Kent Jones has never liked rejecting films submitted for the New York Film Festival. But now that he’s written and directed “Diane,” NYFF’s director likes it even less. “Diane,” his narrative film debut, revolves around a selfless widow (Mary Kay Place) struggling to help her drug-addicted son (Jake Lacy). The film debuted at this year’s
Die-hard Philadelphia sports fans who reside outside the City of Brotherly Love’s market confines can now stream NBC Sports Philadelphia’s programming for the Eagles, Phillies and Sixers — but the new subscription plan doesn’t include any live games. NBC Sports Regional Networks is launching “Philly Pass,” a direct-to-consumer product targeted at displaced Philadelphia sports fans,
Since 1992, virtually all New York Film Festival opening night films have been North American or, since 2012, world premieres. But this year’s choice, “The Favourite,” crossed an unofficial line in the sand by getting a North American premiere at Telluride before opening the 56th NYFF on Sept. 28. The only exception — 2009’s French
The last time I interviewed Cher was at her Malibu mega-mansion, and before the photo shoot, I committed a cardinal sin: I accidentally knocked over the wig she planned to wear. It toppled over and hit the kitchen floor with a thud as Cher’s glam squad looked on, horrified. Fortunately, I was assured that Cher
Gil Schwartz, CBS’ long-serving head of corporate communications, is set to retire as of Nov. 1 after more than 20 years with the company. Schwartz’s departure marks another transition for the company that is in the midst of a massive corporate shakeup following the forced resignation of CEO Leslie Moonves on Sept. 9. Schwartz has
Indie singer Lauv dropped a new single and video on Thursday featuring artist and hit songwriter Julia Michael called “There’s No Way.” The pair are set to perform the single on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on Oct. 1. [embedded content] Michaels said on writing the song, “Writing with Ari [Leff, Lauv’s real name]
Say what you will about rarefied Japanese enviro-auteur Naomi Kawase, but there are relatively few filmmakers whose work can be identified from its image system alone, and she is firmly in that club. It takes mere seconds for “Vision” (her tenth feature, and her first to be shot partially in English) to announce itself as
The International Emmys are living up to their name, with a globe-spanning set of nominees announced Thursday for this year’s awards. Endemol Shine, HBO, Fox and Sony all scored noms, while Amazon and Netflix landed just one apiece, a modest showing given their recent run at awards shows and their increasing number of international originals.
In its fifth season, “How To Get Away With Murder” is “going back to basics with Annalise in the classroom” — but showrunner Pete Nowalk promises plenty of new mysteries, including another death and the arrival of a new law student, Gabriel Maddox (Rome Flynn). “Annalise started as a lawyer who wanted splashy cases and attention
In their breakout TV roles, Damon Wayans Jr. (“Happy Endings”) and Amber Stevens West (“The Carmichael Show”) proved themselves to be perfect sitcom utility players. Both were tasked at times with lending grounding reality to ensemble series that only just managed to keep their balance without spiraling into mania, and both displayed their own amiable
September 27, 2018 7:55AM PT “I tried to fuse both of our worlds together and bring us both to a place we wouldn’t have gone to by ourselves,” Zedd says. Variety‘s Young Hollywood cover star Shawn Mendes has teamed up with Grammy-winning artist/producer/DJ Zedd on a new remix his latest single “Lost In Japan.” The
WndrCo, the investment and holding company led by Jeffrey Katzenberg, invested $30 million in The Infatuation, a digital-media and events company focused on restaurant guides and food. The Infatuation was founded in 2009 in by Chris Stang and Andrew Steinthal, two former music-industry execs. The New York City-based company in March 2018 acquired restaurant-review brand
September 27, 2018 7:28AM PT When “House of Cards” returns for its final season Nov. 2 on Netflix, Claire Underwood (Robin Wright) will be the most powerful woman in the world. “The reign of the middle-aged white man is over,” she says in a teaser for the season. As the President of the United States,
Reflector Entertainment has announced its “Unknown 9” franchise, and will host an experiential showcase introducing the transmedia universe during New York Comic-Con. The Montreal-based production company enlisted industry veterans to bring the project to life across multiple platforms, including comic books, podcasts, novels, video games, film, and TV. The company’s CEO and creative director Alexandre
The Ink Factory and Marc Platt Prods. are joining forces to adapt “We Were Never Here,” the highly anticipated novel from Lara Prescott based on events surrounding the publication of Boris Pasternak’s “Doctor Zhivago.” The project sets up a high-caliber partnership between The Ink Factory, the team behind BBC and AMC series “The Night Manager”
