Company Launches, Partnerships & Deals
Kevin Biegel, who’s known as the co-creator of Cougar Town, has signed a two-year overall deal with ABC Television Studios. Under the agreement, Biegel will develop new projects and be the consulting producer on new comedy at ABC family, The Real O’Neals.
Lionsgate TV has signed Good Wife writer Keith Eisner to an multi-year overall pact. He will join the EPIX series Graves as an EP while developing and producing new scripted programming.
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and Women In Film Los Angeles have signed a multi-year partnership dedicated to raising awareness about the lack of gender equality in the industry and celebrate the achievements of women who have succeeded in film. TCM will run the programming initiative over three weeks in October and will take a deeper look at gender inequality in the film industry, and will tackle pro-social elements (research, resources, tools, etc) to assist women filmmakers in furthering their careers.
Marc Webb has signed an exclusive two-year overall deal with CBS TV. His two pilots he directed and will EP, drama Limitless and comedy Crazy Ex-Girlfriend were picked up by CBS and CW respectively. Both will be produced by CBS TV Studios. He also will develop new projects for network and cable and direct pilots for the studio.
Elizabeth Banks and producing partner Max Handelman (the duo behind Pitch Perfect 2) have signed an exclusive overall producing deal with Warner Bros Television for their Brownstone Productions. Under the multi-year pact, the pair will develop and produce new series for the studio.
Jay and Mark Duplass have signed a two-year overall deal with HBO under their Duplass Brothers Television shingle. The duo already EP two series for HBO, Togetherness and Anmials. Stephanie Langhoff, the President of Duplass Brothers Productions, will also oversee Duplass Brothers Television.
Director-cinematographer Alik Sakharov has inked a first-look TV development deal with The Weinstein Company. Under the agreement, Sakharov will develop original ideas for television to both direct and produce. He will return to direct episodes of the TWC and Netflix series Marco Polo next season. Sakharov most recently directed episodes of Game Of Thrones. He was also the co-executive producer on Black Sails for Starz.
The IMAX China Film Fund has been set up with subsidiary IMAX China and partner China Media Capital to focus on investing in a minimum of 10 Mandarin-language tent-poles based on an initial capitalization of up to $50 million. The partnership with CMC will target investments of $3-7 million per local film.
Devil’s Due Entertainment and 1First Comics have combined to form Devil’s Due / 1First Comics LLC, a mini-major comics publishing company focused on creator-owned work. The merger combines each company’s comic libraries and business infrastructure, with implications for both the comics industry and film/television. The new company will release six original graphic novels and launch five new ongoing comic series in 2015 with the new imprint appearing on comics beginning in the fall.
Mucho Mas Media, a partnership between Pelican Point Media and Texican Media, has joined with Brillstein Entertainment Partners to co-produce feature films for the U.S. Latin demographic. The first projects are slated for production this year, will focus on high-concept comedies and thriller-horror films and faith-based films in the budget range of under $2.5 million.
Bona Film Group, China’s largest private film company, has partnered with state-backed Huaxia Film Distribution to co-produce and distribute around five films a year. Bona Film released their 26-picture slate at the Shanghai Film Festival to celebrate the company’s 15th anniversary.
Zachary Levi has launched a production company, Middle Man Productions focusing on developing and producing character-driven comedy and drama projects, to be based at Universal Television where he recently signed a first-look deal. Levi has already staffed his shingle, naming Erik Olsen as EVP and Justin Allen as VP. At Uni TV, Levi is producing the musical comedy project Tuned and will appear in the Heroes Reborn NBC limited series.
Chinese online giant Alibaba Group is launched a video streaming service akin to Netflix. It will be named Tmall Box Office (TBO) and stream in-house productions in addition to content from within China and imported from other countries.
TV creator Courtney Kemp Agboh has signed an overall deal with Starz. Under the deal she will continue to EP and be a showrunner on Starz’s Powers. The season premiere of the show set a new season premiere ratings record for Starz with 1.43 million Live + same day viewers and landed a season 3 renewal.
The Neighbors and Galavant creator Dan Fogelman has decided to sign with 20th Century Fox TV in a four-year overall deal amidst a competitive bidding war. He was previously at ABC Studios. Under the new pure development deal he will develop drama, live-action and animated comedy projects, producing, writing himself or supervising other writers.
The Carrie Diaries creator Amy B. Harris has inked a two-year overall deal with ABC Studios. She will be an EP/showrunner on ABC’s Wicked City and develop new projects for network, cable and streaming services. She is repped by CAA and attorney Karl Austen.
Film
Michael Clear has signed on to head Atomic Monster, the James Wan shingle at New Line as part of Wan’s Conjuring 2 helming deal. Clear will supervise day-to-day operations and report directly to Wan. Their next projects include Aquaman and Robotech.
