Category: TV

Vertigo Films is lining up a new horror TV series dubbed The Last Days of Jack Sparks, based on Jason Arnopp’s genre-bending novel of the same name. Screenwriter Gaby Hull (Two Weeks to Live, We Hunt Together) is adapting the book and UK horror master Rob Savage (Host, Dashcam) is set to direct. 

The project sees Savage reunite with Vertigo Films, the company that discovered him at the age of 17 and distributed his first movie Strings. Savage also directed three episodes of historical fantasy Britannia. The director saw success with Zoom-séance hit Host, found footage thriller Dashcam and is currently on post on Stephen King’s The Boogeyman for 20^th Century Studios. 

The Last Days of Jack Sparks follows a pop culture journalist and supernatural sceptic who is making a documentary about the occult. No stranger to controversy, Sparks laughs in the face of the devil by mocking an exorcism he witnesses, putting in motion a series of terrifying, tragic and mysterious events. 

Vertigo Films’ co-founder James Richardson is exec producing and head of development Nathalie Peter-Contesse is overseeing development. 

“Bringing diabolically wonderful books like Jason’s to the screen is a rare treat. The disturbing, hilarious and terrifying story of Jack Sparks is such a unique take on the genre, one that will give audiences a new reason to fear the dark,” said Savage. “Gaby’s uniquely brilliant writing and razor wit make him the perfect collaborator to bring this new nightmare to life and I’m delighted to be working with the batshit Vertigo Films again on this batshit horror odyssey.”

“Deep down in the devil’s workshop, the Dream Team bell is tolling loud and clear,” added Arnopp. “I know that Jack Sparks himself would raise several glasses to these creative hellions and loudly declare that they will do his gruesome and tragic story proud.”

Hull added: “Jason Arnopp’s novel is a contemporary horror masterpiece – as devilishly funny as it is terrifying. With Rob Savage at the helm and the Vertigo team producing, I’m incredibly excited to help introduce viewers to the hellish thrill ride that is Jack Sparks.”

Richardson added: “Vertigo have been working with Rob since he was 17 – he was born to make horror! We warmed up making Britannia together and are now going full unhinged horror with Jack Sparks.  With Rob’s unique storytelling, Gaby’s wonderful script and Jason’s extraordinary novel, we’ve got a horror dream team to make a truly terrifying TV series. British horror can step into the TV spotlight once again.”  

CBS today renewed three more scripted series, dramas NCIS, NCIS: Hawai’i and CSI: Vegas. With recent Season 2 orders for breakout freshmen Fire Country and So Help Me Todd, renewals of comedies Ghosts, The Neighborhood and Bob Hearts Abishola and with the FBI franchise, The Equalizer and Young Sheldon in the midst of multi-season pickups, that leaves Blue Bloods, S.W.A.T. and East New York as the three current CBS scripted series that are yet to get word on next season.

Blue Bloods is the stalwart among the three. Currently in its 13th season, the cop drama starring Tom Selleck remains a Top 5 scripted series on CBS and a cornerstone of the network’s formidable Friday lineup, which was rebuilt this season with S.W.A.T., now in its sixth season, and Fire Country joining Blue Bloods.

Both Blue Bloods and S.W.A.T. are in active renewal negotiations, I hear, with proposed budget cuts among the points that need to be hammered out. Amid overall decline of linear ratings, it has become common practice for broadcast networks to ask for budget reductions on long-running series which naturally become more expensive as they age.

There had been rumblings that the cuts CBS had been pushing for on Blue Bloods were pretty deep, putting the show’s future in limbo, but, after weeks of impasse, I hear negotiations are trending in the right direction and the network is hopeful to have the show back for Season 14.

Produced by CBS Studios, Blue Bloods has been a moneymaker for the company with strong performance on CBS, in syndication and internationally.

CBS recently announced that another veteran procedural, NCIS: Los Angeles, will end with its current 14th season. I heard at the time that high costs played a major part in the decision. Like Blue Bloods, NCIS: LA is a rare long-running hit with a big-name actor(s) in the lead who have been on the show since the start, making the shows more expensive in the later part of their runs.

S.W.A.T., headlined by Shemar Moore, is a rare series to tick up in viewership year-to-year after its move to Fridays this season where the drama has flourished. A co-production between lead Sony Pictures TV and CBS Studios, S.W.A.T. had previously received early renewals. I hear talks for a seventh season have recently started and there are no major hurdles, with sources optimistic that a compromise on budget and other points would be reached.

