Studio & Project Development Briefs for Feb 12, 2015

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12 Feb 2015

Studiobriefs10

We will be providing briefs of what comes out of the studios or independent project development on a daily basis and summarizing them in daily posts.   These will be a quick way to attempt to keep everyone updated on movement of projects.   This post is updated throughout the day.  So check back for the latest updates.

NON-SPECIFIC (NOT SPECIFIC TO A GIVEN ENTITY)

 

ABC/DISNEY/AMC FAMILY/LIFETIME

 

 

AMC NETWORKS/AMC ENTERTAINMENT/A&E

 

 

CBS/CW/CBSFILMS/SHOWTIME

  • CBS had a better-than-expected fourth quarter earning 79 cents per share on $3.68 Bil in revenues while analysts predicted 78 cents per share with a revenue of $3.65 Bil. Shares rose 2% on Thursday and were up even higher after closing bell.   CBS reported that its results were the best ever fourth-quarter revenue and diluted earnings per share.   More coming…

 

 

DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION (AOL, AMAZON, HULU, NETFLIX, YAHOO)

  • Hulu‘s first original series 11/22/63, adapted from Stephen Kings bestseller of same name, will star James Franco who will also serve as producer for the nine-hour miniseries.  It marks the first origianl programming collaboration between Hulu and Warner Bros. TV.  Franco will play the lead role of Epping, a high-school English teacher who travels back in time to prevent President John F. Kennedy from being shot, however is unsuccessful as the mission is threatened by Lee Harvey Oswald and Epping falls sway to the past, which resists change. The time-travel Kennedy assassination thriller hails from JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot Prods. and Warner Bros. TV.  King will executive produce with Abrams and writer Bridget Carpenter.
  • Deadline:  Bosch Review:  Dominic Patten on Amazon’s Damn Good Hourlong Cop Drama

 

DISCOVERY COMMUNICATIONS (DISCOVERY CHANNEL)

 

 

DREAMWORKS

 

DREAMWORKS ANIMATION

 

 

FOX ENTERTAINMENT GROUP/FOX SEARCHLIGHT

  • Fox has cast Eric McCormack (Will and Grace) to star in their new dramedy pilot, Studio City.   Studio City will be written by Krista Vernoff, who is the inspiration behind the pilot, who will also executive produce the pilot.   John Wells (John Wells Productions), based with Warner Bros. Television will also executive produce the pilot along with Andrew Stearn.   Sanaa Hamri will direct.   Studio City is about a young singer’s path to stardom as she comes of age living with her songwriter father, Rob (McCormack), who turns out to be a drug dealer to the stars.
  • 20th Century Fox Television has cast Rob Lowe to star and executive produce their new single-camera comedy, The Grinder.  The script will be penned by Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel who both will executive produce with Lowe on the project, alongside Nicholas Stoller.   The pilot will be executive produced by Jake Kasdan.  When beloved TV lawyer Dean Sanderson’s (Lowe) long-running hit series comes to an end, he finds himself at a crossroads in life and decides to move back to the small hometown he grew up in, thinking he has enough legal experience from playing the TV lawyer to take over his family’s law firm.
  • THR Exclusive:  Gail Berman on Dig Buzz, Why She and Lloyd Braun Split and Dreams of Reviving Buffy
  • Fox‘s multi-camera hybrid pilot Fantasy Life, written by Tim McAuliffe has just added Vanessa Williams to play opposite Kevin Connolly.  Fantasy Life is executive produced by Connolly and McAuliffe and 3 Arts’ Michael Rotenberg, Jonathan Berry, Greg Walter and Troy Zien.   Fantasy Life is based on a memoir of ESPN’s Matthew Berry, one of the US’ top fantasy football experts.   The story is about a hard-working guy named Mitch (Connolly) who lands his ultimate dream job hosting a fantasy football show.  However he is forced to navigate office politics while rising in stardom.   Williams will play a character named Terry who is a bold, pragmatic, unapologetically caustic and apologetically compassionate Senior Vice President of Programming at a major sports network.  She becomes Mitch’s new boss.
  • Fox‘s psychological thriller, The Mountain will be directed by Brad Parker, produced by Red Hour Films.   Helen Childress penned the script.   The logline and more story details are being kept under wraps.

