Since Perry Simon joined PBS a year ago, he has instituted a programming strategy that is tailored to the unique set of challenges that the public broadcaster faces in the evolving media world. He has also employed a fair number of silly references and acronyms. When PBS’ new programming chief says “LOL,” for instance, he’s
“The more believable you can make the character [look], the more people believe how [it’s] feeling,” says Tony Smeed, who, with Becky Bresee, shared the challenge of heading animation on Disney’s highly anticipated “Frozen II.” “Emotion comes from inside and manifests itself into actions and facial expressions. Anything beyond that is movement for the sake
Filmmaker Cameron Crowe has joined the lineup for Variety‘s second annual Music for Screens Summit, where he’s set for a keynote interview to discuss adapting his Oscar-winning “Almost Famous” into a newly premiered and already highly praised stage musical. Crowe, who’s also responsible for directing and/or writing such music-heavy films as “Say Anything” and “Fast
HBO Max is continuing to build out its children’s programming with series orders for two kids competition series. The two shows, “Karma” and “Craftopia,” have both received eight-episode orders at the nascent streamer. “Karma” will be hosted by YouTube star Michelle Khare, while “Craftopia” will be hosted by Lauren Riihimaki, aka LaurDIY of YouTube fame.
Pearlena Igbokwe was an English major at Yale, so it’s no surprise that she loves the process of reading and analyzing a literary work, breaking down the text and identifying its major themes and conclusions. In grade school, she was the type of kid who didn’t groan when a book report was assigned. These instincts
Check out the official The Turning Trailer starring Finn Wolfhard! Let us know what you think in the comments below. ► Sign up for a Fandango FanAlert for The Turning: https://www.fandango.com/the-turning-2020-220496/movie-overview?cmp=MCYT_YouTube_Desc Want to be notified of all the latest movie trailers? Subscribe to the channel and click the bell icon to stay up to date.
October 9, 2019 9:22AM PT AT&T is selling its wireless and wireline operations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to Liberty Latin America for $1.95 billion in cash. AT&T has been on a mission to reduce its enormous debt load from last year’s $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner through asset sales and
Check out the official Earthquake Bird trailer starring Alicia Vikander! Let us know what you think in the comments below. ► Sign up for a Fandango FanAlert for Earthquake Bird: https://www.fandango.com/earthquake-bird-220360/movie-overview?cmp=MCYT_YouTube_Desc Want to be notified of all the latest movie trailers? Subscribe to the channel and click the bell icon to stay up to date.
Hayley Kiyoko will be honored by the Trevor Project, a leading organization dedicated to suicide prevention and crisis intervention for LGBTQ youth. Kiyoko will receive the “Youth Innovator Award” at the TrevorLIVE LA event for her commitment to supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning young people. Previous honorees include Amandla Stenberg, Tyler Oakley,
Apple approved an app that lets users track the location of police in Hong Kong — a move that China’s state-run newspaper criticized, saying it lets pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong “go on with violent acts.” “Nobody wants to drag Apple into the lingering unrest in Hong Kong,” according to the English-language version of an
“Aquaman” star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II has landed one of the lead roles in the latest installment in the “Matrix” franchise. Sources tell Variety that director Lana Wachowski met with actors for the secret role over the last week and in recent days, Abdul-Mateen emerged as the frontrunner to join Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss, who
“This Is Us” dipped a little in the ratings from last week, but still came out on top on Tuesday night. The NBC drama scored a 1.6 rating among adults 18-49 and 7.2 million total viewers, down a meager 6% on last week. Coupled with its lead-in “The Voice,” which came second with a 1.5
To capitulate to Chinese censorship, or not to capitulate? That’s the billion-dollar question increasingly facing U.S.entertainment companies that wish to retain their access to China’s enormous 1.4 billion-person market while maintaining a veneer of integrity in the eyes of supporters back home. A “South Park” episode and a single tweet from an NBA employee have
True Royalty TV has embarked on a new funding round and wants to raise $12 million as it looks to expand its royal-themed streaming service. The SVOD player has brought in Laurence Hollingworth, J.P. Morgan’s former vice chairman, EMEA, as chairman of its board as it plots its next moves. True Royalty TV’s initial seed-funding
Lana Del Rey has announced the next U.S. leg of her tour in support of her latest album, “Norman F—ing Rockwell,” with an additional run of shows across the U.S. this fall. Produced by Live Nation, the additional eleven-city outing will kick off November 3 in Albuquerque, New Mexico and make stops in Denver, Chicago, and more, before