WASHINGTON — Christine Blasey Ford, the psychology professor who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault when they were both high schoolers, is about to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee in what is likely to be a historic moment in the #MeToo movement. Kavanaugh will appear later in the day to
AMC Networks is pressing for a big crowd to watch “Dynasties,” the latest in a series of big spectaculars centered around nature and the environment. The BBC America series focuses on five different species of endangered animals, and will debut Saturday, January 19 at 9 p.m. During its run, it will be simulcast across four
Island Records today announced LaTrice Burnette has been appointed Executive Vice President and General Manager, joining the label’s senior management team. Burnette, who will be based in New York, will work across the label’s artist roster and report directly to Island president Darcus Beese. “Success isn’t always about the roster, it’s also about the staff,”
September 27, 2018 6:53AM PT Netherlands-based sales agent Dutch Features has acquired worldwide rights to RTL’s upcoming crime series “Mocro Maffia” in the run-up to Mipcom. “Mocro Maffia” is a fiction series based on the popular book of the same name by journalists Wouter Laumans and Marijn Schrijver. The plot is inspired by the recent
Michael Ovitz’s personal calendar boasted 30 years of lunches at the Grill on the Alley, red carpet premieres, and the kind of ruthless, corporate fighting that once made him the most powerful man in Hollywood. Those days are long past him. The now 71-year old former super agent is semi-retired, and struck a diminutive and
Fox Sports hired David Katz, founder of ThePostGame and a former exec at Yahoo and CBS, as executive VP of digital. In the role, Katz is responsible for managing the Fox Sports digital business, overseeing content and distribution for the group. Fox Sports Digital’s properties include FoxSports.com and the Fox Sports Go live-streaming authenticated video
The NFL’s live-streaming pact with Amazon for the 2018 season kicks off Thursday — and the ecommerce giant company has some new tricks up its sleeve for “.” Amazon is offering Fox’s feed of 11 “Thursday Night Football” games this season, available across Prime Video and Twitch, the company’s game-streaming platform. New this season, Amazon
September 27, 2018 5:30AM PT ABC, CBS, and NBC — preempting their usual daytime TV lineups — will air live reports as Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. The highly anticipated event, which is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. ET on Thursday, Sept.
DVR pioneer Tivo isn’t ready to cede the cord cutting market to Amazon and its new Fire TV Recast: The company is releasing a new version of its Bolt DVR this Friday that’s squarely aimed at people without cable television. The new Tivo Bolt OTA is capable of recording up to four programs at the
Over 300 hours of international scripted TV will be available on the PBS Masterpiece channel on Amazon after the U.S. broadcaster struck a deal with Walter Presents, the on-demand drama service backed by the U.K.’s Channel 4. Selected titles will also play on the linear PBS service. Walter Presents has a lineup of non-English-language drama,
SAN SEBASTIAN — Omar Zúñiga Hidalgo’s debut feature “Los fuertes” screened for the first time to potential industry partners at San Sebastian’s Films in Progress competition this week. Zúñiga’s short “San Cristóbal” took a Teddy Award at the 2015 Berlin Festival. Zúñiga, Dominga Sotomayor and Catalina Marín are co-founders of Cinestación Producciones, the Santiago-based production
SAN SEBASTIAN — Scenes Isabel Coixet’s romantic, historical drama “Elisa & Marcela” were sneak peeked at the San Sebastian Festival on Tuesday, along with further details,. The feature will be released by Netflix in 2019. A Netflix original – produced by Barcelona-based Rodar y Rodar, A Coruña’s Zenit TV and Córdoba’s Lanube Películas in co-production with
The second edition of the Pingyao International Film Festival will kick off next month with a screening of “Half The Sky,” in which five female directors approach the subject of womanhood and femininity by telling the stories of different women. The film is directed by Daniela Thomas, Elizaveta Stishova, Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, Liu Yulin, Sara
Production is under way on “The Whistleblower,” one of the biggest Australian-Chinese co-production movies ever made. The film is a thriller about a Chinese expatriate who discovers a conspiracy at the firm he is working for. The film is directed by Chinese woman director Xue Xiaolu, who achieved a critical breakthrough in 2010 by putting
Channel 4 has snapped up several new CBS dramas and will air the rebooted “Charmed” series and Harry Styles-produced comedy “Happy Together.” The British broadcaster has also secured new seasons of “The Good Wife” spinoff “The Good Fight” as part of a new programming deal with CBS Studios International. “Charmed,” a re-imagining of the classic