Former agent George Monkland and producer Rowena Wallace have united to launch Peach House, a London-based talent management and production outfit that has the backing of fledgling management collective Tricycle Talent. Peach House will represent a wide variety of emerging and established U.K. and international actors, musicians, writers and directors across film, TV and theatre.
Smithsonian Channel has signed on for a second season of TCB Media Rights and Woodcut Media’s “Combat Ships.” Smithsonian has handed an 8 x 60’ episode order for season two, set to air on its U.S. and U.K. channels. Filming has already commenced, with a summer air date in the works. The second season of
I don’t envy the job of a debate moderator wrangling a stage full of candidates, especially when Twitter, instant replay, and 24-hour cable news breakdowns make every syllable they say the subject of such intense and immediate scrutiny. However: The one thing entirely in their control is the slate of questions they ask, and over
Starz is bouncing around ideas for “Power” prequels and sequels, said president and CEO Jeffrey Hirsch at the Television Critics Assn. winter press tour on Tuesday, also discussing the “John Wick” spinoff series “The Continental” and a “Weeds” reboot. The exec also briefly responded to questions about Orlando Jones’ exit from “American Gods,” calling him
Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders sparred on Tuesday night over the question of electability, as Sanders denied having said that a woman could not win the presidency. Warren said on Monday that Sanders had told her in December 2018 that a woman could not be elected — while Sanders said the claim was “ludicrous.”
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched the Jan. 14 conclusion of “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” More than a month after it began, the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover event crashed to a close Tuesday night on the CW with back-to-back episodes of “Arrow” and “Legends of Tomorrow” that brought the action
January 14, 2020 6:27PM PT A new director has been hired on the flagship feature film at Skydance Animation, a division of David Ellison’s company run by former Pixar chief John Lasseter. Peggy Holmes, a name in the animation space who has directed and choreographed for years at Disney, has replaced Alessandro Carloni. Skydance and
“Outlander” just might be on Starz until the year 2080. That’s if executive producer Maril Davis has her way. Asked for the umpteenth time about the future of the show, Davis joked that Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan will playing the lead characters “until they’re 100.” “We’ll keep going as long as there’s interest,” said
January 14, 2020 6:13PM PT In this week’s edition of the Variety Movie Commercial Tracker, powered by the always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company iSpot.tv, Universal Pictures claims the top spot in spending with “Dolittle.” Ads placed for the fantasy-adventure film had an estimated media value of $8.22 million through Sunday for 1,092 national
January 14, 2020 6:07PM PT ‘The Joy Luck Club’ actor Tsai Chin plays a chain-smoking Chinatown granny who stands up to the triads in Sasie Sealy’s unlikely crime caper. While Lulu Wang’s emotional family drama “The Farewell” may have broken through last year, and upcoming comic book adaptations “Birds of Prey” (by Cathy Yan) and
SPOILER WARNING: Do not read ahead if you have not watched the finale of The CW’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” Ezra Miller’s iteration of the Flash just crashed the DC TV universe. Miller made a cameo on The CW’s big crossover event, “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” on Tuesday night, officially connecting the TV and film
George Cheeks, vice chairman of NBCUniversal Content Studios, has stepped down after nearly eight years with the company and is poised to join ViacomCBS as a successor to Joe Ianniello as the head of CBS’ operations within the newly merged company, sources familiar with the situation tell Variety. The surprise move on the CBS side
In today’s TV news roundup, Starz has released a trailer for Season 5 of “Outlander,” and Amazon Prime Video announced casting for “The Power.” CASTINGS WWE superstars Sasha Banks, Brie Bella, Nikki Bella, Alexa Bliss, Sonya Deville, Charlotte Flair, Nia Jax, Becky Lynch and Natalya have been cast as participants in Quibi and WWE’s upcoming series
Rita Vennari has been elected president of the Association of Talent Agents, the trade organization that has been locked in a battle with the Writers Guild of America for nearly a year. Vennari is president of SBV Talent, a commercial and voiceover agency that she founded in 1978. She will serve a two-year term as
Starz president and CEO Jeffrey Hirsch briefly discussed Orlando Jones departure from “American Gods” during an appearance at the Television Critics Association winter press tour on Tuesday. Jones starred as Mr. Nancy on Seasons 1 and 2 of the show, but described what he called his “firing” from Season 3 by showrunner Charles “Chic” Eglee