Last year, CBS went down to the wire on four other co-productions, the three FBI series and The Equalizer, all with Universal TV, which were ultimately renewed for two seasons each.

East New York is a classic bubble series and will likely have to wait for CBS brass to see how new midseason entry True Lies performs in the coming weeks and to review the two drama pilots before they make a decision on the police drama starring Amanda Warren.

EXCLUSIVE: Showmax’s next original drama will explore marital power structures in Ghana.

The Billionaire’s Wife is a 10-part series set to launch next month (March 2). New episodes will stream every Thursday and represent Showmax’s increasing investment in Ghana. 

The show marks the third Showmax Original-branded show from the country, following Shirley Frimpong-Manso drama ENO and docu-reality series My Perfect Funeral, about Ghana’s unique funeral practices.

The Billionaire’s Wife will follow Adepa, a 19-year-old from the slums of Ashaiman who marries an old billionaire with the aim of turning her fortunes around, only to find out that being a billionaire’s wife is the toughest thing she’s ever done.

The 45-minute episodes are set in what Showmax is calling “the glamorous, chaotic, unpredictable and scandalous world of the rich and powerful” in Ghana’s capital Accra.

Newcomer Andriana Akua Amegbor stars as Adepa alongside Kingsley Yamoah (Public Figure), Roselyn Ngissah (Fix Us), Ken Fiati (The Storm), Pascaline Edwards (The Case Study), Selassie Ibrahim (Baby Palaver), Helen Lois (Terminus), Ophelia Walker (Dirty Laundry), Godwin Kwesi Blay Ekra Jnr (Case Study), Foster Romanus, and Florence Nana Ama Agyei.

The Billionaire’s Wife is directed and produced respectively by Ad-Visors duo Danny Adotey and Collins Amlalo, who made drama series Inside Out for Ghanian satellite channel Akwaaba Magic. 

“This series was inspired by countless real-life stories of rich men taking young wives,” said producer Amlalo. “While this in itself is not a new phenomenon, the rise of social media coupled with today’s culture, which openly celebrates money-driven relationships, is making them common-place, forcing us to rethink our attitudes towards these relationships.” “Across Africa, the appetite for local content is stronger than ever,” said Dr. Busola Tejumola, Executive Head of Content and West Africa Channels at Showmax owner MultiChoice. “In Ghana, seven out of 10 most-watched titles on Showmax in 2022 were local, among them, Showmax’s first Original drama ENO. We are excited to unveil The Billionaire’s Wife, another premium Original drama series that will captivate Ghanaian viewers and push the Ghanaian television industry to greater heights.”

Watch a first-look trailer here.

More than 37 years after the release of the original Back To The Future film, stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson and Tom Wilson reunited over the weekend at Fan Expo Portland.

Thompson, who played the role of Lorraine in the franchise’s first two films, shared a selfie on Instagram with Fox, Lloyd and Wilson.

“Wow, honestly had the best time today with my #bttf family,” Thompson wrote alongside the photo. “So many fun fan moments too and a llama,” she added.

Thompson also shared videos, one of her with Lloyd who played eccentric scientist Dr. Emmett ‘Doc’ Brown in the franchise. “Look who’s here. Look what the cat dragged in,” a smiling Thompson said.

Fox, who starred as time traveler Marty McFly, posted on his Instagram story with photos of his fellow former cast members.

“I love being at these FanExpo events and seeing some of my favorite people like Lea, Tom, Chris and all you #bttf heads. Heavy,” he wrote.

Wilson, who starred as Biff Tannen, also shared a selfie of the four with the caption, “Okay, so this happened. 2023”

“I’m a butthead, right?” Thompson asked Wilson in one of her videos, quoting his character’s classic insult from the films. Wilson then channeled his character, gently knocking his fist on Thompson’s head, playfully asking, “Hello, anybody home?”

Back To The Future, directed by Robert Zemeckis, premiered in 1985, followed by Back to the Future Part II in 1989 and Back to the Future Part III in 1990.

Check out Thompson’s instagram post with photos and videos below.

EXCLUSIVE: Banijay Rights has acquired global distribution rights to 72 Films’ four-part doc series on former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The Channel 4 series, Boris (working title), chronicles the rise and fall of Johnson, who is one of the most divisive and perplexing characters in modern politics.

Boris is billed as “the definitive documentary series that reveals the events that shaped Alexander Boris De Pfeffel Johnson, his meteoric rise to power and his extraordinary premiership.”