Long before the women of the Marvel Cinematic Universe joined forces for the epic female scene in “Avengers: Endgame, Marvel had expressed interest in an all-women Marvel mashup movie. But after uniting in battle in the finale of “Endgame,” fans have been asking when they’ll see the female movie hit theaters. Now, Brie Larson, one
“Treadstone,” which begins in East Berlin in 1973 and zooms ahead to multiple locations in the present day, is, we’re told in its credits, “based on an organization from the Bourne series of novels by Robert Ludlum.” The description seems apt, in its clunky way. The Treadstone organization, which trains people to be supersoldiers and
Matt Lauer penned a letter on Wednesday morning, staunchly denying former NBC News co-worker Brooke Nevils’ allegations that he raped her in his hotel room at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Lauer says the accusation — as detailed in Ronan Farrow’s new book, “Catch and Kill” — is “categorically false, ignores the facts, and defies common
Harold Ryan, after more than three years in stealth mode, is finally ready to talk about his next venture after leaving as head of Bungie, the game studio behind hits like “Halo” and “Destiny.” Ryan said he’s set up ProbablyMonsters as a different kind of game developer: It functions as a holding company and incubator
The Woodstock Film Festival, New York’s self-declared “fiercely independent” weeklong cinema celebration, wrapped its 20th edition on October 6. Held within the welcoming milieu of the Hudson Valley, the forward-thinking gathering hosts films, panels, parties and award ceremonies not just in Woodstock, but also in neighboring towns Rosendale, Rhinebeck, Saugerties and Kingston. At the heart
Unlike most countries, terrestrial radio in the U.S. is not required to pay a performance royalty on the music it plays, a situation that the creator community has long railed against, and the commercial radio community has long worked to protect. Below, recording artist-actor Common and SoundExchange President/CEO Michael Huppe weigh in on the situation.
MADRID — Already producing 34 scripted series, The Mediapro Studio is now entering second-phase growth, naming Laura Fernández Espeso to the newly-created post of corporate director and expanding other senior management positions to meet the market needs of one of the fastest-expanding scripted series producers in Europe. Announcement of the appointments comes as The Mediapro
Mediaset is moving into the international TV arena with a high-end series about Tommaso Buscetta, the first high-ranking member of Cosa Nostra to break the Sicilian Mafia’s oath of silence. Working-titled “Don Masino” the eight-episode show is being shepherded by prominent producer Pietro Valsecchi through his TaoDue film and TV shingle, which is fully owned
Actor Patrick Dempsey and showrunner Darren Star will be feted by Canneseries, the series festival, at next week’s TV market and conference Mipcom. Dempsey will receive the Excellence Award in recognition of his 30-year career in television and cinema. He is best known for his portrayal of Dr. Derek Shepherd on the hit ABC series
October 9, 2019 3:24AM PT Sony has acquired international rights to Annie Silverstein’s featured debut “Bull” which world premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section and went on to win three awards at Deauville. The deal with Sony was negotiated by London-based Constellation Film which represents the film in international
MADRID — France’s M6 Group, the country’s second-biggest broadcast network, has acquired free-to-air TV rights to Leticia Dolera’s Canneseries winner “Perfect Life,” a banner Movistar Plus Original Series sold by Beta Film, where three women friends see their life turned upside down by over-30s crises: Hence the photo. . The deal marks the second milestone
October 9, 2019 2:41AM PT Becky G will host the 2019 MTV EMAs. The singer-songwriter and actress will also perform at the awards, which will take place in Seville, Spain. She is set for a busy night as she also has a nomination at the awards, taking on Ariana Grande, Camila Cabello, Halsey, the Jonas
Taiwan’s Golden Horse Film Festival has unveiled that a massive 40 aspiring feature film projects have been selected for its annual project market, the Film Project Promotion. A further 8 efforts will be presented in the work in progress section. The event runs Nov. 19-21 in Taipei. The winners will be announced at a closing ceremony
The BBC and RTL have bought “The Investigation,” the upcoming drama about the murder of Swedish journalist Kim Wall. It comes from Tobias Lindholm, the writer-director behind Oscar-nominated picture “A War.” Lindholm’s TV credits include Nordic hit “Borgen” and Netflix drama “Mindhunter.” Fremantle’s Miso Film is on production duty. Fremantle is distributing and closed the
MADRID — TeamTO, one of France’s foremost CG animation companies, will make the unusual move of bringing a largely animatics sample from history of pop anthology “We are Family” onto the market at MipJunior. Anyone who caught last month’s Cartoon Forum presentation of the projected animation series will realize why, however. “We’ve never shown animatics