Mara Brock Akil and Salim Akil have signed a three-year overall deal with Warner Bros TV through Akil Productions. The married duo previously had two back-to-back deals at BET where they executive produced the hit series, The Game. Mara Brock Akil also created and executive produced The CW series Girlfriends, which lasted for eight seasons. They will continue to executive produce the series Being Mary Jane starring Gabrielle Union.
UK production company Betty is opening a U.S.-based production arm. In lieu of the launch they have hired former Discovery Networks International exec Jon Sechrist as SVP and head of production & development to handle the current developing production slate, which includes The Food Inspectors, Kings of the Wild and Too Ugly for Love? He will also develop new series with a focus on factual and factual entertainment programming.
AwesomenessTV and DHX inked an original development and production agreement for content to air on Family Channel in Canada. DHX Television licensed three series: AwesomenessTV, a sketch comedy series on Nickelodeon US, Bethany Mota and Ingrid Nilsen hosted reality series Make Me Over, and docu-series Cheerleaders, for Family Channel.
Producer Gordon Ramsay has signed another two year deal with Fox under his One Potato, Two Potato shingle. Under the deal he will produce 80 or more hours of programming. He’s been at Fox since 2005 and recently completed the upcoming seasons of MasterChef Jr. 4, and Hell’s Kitchen 15 and 16. He was also behind the popular series, Kitchen Nightmares which just ended its decade long run. He’s also producing children’s reality program, Matilda and the Ramsay Bunch, which was given a 15 episode order by CBBC.
Splash Entertainment-owned VOD network Kabillion has inked distribution deals with DISH Network and Hulu. Their series include Televisa’s El Chavo (Mexico) and Red Kite’s Wendy (UK). Kabillion also recently acquired Casper’s Scare School and George of the Jungle from Florida-based distributor Broadcast Partners. Kabillion is available in more than 50 million U.S. homes and ranked among the top 10 free on-demand networks for kids in the U.S.
Rodrigo Brandão’s distribution company, Cinema Slate, which focuses on Latin American film has signed a deal with subscription-based streaming service Fandor to release four Brazilian films to U.S. audiences beginning in September 2015. The films will be distributed theatrically through Cinema Slate, with day and date streaming release on Fandor, as part of Cinema Slate’s Brazilian Film Series: Year One, which spotlights Brazilian up and comer filmmakers to American audiences. The Moving Creatures (O Que Se Move), an omnibus film by Cateano Gotardo, will be their first release followed by Hard Labor (Trabalhar Cansa), Fellipe Barbosa’s Casa Grande in November and Eryk Rocha’s Sunday Ball in December.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Bold Films have signed a first-look deal where the actor will acquire and develop new material. They previously worked together on the critically-acclaimed feature Nightcrawler which Bold Films co-financed and produced and Gyllenhaal starred in and produced. Gyllenhaal has also tapped former Red Crown Productions’ President of Production Riva Marker as a production executive for his new, yet unnamed company. The next film for Bold will be John Erick Dowdle’s action thriller No Escape starring Owen Wilson, Pierce Brosnan and Lake Bell to be released August 26 through The Weinstein Company.