Johnson, a Conservative and former London Mayor, became the UK’s Prime Minister in 2019. He won a huge majority in a snap election that year and took the UK out of the European Union a year later. However, he was deposed last year after several scandals, many of which related him breaking the Covid-19 rules his own party put in place.  

Grabbing the rights to Boris is something of a coup for Banijay, as rival super-indie Fremantle snapped up a majority stake in producer 72 Films last year. 72 is behind docs such as The Trump Show, Crime & Punishmentand The Elon Musk Show. 

The series promises “rare archive footage” and “access to those with intimate knowledge of Johnson over the years,” including friends and enemies. It will chart his school days at Eton, university at Oxford and his rise as a Tory politician. 72’s Co-founder and Co-CEO David Glover is executive producer. 

Simon Cox, EVP Content & Acquisitions, Banijay Rights, said: “Boris gives a deep insight into one of the UK’s most mystifying and controversial political leaders, revealing how early life events shaped Boris Johnson’s character right up to his tenure as the country’s most powerful man. We’re in no doubt 72 Films’ extraordinary series will be an eye-opening account for international buyers.”

Mark Raphael, Co-founder and Co-CEO, 72 Films, said: “If there’s one single person whose life depicts the recent history of Britain – it’s Boris Johnson. He led the Brexit campaign, was both prime minister and in intensive care during Covid, and is connected to both Russia and Ukraine. This documentary series tells the life story of one of the world’s most compelling characters.”

Boris joins Banijay Rights’ slate of documentary series ahead of the company’s London TV Screenings event at BAFTA on March 1.

Banijay Rights has now subsumed the Beyond Rights catalog after Banijay acquired Beyond International in a deal worth around $30M.

Allison Holker, the widow of Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss, has updated concerned fans on how the family is coping in the wake of her husband’s suicide.

“It has been very challenging and emotional, but you guys have brought so much hope and inspiration to us by sharing stories and memories and moments and different ways that Stephen impacted your life.”

She added, “He lived his life from love, and he made you feel a certain way. My family and I have always said that we wanted to make sure that our purpose was looked out by bringing joy to people.”

The update comes a week after the memorial to her husband, which was held in L.A.  Ellen DeGeneres and cast members from “So You Think You Can Dance” attended.

Everything Everywhere All At Once, Babylon and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery took top film honors at the 27th annual Art Directors Guild Awards tonight. Yvette Nicole Brown hosted tonight’s awards for the second consecutive year at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown. Check out the full list below.

Everything Everywhere All At Once won for Fantasy Feature Film, the Damien Chazelle-directed early Hollywood epic Babylon took the Period Feature prize and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery was honored for Contemporary Feature.

Since the guild launched its trophy show in 1996, one of its top prize winners — for Fantasy, Period or Contemporary Feature — or has gone on to win the Art Direction/Production Design Oscar in 18 of the 26 years, including the past nine in a row. Last year’s ADG’s Fantasy Film winner Dune went on to score the Academy Award.

Vying for the Production Design Oscar next month are the teams behind All Quiet on the Western Front, Avatar: The Way of Water, Babylon, Elvis and The Fabelmans.

The show kicked off with the presentation of the William Cameron Menzies Award to Guillermo del Toro, who stressed the importance of community and collaboration in his acceptance speech. It was followed soon after with del Toro’s Pinocchio winning for Animated Feature Film.

Nicole Kidman flew in from Australia to present the guild’s Cinematic Imagery award to Elvis director Baz Luhrmann and his wife and longtime producing partner Catherine Martin. “Guillermo got it so right, it’s about deep, deep collaboration,” said Luhrmann, adding, “We are so honored to be part of this storytelling community.”

TV winners tonight include del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities for television movie or limited Series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings Of Power for one-hour fantasy single-camera series, Pachinko for one-hour period single-camera series , How I Met Your Father for multi-camera series, Our Flag Means Death for half-hour single-camera series and Severance for one-hour contemporary single-camera series.

Saturday Night Live won the variety series category. The trophy was dedicated to the late Eugene Lee, who had been a production designer on the series since its launch in 1975. Lee died earlier this month at age 83.

RELATED: 2023 Awards Season Calendar – Dates For The Oscars, BAFTAs, Guilds & More

The 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award winners honored tonight were set designer Luis G, Hoyos, production designer Lilly Kilvert, graphic designer Michael Denering and illustrator/storyboard artist Janet Kusnick. Natacha Rambova and Terence Marsh were posthumously inducted into the ADG’s Hall of Fame.

