true story of a drug kingpin turned government operative after the Sept. 11 attacks of 2001. “El Medico,” to be shot in English, is executive-produced and directed by Netflix’s “Fauda” Season 1 director
January 21, 2020 10:58AM PT Darren Baber has joined Warner Records as senior vice president of media and strategic development. He arrives from Epic Records where he worked with such acts as Fifth Harmony, Meghan Trainor and Camila Cabello. Based in Los Angeles, Baber reports to executive vice president of media and strategic development Laura Swanson.
CJ 4DPLEX, the company behind multi-sensory 4DX cinema technology, has announced that it had a record-breaking 2019, grossing more than £246 million ($320 million) for 4DX worldwide. It was the best year yet for the groundbreaking format, marking a 12% increase from 2018’s record $286 million. The uptick is partly credited to booming revenues in
Though his latest few films haven’t fared well at the box office, John Travolta can still crank out a hit on the residential front. The still-busy veteran actor and his wife Kelly Preston have secretly sold their longtime estate in L.A.’s prestigious Brentwood neighborhood for a whopping $18 million, as was first uncovered by the
January 21, 2020 9:03AM PT The country music television network that started the “Next Women of Country” franchise is now promising to be “Half Women of Country.” CMT announced Tuesday that all of its music video programming blocks will consist of 50% female artists from here on out. “Effective immediately all music video hours on
Amy Doyle is exiting her post as general manager of MTV, VH1 and other ViacomCBS cable networks. Doyle had been with Viacom since 1999 and had become a key lieutenant of Chris McCarthy, head of ViacomCBS’ Entertainment and Youth unit that houses MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, Paramount Network and other cable brands and production units.
When it comes to big acquisition deals for independent movies, Sundance is the room where it happens, to borrow a lyric from “Hamilton.” So it’s a lucky coincidence that Lin-Manuel Miranda will be a guest at this year’s film festival. For the first time, Miranda will hit the slopes in Park City, Utah, to rub
Disney has embraced some of the gentle ribbing dished out by “The Simpsons” over the years — hoping to convince more people to sign up for Disney Plus. The media conglomerate released a compilation of what it calls “the best Disney references in ‘The Simpsons,’” which is now part of the Disney empire, with past
Netflix will back Bradley Cooper’s upcoming drama about Leonard Bernstein, the legendary conductor and musical maestro behind “West Side Story” and “Candide,” Variety has confirmed. The film was initially set up at Paramount. It has an A-list lineup of producers, including Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, and Todd Phillips. Kristie Macosko Krieger from
Miss Americana was keeping another song about America in her back pocket, as it turns out. Taylor Swift recorded a song during her “Lover” album sessions, “Only the Young,” that was held back and kept under wraps for the right occasion — that occasion turning out to be “Miss Americana,” the Lana Wilson-directed documentary that
Endeavor Content is upping its local-language game, signing a significant first look deal with Mexico City-based producer Subtrama. Endeavor enters the deal with Exile Content Studio, a long-form English and Spanish content maker. Subtrama is behind films like Gael García Bernal’s “Museo.” Mauricio Katz, Manuel Alcalá, and Panorama Global’s Gerardo Gatica and Alberto Muffelmann run
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Paramount Pictures International has signed a landmark distribution partnership with Italy’s leading independent distribution company Eagle Pictures. Under the deal, Eagle Pictures will release Paramount titles in the country starting in March with John Krasinski’s anticipated horror film “A Quiet Place 2.” Since 2017, Paramount Pictures has had its films released by Fox in Italy,
Harvey Weinstein’s legal team say they have “dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens” of “loving” emails sent to their client from complaining witnesses who accuse Weinstein of sexual harassment. The judge ruled on Tuesday that while Weinstein’s defense will not be prohibited to show the actual emails that witnesses sent to Weinstein, he is
You’d think that the steady drumbeat of streaming services being launched might dull the senses, but Wall Street is rather eager to embrace Peacock. NBCUniversal’s new over-the-top entertainment platform sent shares of corporate parent Comcast to an all-time high after its unveiling at the company’s Jan. 16 investor day. The service brought to you by
Oprah Winfrey explained her decision to step away from “On the Record,” an expose about sexual harassment in the music industry, including women who have accused mogul Russell Simmons of misconduct. The documentary, from filmmakers Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, will premiere at Sundance on Jan. 25. Winfrey, who served as an executive producer and
Lance Oppenheim didn’t set out to make an 83-minute documentary when he started chronicling a group of senior citizens living in a retirement community in central Florida. But after 18 months and hundreds of hours of footage, he began to see the outline of his first feature-length film, “Some Kind of Heaven,” which premieres this
“Not a shot. Not a single chance. Not a snowball’s chance in hell.” Taylor Swift — who, at 30, has reached a Zen state of cheerful realism — laughs as she leans into a pillow she’s placed over her crossed legs inside her suite at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, leaning further still into her infinitesimal odds of winning
When it comes to representation onscreen, it isn’t just how many people of color’s stories get told that is important but also how their stories get told. A new report from the nonprofit Color of Change has found that Netflix, NBC and ABC crime dramas were the top offenders for the 2017-18 television season when
In a casting coup for Telemundo, NBCUniversal Spanish-language network has enlisted Mexican telenovela superstar Fernando Colunga to star in several original productions. The deal kicks off with Colunga tapped to star in “Malverde: El Santo Patron,” (“Malverde: “The Patron Saint”), Telemundo’s first “Super Series” drama done in a period setting. Telemundo’s “Super Series” have shorter
MADRID — Bowing as the demand for premium Spanish-language content still outruns its supply, Chile’s Screen Capital is launching a $20 million venture capital fund targeting principally TV series and movies with part streaming platform distribution. Chile first private investment fund specializing in the audiovisual and entertainment sector, and looking in principle to focus on
MIAMI — Televisa plans to launch a linear Univision-branded channel across Latin America later this year. Televisa, the Mexican media institution, is a major investor in the U.S. Spanish-language network. The ad-supported Univision channel will be offered as a pay TV entry, not streaming, and will be available at the outset in 17 Latin American
MIAMI — It’s official. Two of the Argentine industry’s biggest name actors, Natalia Oreiro (“Gilda”) and Ernesto Alterio (“Clandestine Childhood”), are attached to star in “Santa Evita,” produced by Salma Hayek and co-directed by Rodrigo García (“Nine Lives”), who will also produce. Confirmed by Buena Vista Original Productions on the eve of this year’s NATPE
Sharyn Alfonsi admits she’s having something of a “crazy season” on “60 Minutes.” Her work this year for the CBS newsmagazine has taken her from an investigation of the death of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein to a profile of beloved comedian Adam Sandler. The Sandler feature, which aired late last year, proved to be a
The latest USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative study, titled Inclusion in the Recording Studio?, was released today, the third authored by Dr. Stacy L. Smith. Among its findings: Female songwriters now count for 14.4% of the most popular songs, up from 11.6% in 2018. Even still, more than half (56.4%) of the 800 songs examined by
January 21, 2020 5:30AM PT Music and entertainment law firm Rothenberg, Mohr & Binder LLP has promoted Tiffany R. Almy to partner. The New York-based transactional attorney joined the firm when it opened its doors in 2018. Founded by Paul Rothenberg, Jeremy Mohr and Joshua P. Binder, the trio’s combined clients have included Solange, Charlie
MIAMI — A technology meltdown at Fontainebleau Miami Beach made for a bumpy start to getting settled at NATPE for numerous executives and producers who arrived here over the weekend. Nonetheless, the core business of the content-sales gathering was humming as numerous distributors reported new deals and renewal pacts inked over the past few days.