The stakes are high for the remaining Democratic presidential candidates as Tuesday marks the final debate before the Iowa caucuses. The six qualifying candidates will take the stage in Des Moines on Tuesday at 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET, and there are plenty of ways for viewers to follow along. The seventh debate, hosted by
Exclusive TMZ.com Tekashi 6ix9ine wants out of prison ASAP to serve the remainder of his sentence at home because the rapper believes he’s at serious risk behind bars. Tekashi’s lawyer, Lance Lazzaro, just filed docs, obtained by TMZ, asking the judge to allow him to serve the rest of his 24-month sentence under home confinement
January 14, 2020 3:50PM PT Run-DMC will perform with Aerosmith at the Grammy Awards on January 26, a source close to the situation tells Variety. The duo are not expected to perform with the Boston group for their entire set — which makes it seem likely that the band will perform a career-spanning medley, as
Monday morning’s Oscar nominations rebooted the #OscarsSoWhite conversation, reigniting discussion about representation after women were shut out of the directing category and only one person of color — Cynthia Erivo — was nominated in the acting categories. At the premiere of Amazon Original’s “Troop Zero” at The Grove in Los Angeles on Monday evening, the
Janelle Monáe doesn’t “live [her] life in a binary way.” Therefore, she doesn’t look at her body of work as being a musician first and an actor second, or vice versa. Instead, she just wants to “tell stories that need to be told,” she said at the Television Critics Assn. press tour panel for her
January 14, 2020 2:09PM PT Actor and acting coach Stan Kirsch, best known for his role in the TV series “Highlander,” was found dead Saturday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 51. Kirsch who played Richie Ryan for six seasons for the popular 90’s show, died of an apparent suicide, according to TMZ.
Maïmouna Doucouré’s “Cuties,” which plays in Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition and will then screen in the Berlinale’s Generation Kplus section, has been picked up by Netflix worldwide, excluding France. The film’s producer Zangro gave an exclusive interview to Variety about the film, and his next project. “Cuties” is about the hyper-sexualization of
Netflix has bought world rights, excluding France, to Maimouna Doucouré’s debut feature “Cuties,” which has its world premiere in Sundance’s 2020 World Cinema Dramatic Competition, and will then screen in the Berlinale’s Generation Kplus section. The pic, playing under the Netflix brand, will be translated into more than 40 languages, and screened in the streamer’s
Amazon’s “Lord of the Rings” series has officially announced its main cast. Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur and Nazanin Boniadi are among the series stars. Also joining the cast is Tom Budge, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Charlie Vickers. “After undertaking an
January 14, 2020 12:43PM PT Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden have been cast in the lead roles of the Russo brothers’ upcoming drama series at Amazon. The announcement was made Tuesday at the Television Critics Association winter press tour. The series is titled “Citadel.” Details of the plot are being kept under wraps. Amazon
Amazon is officially moving head with its “Jack Reacher” series. The streamer has officially greenlit the project, which is based on Lee Childs’ book series about the title character. Hailing from producers Amazon Studios, Skydance Television and Paramount Television Studios, “Jack Reacher” will be exec produced by Nick Santora, who will serve as writer and
“12 Years a Slave” director Steve McQueen and actors Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal have inked deals with Amazon. McQueen’s deal is an overall which will see him create and produce content for Amazon Studios. As part of the deal, the television project “Last Days,” a Lammas Park and See-Saw Films production, has been
The Tracy Oliver comedy series in the works at Amazon has found its main cast members. Meagan Good, Grace Byers, Jerrie Johnson and Shoniqua Shandai have all been cast in the half-hour comedy series which hails from the “Girls Trip” scribe, Universal Television, and Amy Poehler’s Paper Kite Productions. Additionally, Amazon has announced that “Girls
The CW has ordered both “Superman and Lois,” starring Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch, and its “Walker, Texas Ranger” reboot with Jared Padalecki to series. Both projects are still in the script stage, with their first episodes set to be shot this spring in advance of the network’s upfront presentation in May. “Superman and Lois” will follow
The cast and creators of “Star Trek: Picard” turned out for the show’s premiere at the ArcLight Cinerama Dome on Monday night. In the spirit of the festive atmosphere of the night, Variety asked them which “Star Trek” character, past or present, they’d most like to pound a few Romulan ales with at the local