Here are the winners at the 2023 Art Directors Guild Awards:

FANTASY FEATURE FILM 

Everything Everywhere All at Once; Production Designer: Jason Kisvarday         

CONTEMPORARY FEATURE FILM

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery; Production Designer: Rick Heinrichs         

PERIOD FEATURE FILM 

Babylon; Production Designer: Florencia Martin      

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio; Production Designers: Guy Davis, Curt Enderle     

TELEVISION MOVIE OR LIMITED SERIES

Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities; Production Designer: Tamara Deverell          

ONE-HOUR PERIOD SINGLE-CAMERA SERIES

Pachinko: “Chapter One”; Production Designer: Mara LePere-Schloop

MULTI-CAMERA SERIES   

How I Met Your Father: “Pilot”; Production Designer: Glenda Rovello

HALF HOUR SINGLE-CAMERA SERIES

Our Flag Means Death: “Pilot”; Production Designer: Ra Vincent

ONE-HOUR CONTEMPORARY SINGLE-CAMERA SERIES

Severance: “Good News About Hell”; Production Designer: Jeremy Hindle

ONE-HOUR FANTASY SINGLE-CAMERA SERIES

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: “Adar”; Production Designer: Ramsey Avery

VARIETY SPECIAL

94th Annual Oscars; Production Designer: David Korins

VARIETY, REALITY OR COMPETITION SERIES

Saturday Night Live: “Jack Harlow Hosts Season 48 Episode 4, Jack Harlow Musical Guest”

Production Designers: Keith Raywood, Eugene Lee, Akira Yoshimura, N. Joseph De Tullio

SHORT FORMAT: MUSIC VIDEO OR WEBSERIES

Adele “I Drink Wine”; Production Designer: Liam Moore

COMMERCIALS
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power “Title Announcement”; Production Designer: Brian Branstetter

     

Simu Liu has tweeted out his displeasure at being compared to an Asian man in a “celebrity look-a-like” segment simply because of their coethnic background.

The incident happened at the NBA’s Celebrity All-Star game on Friday night.

“I had a great time but this wasn’t cool,” the “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” star tweeted.  

His complaint came after a side-by-side shot of him and an Asian man was displayed on the Jumbotron at the game, which is being held in Utah (see below).

Fans backed Liu’s complaint.

“ Let’s pick random Asian dude’ smdh,” tweeted one fan, while another wrote, “This is so bad in many ways.”

Another had a sharper take. “The issue here is that they have no similar characteristics other than being Asian. Usually when they do this bit, there’s SOMETHING to connect. Haircut, beard, build, something. This is literally just playing into the ‘all Asians look alike’ stereotype.”

Liu today tweeted that he wasn’t blaming the NBA for the incident.

“To be perfectly clear, the entire org and ops team surrounding all-star have been nothing but absolutely stellar to myself and all my friends.

“This was just one person with a camera. and no disrespect to my man in the videotron either! he’s gorgeous we just don’t look alike.”

Netflix’s Co-CEO Ted Sarandos has told an audience of Indian filmmakers that they “ain’t seen nothing yet” in terms of the streamer’s ambitions in the country.

Sarandos was in Mumbai for a fireside conversation with celebrated Indian director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who is making the sweeping new series Heeramandi for Netflix.

Sarandos said India is the fastest growing Netflix market in the world and the company will continue to bet big on originals from the country.

At a separate Economic Times event on Friday, Sarandos said India will get a bigger slice of Netflix’s $16.8B content budget. Netflix has made 100 originals in India, 28 of which were last year.

Heeramandi promises to a major milestone in Netflix’s plans for India. The eight-part series started shooting last June and will tell the stories of courtesans and the hidden cultural reality of Heeramandi, a dazzling district in pre-independent India.

Sonakshi Sinha, Manisha Koirala, Aditi Rao Hydari are among the cast of a story that will put women front and centre. “These were courtesans, who behind their veils they felt so much pain and yet they will come in the evening and sing and dance,” Bhansali said. “They pleased those men, they entertained those men and then they went back to their dark world.”

Bhansali, the director behind BAFTA-nominated Devdas and Gangubai Kathiawadi, which generated Oscar buzz last year, said Heeramandi was his most ambitious project to date.

“Shifting to digital, I’ve made it even bigger. Heeramandi is the biggest project that I’ve made, it’s so huge in scale,” Bhansali said. “I had to do something special … to make him [Sarandos] proud.”

Sarandos compared Bhansali to Baz Luhrmann and praised his attention to detail in investing “a lot in little movements of emotion.” He added: “This will thrill audiences in India and, for many people, it will be the first time they have seen anything like this in the world.”

