Jackie de Crinis has signed an overall deal with Universal Cable Prods. Under the deal, she will serve as an executive producer on the USA/UCP 10-episode straight-to-series drama Eyewitness and will develop new projects for the studio. She is currently in Canada where Eyewitness starts production this week. This comes with the news that she has left her post as USA Network’s EVP of original programming. Prior to that she was VP of drama at ABC, responsible for Once and Again and Cupid.
Peter Ocko has inked an overall deal with AMC. Under the deal, he is joining AMC’s drama project Lodge 49 as executive producer and showrunner alongside executive producer Paul Giamatti. His previous credits include Elementary, Black Sails, The Leftovers and Pushing Daisies. He also created the CBS drama 3 lbs.
Hell’s Kitchen’s Gordon Ramsay has launched his own banner, Studio Ramsay as part of a new joint venture with All3Media to develop and produce both scripted and unscripted projects. His first foray into scripted programming will focus on food-related themes as well as developing new talent around the world. The U.K.’s largest independent TV andfilm company, All3Media previously collaborated with Ramsay on Kitchen Nightmares.
Kerry Washington has signed an overall deal with cable/digital division ABC Signature Studios, for her production company Simpson Street. Under the two-year deal, Simpson Street will develop broadcast, cable and digital projects exclusively for ABC Studios and ABC Signature. As part of the pact, Sharla Sumpter Bridgett has been hired as a development executive/producing partner. The shingle’s first project, which preceded the overall deal, was the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas HBO movie Confirmation.
Turner and Criterion are launching a new ad-free, streaming service for film lovers named FilmStruck. It will have a mix of contemporary, classic art house, indie, foreign and cult films. The service will be the exclusive home to the Criterion Collection and feature a channel curated by the Criterion team. The titles to offered will include Seven Samurai, A Hard Day’s Night, Mad Max and Blood Simple.
Producers Shawn Piller and Lloyd Segan and their production company, Piller Segan, have entered into a multi-year television first-look agreement with global independent studio Entertainment One (eOne). Under the partnership, eOne will serve as the studio, deficit financier and worldwide distributor on all their television and digital projects. eOne first joined forces with Segan and Piller on the long-running series Haven based on the Stephen King novella The Colorado Kid, and most recently on their highly-anticipated Private Eyes, starring Jason Priestley.
Rob Shaftel has started a New York-based full-service unscripted production company called Hit+Run. He was formerly the SVP of Development at ITV Studios America. His new banner will focus on creating “high concept and high quality character driven series” and original formats for broadcast, cable and digital platforms. Shaftel will executive produce all series at the company, and has hired fellow ITV alum Noah Korn as Senior Director of Development.
Noah Hawley and his 26 Key Productions have entered into an first-look film deal with 20th Century Fox. He gained accolades for his translation of Fargo from film to a TV series. As part of the pact, Leigh Kittay will now be the head of film at 26 Keys, the production company Hawley oversees with partner John Cameron. 26 Keys is currently in development on Man Alive, a sci-fi project that Hawley may direct.
Wesley Snipes and his banner Maandi Media DMM have signed a multi-film deal with WWE Studios to develop and produce elevated branded content as well as films. WWE Studios will handle worldwide rights and leverage its platforms including weekly TV shows, digital and social media, and WWE Network to bolster awareness. The first film under the deal is entitled Temple, which stars Snipes, Anne Heche, Dave Annable and WWE wrestler Seth Rollins. The second pic in the deal will begin production this year.
Michael Seitzman has signed a new two-year overall deal with ABC Studios. List his previous deals, this deal will only be for development purposes. His last two pacts with CBS resulted in two series, created/exec produced by Seitzman, Intelligence and Code Black, both on CBS. On the film side, Seitzman wrote North Country and produced Incarnate for Blumhouse and Universal, to be released in summer 2017.