 

NBC/UNIVERSAL STUDIOS/USA NETWORK

  • The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon saw a surge in ratings during the week it’s airing was out of Los Angeles, giving it the highest ratings in nearly eight months in the demo.   See Specific Numbers
  • TheWrap Exclusive:  Inside Brian Williams Camp:  Anchor Mulls Redemption, Apology Tour
  • NBC‘s Saturday Night Live (SNL) is going to be celebrating its 40th Anniversary with a special on Sunday with a three and a half hour show.   The guest list is getting quite large and added onto the list is Billy Crystal, Oscar-nominees Bradley Cooper and Edward Norton, singer/musician Miley Cyrus, ex-cast members Kevin Nealon, Ana Gasteyer, Colin Quinn, Joe Piscopo, Tim Meadows and Will Forte. So now the full guest list includes: Fred Armisen, Dan Aykroyd, Alec Baldwin, Jim Carrey, Dana Carvey, Chevy Chase, Bradley Cooper, Billy Crystal, Jane Curtin, Miley Cyrus, Robert De Niro, Jimmy Fallon, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, James Franco, Will Forte, Zach Galifianakis, Ana Gasteyer, Bill Hader, Jon Hamm, Tom Hanks, Derek Jeter, Norm MacDonald, Peyton Manning, Steve Martin, Melissa McCarthy, Paul McCartney, Tim Meadows, Seth Meyers, Garrett Morris, Eddie Murphy, Bill Murray, Mike Myers, Kevin Nealon, Laraine Newman, Jack Nicholson, Edward Norton, Joe Piscopo, Amy Poehler, Colin Quinn, Chris Rock, Paul Rudd, Maya Rudolph, Andy Samberg, Adam Sandler, Jerry Seinfeld, Molly Shannon, Martin Short, Paul Simon, David Spade, Emma Stone, Jason Sudeikis, Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, Christopher Walken, Kerry Washington, Kanye West, Betty White, Kristen Wiig…Whew!
  • NBC has cast David Lyons (Revolution) to play the lead in their new drama pilot, Game of Silence from Carol Mendelsohn (CSI) and David Hudgins (Parenthood EP), as well as Sony TV.  Hudgins has penned the pilot script and will executive produce with Mendelsohn, Julie Weitz, Oplev, Timur Savci and Tariq Jalil.   Neils Arden Oplev will direct.  Game of Silence is about a rising attorney named Jackson (Lyons), who on the brink of success could lose his perfectly crafted life when his long-lost childhood friends threaten to expose a dark secret form their violent past.

 

 

LIONSGATE

 

 

SONY/TRISTAR/COLUMBIA

  • First footage of the new James Bond thriller Spectre available (see below).  Daniel Craig returns as the super-spy with some behind the scenes footage while on location for Spectre as James Bond 007 in the Austrian Alps.   Associated Producer says that they were filming one of the major action sequences in the Alps which he called “a jewel in the crown, so to speak.”  Sam Mendes is directing the film.   Other cast on the film include:  new recruits Christoph Waltz, Andrew Scott, Dave Bautista, Monica Bellucci and Léa Seydoux and returning cast Rory Kinnear, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris and Ralph Fiennes.   Locations besides the Austrian Alps planned for the film include London, Rome, Mexico City, Tangier and Erfoud.  Spectre is planned for November 6th and comes with the following logline: A cryptic message from Bond’s past sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organization. While M battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, Bond peels back the layers of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind Spectre.