Fox has officially named James Murdoch the CEO to take effect July 1. As expected, Rupert Murdoch will be named Executive Co-Chairman along with his son Lachlan Murdoch. Chase Carey is shifting from President and COO to Executive Vice Chairman, to take effect on July 1 as well.
Paramount Pictures announced the appointment of former IMAX China manager Tara Yin to General Manager of its China office. Yin will oversee the distribution and marketing of Paramount films in China and work closely with China Film Group and other Chinese partners in this fast growing market.
STX Entertainment has hired longtime music exec Jason Markey as EVP and Head of Music and will oversee all aspects of the music for films including production of scores and soundtracks. He will source songs and develop original music for 12 to 15 movies a year. Prior to STX, he was the EVP Music & Soundtracks at Relativity Media for six years and also had worked at MCA Records and Arista Records.
Alexandra Loewy is the new SVP of Development at Di Bonaventura Pictures. She was previously SVP, Development and Production at Global Produce.
Tracy Falco has partnered with Lawrence Bender in his first look deal with Access Industries (AI Film) run by CEO Aviv Giladi. At Universal, Falco headed the development and production of Little Fockers, and Nancy Meyers’ It’s Complicated.
Marvel Studios has rehired Rob Steffens as CFO of the Disney-owned studio, taking over for Chris Acquaviva who has left the company. He will report to Marvel Chairman Isaac Permutter. Steffens was previously CFO in 2013 but had left to become CFO and COO of Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video. In addition, Mindy Hamilton has left Paramount to be Global Partnerships SVP at Marvel and will report to Steffens.
Previous Warp Films EP and BAFTA winner, Mary Burke has been named a senior production and development exec at the BFI Film Fund and will work closely with writers, directors and producers across development and production on British features.
TV
Endemol Shine International, the global TV distribution arm of the Endemol Shine Group, has picked Simon Cox as Head of Acquisitions. Cox was previously an Investment Manager at Ingenious Media, where he was responsible for deals on such scripted productions as ITV’s The Frankenstein Chronicles and Channel 4’s Coalition.
Marina Dompke is the new Manager of Development at Valhalla Ent. She was previously a Coordinator of Drama Development & Programming, FOX Broadcasting Company.
Adriana Padilla has been named a producer on CNN's Declassified. The eight part series will be hosted by former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers. Padilla was previously the Director of Production at Check Six that specialized in travel productions.Maria Fischer is the new Director Network Program Publicity at Crown Media Family Networks. She was previously a Freelance Publicist at FerenComm. Chandler Hayes joins her there as Director of Network of Program Publicity as well. He was previously the Publicity Director at ABC Ent. Group.
Susana Voets has been named vice president of communications for BBC Worldwide Productions and Adjacent Productions, the production arms of BBC Worldwide North America. Voets most recently worked as a publicity and talent relations consultant.
Richard Gay is the new EVP of Strategy & Operations, BET Networks. He previously held the same position in Viacom’s music division.
Following Charlie Collier’s appointment to AMC President & General Manager Collier to President & General Manager of both AMC and SundanceTV he has similarily expanded his senior management team’s roles across both divisions. Jan Diedrichsen who was AMC’s SVP of Affiliate Marketing has been named Exec. Director of SundanceTV. Marnie Black was promoted to EVP of Public Relations for AMC and SundanceTV. Others expanding their roles at AMC to include SundanceTV include: Tom Halleen in Programming & Scheduling, Mac McKean in Digital Media, Melanie Schneider in Research, Linda Schupack in Marketing and Joel Stillerman in Original Programming.
Alexandra Heidrich is the new Head of TV Sales & Acquisitions, Global Screen, up from Sales & Acquisitions Manager.
Joelly Mejia is new Manager of Development at Pie Town Productions. Joelly was previously a Development Producer at Figure 8 Films.
ITV Studios’ Shiver has hired on Richard Hastings to the new role of Creative Director of Factual Entertainment, Formats and Daytime. He will develop and produce factual entertainment programming at Shiver, from returning formats to factual-led entertainment for UK and international broadcasters. Previously at the BBC, he created BBC One’s Saturday Kitchen, BBC Two’s The Hairy Bikers’ Cook Off and BBC Three’s Young Talent Of The Year. Chris Leanza has been promoted from VP to SVP Development & Programming at Timberman/Beverly Productions. Axel Boehm is the new SVP of International Sales at Sonar Ent. He was previously SVP of European Sales at Red Arrow Ent. in Munich. Patrick Phelan is the new VP of International Sales at Sonar. He was formerly a Senior Sales Manager at Tandem/StudioCanal.
Roberto Ruiz has been upped from SVP to EVP of Strategy & Insights at Univision Communications.