Sarandos added that it was the “honour of a lifetime” to work with Bhansali.

Alina Starkov is determined to tear down The Fold and save Ravka in the trailer for Netflix‘s Shadow and Bone Season 2.

The trailer, released Friday, begins with General Kirigan (played by Ben Barnes) emerging from the darkness of The Fold with three large scars across his face. As he stands in front of Alina (Jessie Mei Li) with his army of shadows, she realizes that she is the key to stopping him. She and Mal Oretsev (Archie Renaux) set out on a journey to find the Amplifiers — two mythical creatures that can boost Alina’s power, giving her a fighting chance against Kirigan and his growing strength.

But Alina and Mal aren’t the only ones to take note of the havoc The Darkling begins to wreak. Back in Ketterdam, a chance at a deadly heist sends Kaz Brekker (Freddy Carter) and the Crows once again on a collision course with the legendary Sun Summoner and her quest to bring down Kirigan.

Watch the full trailer above.

Shadow and Bone is set in a war-torn world where lowly soldier and orphan Alina Starkov (Mei) has just unleashed an extraordinary power that could be the key to setting her country free. With the monstrous threat of the Shadow Fold looming, Alina is torn from everything she knows to train as part of an elite army of magical soldiers known as Grisha. But as she struggles to hone her power, she finds that allies and enemies can be one and the same and that nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. There are dangerous forces at play, including a crew of charismatic criminals, and it will take more than magic to survive.

Based on the book series by Leigh Bardugo, the series stars Jessie Mei Li (Alina Starkov), Archie Renaux (Malyen Oretsev), Freddy Carter (Kaz Brekker), Amita Suman (Inej Ghafa), Kit Young (Jesper Fahey), Danielle Galligan (Nina Zenik), Daisy Head (Genya Safin), Calahan Skogman (Matthias Helvar), Lewis Tan (Tolya Yul-Bataar), Anna Leong Brophy (Tamar Kir-Bataar), Jack Wolfe (Wylan Hendriks), Patrick Gibson (Nikolai Lantsov) and Ben Barnes (General Kirigan).

Bardugo executive produces alongside Shawn Levy, Josh Barry, Dan Levine, and Dan Cohen for 21 Laps Entertainment, Pouya Shahbazian (Loom Studios) and Shelley Meals. Eric Heisserer and Daegan Fryklind serve as co-showrunners and executive producers.

Shadow and Bone Season 2 debuts on Netflix on March 16.

Starting on Saturday, Silicon Valley will be airing on TBS and True Blood will air on TNT in an experiment to attract new audiences with existing IP.

Both shows will be edited for ad breaks and content, both receiving a TV-MA rating.

HBO content has been syndicated in the past – The Sopranos and Sex and the City are prime examples. Both reruns will immediately follow NBA All-Star game coverage on the coming weekend. After that, True Blood will be seen Mondays at 10 P on TNT, with Silicon Valley airing Sundays at 10 PM on TBS.

WBD has been tapping into the HBO vault to supply the company’s basic cable networks. Recently, Emmy Award-winning comedy Insecure began airing on OWN. The agreement with HBO and Rae does not allow for any edits or alterations to the content besides the insertion of commercial breaks.

Actress-writer-comic Janelle James will host the 2023 Writers Guild Awards show in Los Angeles, which will be held March 5 at the Fairmont Century Plaza. She currently stars in the Writers Guild Award-nominated Abbott Elementary on ABC.

“I am honored to be hosting the WGA Awards this year,” James said in a statement. “I was told that I can say whatever I want. And after making sure that was true and that it would not be televised, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

“A few years ago, when I first worked with the hilarious and fearless Janelle James, my goal was to get her to host the WGA Awards,” said Hugh Fink, the executive producer of the L.A. version of the awards gala. “To commemorate this amazing event,” he quipped, “all nominees will be receiving a $10,000 cash gift, redeemable at all participating FTX Bitcoin exchanges.”

The guild notes that after launching her stand-up career “at an open mic in a biker bar,” James has gone on to tour with Chris Rock, Amy Schumer, and David Cross. In 2016, she was named one of the 50 Funniest People in Brooklyn, and was featured in Just For Laughs Montreal’s New Faces showcase. 

James released her debut comedy album Black and Mild in 2017, and that same yea, got her first TV writing credits on The Rundown with Robin Thede. James would go on to write and have a recurring role on Showtime’s Black Monday and Apple TV+’s Central Park, and in 2020, her podcast You In Danger Gurl was listed as Spotify’s top comedy podcast.