 

 

 

TIME WARNER/WARNER BROS./HBO/ TURNER/TNT/TBS

  • TNT has renewed The Librarians for a Second  ten-episode Season.  The Librarians stars Rebecca Romijn, Christian Kane, Lindy Booth, John Kim, John Larroquette, and Noah Wyle and is produced by Electric Entertainment from executive producers Dean Devlin, John Rogers, Marc Roskin and Wyle.   The series was the most-watched cable debut in 2014.   The Librarians averages around 11.4 Mil viewers a week.   New episodes will return late this year.
  • HBO’s sibling, Cinemax announced it is renewing Banshee for a fourth 8-episode season, which returns in 2016.   Banshee is executive produced by Alan Ball, Greg Yaitanes, Jonathan Tropper, Peter Macdissi, Adam Targum and Ole Christian Madsen.   Returning cast and crew members will be announced at a later date.
  • Cinemax has also acquired the script of Robert Kirkman (EP for The Walking Dead) and Chris Black, Outcast with a 10-episode order to series.   Kirkman and Black will serve as executive producers alongside David Alpert of Circle of Confusion, Sharon Tal Yguado of FIC and Sue Naegle.   Adam Wingard directs the series. Outcast is about Kyle Barnes (Patrick Fugit) who is a young man plagued by demonic possessiveness all of his life.   With the help of Reverend Anderson (Philip Glenister), who has demons of his own, Kyle embarks on a journey to find answers and hopefully regain a normal life that he has lost.   However, what Kyle discovers could change not only his fate, but the fate of the world forever.   Gabriel Bateman co-stars.
  • Warner Bros.’ Arms and The Dudes, directed by Todd Phillips, just signed on Miles Teller (Whiplash) to join Jonah Hill to star in the feature. Scott Budnick(Hangover),  Mark Gordon(Criminal Minds), Todd Phillips(Old School),  and Bryan Zuriff (The Messenger) are producing.  Joseph Garner (The Hangover Part II), and David Siegel (The Hangover) are executive producing. The script is penned by Todd Phillips and Jason Smilovic (Lucky Number Slevin).  Arms and The Dudes is about two “unlikely” arms dealers securing a $300 Mil contract with the Pentagon to supply weapons for US allies in Afghanistan but find themselves in danger abroad and in trouble back home.   Teller plays David Packouz, a licensed massage therapist in Miami who joins Efraim Divroli in international arms-dealing.
  • Check out Reese Witherspoon & Sofia Vergara in ‘Hot Pursuit’ – Official Trailer Released, in Theaters May 8

 

VIACOM/COMEDY CENTRAL/PARAMOUNT

  • Breaking News:  Emile Hirsch has been charged with a felony assault after chocking Paramount Pictures female executive, Dani Bernfield last month at Sundance Film Festival.   The alleged incident took place on Sunday, January 25 in the early morning hours (3:30 AM) at Tao nightclub in Park City, Utah.  Police authorities were called in to the scene by Bernfield who claimed Hirsch, who had been drinking had dragged her across a table, after a verbal altercation and pulled her into a choke-hold.   Hirsch was arrested the morning of the incident.  If convicted, Hirsch could face up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine according to Utah’s Summit County law officials.   Tao was in full swing, full of Sundance Festival attendees where one of their parties was being held when the incident took place.  Stay tuned…

 

INDIE

  • Variety:  Tribeca Film Festival to Open with SNL Documentary Live from New York!
  • Univision Communications announced via a fourth-quarter earnings conference call with CFO Andrew Hobson today that an initial public offering (IPO) is the most likely option for private equity owners to exit their investment in the Spanish-language media company.   He projected than an IPO would be likely in the next 12-18 months, but that the decision still lies with current owners.   Univision buyout in 2007 left it a privately owned entity, owned by Thomas H. Lee Partners, Providence Equity Partners and Saban Capital Group, among others.  Televisa also owns a stake in the company, the Mexican-broadcasting providing programming to Univision.  “We have strong momentum,” CEO Randy Falco said, predicting 2015 would be “another great year” for the company.  When asked about challenges for TV networks, Falco talked about technological changes that were causing confusion.  Digital advertising was causing a lot of trepidation and confusion while sought after, yet marketers were still uncertain about it in the market.   He also talked about audience measurement remaining a problem, talking about the out-of-home mobile viewing that still has to be captured in some fashion.
  • Still Alice Writer/Directors pitched to Studio 8 a  project, The Shoe, resulting in a deal for the duo with Jeff Robinov’s Studio 8.   See More
Posted in: ABC, AMC, CBS, Film, FOX, NBC, News, Televsion ⋅ Tagged: abctag, , , foxtag, nbctag, othernettag,

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