Universal TV has brought on Mike Clements as their new EVP Comedy Development and will report to Universal TV president Bela Bajaria. Also joining is Jim Donnelly as SVP Comedy Development who will report to Clements.
Entertainment One Television has hired TV industry veteran Pancho Mansfield as President of Global Scripted Programming. Based in eOne’s L.A. office, Mansfield will head the studio’s original scripted slate and leading scripted efforts worldwide and work closely with eOne Television leadership to manage development and production efforts across eOne’s territories, including: U.S. Scripted Development led by Gerard Bocaccio; and Global Production, led by Carrie Stein.
Julie Pernworth has been promoted to EVP, Comedy Development for CBS and will oversee development of new CBS comedy series and report to CBS Entertainment chairman Nina Tassler. She takes over for EVP Wendi Trilling who announced she would be leaving recently after her 20 year plus tenure. Pernworth has worked closely with Trilling while she was SVP to develop shows like The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men and How I Met Your Mother.
Lucid Road Productions (shingle of Breaking Bad alum Aaron Paul) has closed a first-look deal with Hulu sibling Universal Television. The company produces The Way, a Hulu drama series Paul will star and produce.
Management, PR, Agencies
David Lust, who was most recently a VP at Rogers & Cowan has joined Integrated PR’s core West Coast team. Maggi L. Simpson also joins him. She was previously an in-house publicist for companies including Sony and Paramount Pictures.
Former ICM Partners talent agent Nigel Meiojas has left for UTA. Clients include Robert Duvall, Alexander Ludwig, Lucas Black, Kevin Zegers, Virginia Gardner, Josh Stewart, and Alyssa Sutherland are expected to follow.
Abrams Artists Agency has upped Manal Hammad to Agent in the newly formed Literary Division in the Los Angeles office, and promoted David Doerrer to Agent and Director of Foreign Rights in the Book Division in New York.
Independent PR firm DKC has landed John Singh as VP in the entertainment division’s Los Angeles office. Singh was previously a DreamWorks Animation exec. He will report directly to Joe Quenqua, director of DKC’s entertainment practice. Also, Christine Sun, who managed national publicity at Lionsgate, joins the firm’s New York office entertainment division. DKC’s clients include The Dr. Oz Show, History, PBS, Marvel, Sirius Satellite Radio and Univision.
David Doerrer has been upped to Agent and Director of Foreign Rights at Abrams Artists, up from Coordinator. Likewise Manal Hammad has been promoted from Coordinator to Literary Agent.
Peter Letz has been named Collective Digital Studio’s new Director of Gaming Network. He was previously a Principal at Cousin Pete Productions & Management.
Christine Sun is now an Account Executive, Entertainment at DKC. She was previously a Manager of National Publicity at Lionsgate.
Jayme Yarow has been upped from assistant to literary agent at Innovative Artists.
Manage-ment has signed on Corinne Hayoun to run its New York based headquarters, manage clients and continue to produce theater. Hayoun spent eight years at CAA repping stage talentand is a producer of the Jim Parsons-starrer Broadway play An Act Of God.
Music, Digital, Publishing, Misc.
Annie Award winning animation veteran Eric Goldberg, with credits on Aladdin, Hercules and Fantasia/2000, has signed on with the faculty of the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Starting fall 2015, he will teach classes on the fundamentals of character animation as part of the John C. Hench Division of Animation and Digital Arts.
James Powell is the new Global Chief Technology Officer at Nielsen, he previously was the EVP, CTO at Thomson Reuters.
Domenic Venuto was named General Manager, AdFX, The Weather Company. He was formerly Global President, Data, Technology & Partnerships at VivaKi. Rhonda Bitterman has been named VP, Agency Partnerships & Development there. She was formerly the Sales Director at Pandora Radio.
Bryce Hunter has been named Senior Director, Strategy & Operations at Temple Street Media Ventures. He was previously Producer, Interactive at DHX Media.
Former EVP of Microsoft’s XBox Entertainment Studios, Jordan Levin has been hired by the NFL to be their first chief content officer, overseeing the league’s programming efforts. In his new role he will develop and implement content for the NFL Network and NFL Now online platforms and head the Super Bowl Halftime Show and work with other media partners that broadcast NFL games.
Teal Newland is the new SVP, Marketing & Partner Management, Condé Nast Entertainment. Previously Teal was VP Revenue, Marketing & Partnerships at StumbleUpon.
Dick Costolo is leaving Twitter where he held the post of CEO. Jack Dorsey, its chairman and co-founder, will take over as interim chief executive July 1 as Twitter looks for a permanent CEO. Meanwhile, Costolo will stay on Twitter’s board.
Erica Winograd has been named head of development at Vox Entertainment. She was previously Executive Director of Digital Content at FremantleMedia North America.