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New to the bustling city of Los Angeles is Claire, a young woman from Kansas hoping to make it as a screenwriter. To pay the bills, she drives for a ride-sharing service called Orbit, navigating the sprawling metropolis and meeting an array of colorful characters. But one night, she accepts a fare that will test both her grit and her grip on reality.

When Claire picks up the enigmatic Carl from the Hollywood Hills, she instantly senses something is off about him. Her unease only grows as Carl confesses to a horrific crime during the drive. Then, when the car crashes, Carl mysteriously vanishes. Or does he?

Over the next few hours, the line between pursuer and pursued becomes blurred as Carl stalks Claire through the neon-drenched streets of LA. It seems he knows her every move before she makes it, playing a disturbing game of cat and mouse.

With...

With DVD boxsets of landmark series like The Wire and Mad Men now gathering subtle layers of ambient cabinet-dust whilst the buffering wheel endlessly churns on your bug-ridden streamer of choice, it’d be fair to say that the so-called “Golden Age” of TV drama has passed. Of course, there were other golden eras of TV before Walter White broke bad or Lena Dunham’s Girls terrorized New York. And there will be golden eras again–full of unforgettable stories and distinct, signature creative perspectives.

Of course, at Film Independent we’re not just going to sit around and wait for the next big episodic storytelling residence to occur out of thin air. No, we’re actively working to make it happen–most recently via this year’s inaugural Imaginar TV Incubator. Or more specifically “The Imaginar TV Incubator for Fearless Latinx Creators”, launched together with our partners at FX and in collaboration with Nalip,...

Exclusive: Dove Cameron (Schmigadoon!) and Avan Jogia (Orphan Black: Echoes) have been set to topline Obsession, a thriller series produced by Amazon MGM Studios and Atomic Monster, which was ordered at the end of last year.

Written and executive produced by Lisa Zwerling and Karyn Usher, the show is based on Catherine Ryan Howard’s 2021 international bestseller 56 Days. The story follows Oliver (Jogia) and Ciara (Cameron), who, after meeting randomly in a supermarket, fall for each other fast, and dangerously hard. 56 days later, homicide investigators arrive at Oliver’s apartment to find an unidentified body — brutally murdered and intentionally decomposed. Did he kill her? Did she kill him? Intercutting between an intense single day in the present investigation and the twisted trajectory of the young lovers’ affair in the past, the series is both a crime story and an erotic, psychological thriller.

James Wan, Michael Clear, and Rob Hackett are exec producing via Atomic Monster,...

Starring Maika Monroe as a rideshare driver who encounters a killer client played by Dane DeHaan, Veena Sud's The Stranger has found new life as a recut feature film following its release as a Quibi series back in 2020.

With this new version of The Stranger now streaming on Hulu, Daily Dead had the pleasure of speaking with Dane to discuss the revival of The Stranger, and he also reflected on playing a sociopathic killer who relishes in doing evil deeds, exploring the dangerous side of technology, and working with Maika Monroe and Veena Sud!

You can watch our full interview with Dane DeHaan below, and for more insights into The Stranger, be sure to check out our interview with Veena Sud!

About The Stranger

From Veena Sud, acclaimed creator of The Killing comes an edge-of-your-seat ride through one life-changing night. New to Los Angeles, rideshare driver Clare picks up...

Remember Quibi? The short-lived streaming service-turned-punchline, which vastly overestimated how many people felt compelled to watch bite-sized shows and movies on their phones, seems to have done one thing right before being folded into the Roku Channel: allowing creators to retain ownership of their work after a two-year exclusivity window. Not content to let her 13-part thriller series “The Stranger” disappear along with the platform on which it debuted, “The Killing” creator Veena Sud recut the project into a feature film alongside editor Philip Fowler. Gone are the 8-minute episodes named after the hour in which they take place (beginning with 7 p.m. and ending at 7 a.m.), replaced by a 98-minute Hulu feature that shows no sign of having been overhauled.

Six days after moving to Los Angeles with her dog Pebbles, rideshare driver Clare (Maika Monroe) picks up Carl E. (Dane DeHaan) from a mansion that doesn’t belong to him.

I still have fond memories of gathering around the TV with my family on Sunday nights to watch Veena Sud's captivating TV series The Killing (based on Forbrydelsen by Søren Sveistrup), so I'm especially thrilled that Veena's 2020 Quibi series The Stranger (starring Maika Monroe as a rideshare driver who encounters a killer client played by Dane DeHaan) has been recut and re-released as a feature film that's now streaming on Hulu!

Daily Dead had the pleasure of catching up with Veena in a new video interview to discuss the unique multi-year journey of this new version of The Stranger, including the importance of co-owning the copyright to the project, restructuring The Stranger as a feature film, and working with Maika Monroe, Dane DeHaan, Avan Jogia, and their canine co-star Preston!

About The Stranger

From Veena Sud, acclaimed creator of The Killing comes an edge-of-your-seat ride through one life-changing night.

Horror is back in theaters with the bloody Universal Monsters movie Abigail this Friday, but this week is also serving up plenty of brand new horror to watch from the comfort of home.

Here’s all the new horror releasing April 15, 2024 – April 21, 2024!

For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.

Remember Quibi? The short-lived, bite-sized entertainment experiment gave us some horror gems including a horror anthology series from Sam Raimi, most of which is currently unavailable to watch anywhere. But there’s good news for one of Quibi’s projects this week, as Veena Sud’s series “The Stranger” has found new life over on the Hulu streaming service.

Written and directed by Veena Sud (The Lie, Seven Seconds, The Killing), Quibi’s “The Stranger” has been recut into a feature film, and it’s now streaming only on Hulu.

In The Stranger, “New to Los Angeles,...

Coming on the heels of Baz Luhrman’s decision to re-edit “Australia” into a mini-series for Hulu, taking an already long film and stretching it well beyond its breaking point in “Faraway Downs,” Veena Sud has chosen to do the opposite for the streaming service. Taking her forgotten Quibi show “The Stranger” — a short-form web series about a rideshare driver (Maika Monroe) who picks up a deranged stalker (Dane DeHaan), leading to the worst night of life — and reformatting it as a lean 90-minute film, Sud recontextualizes Quibi’s ten-minute episodes into a highly episodic, and occasionally bumpy, thriller.

Continue reading ‘The Stranger’ Review: Veena Sud Re-Edits Her Quibi Series Into an Entertainingly Implausible Thriller at The Playlist.

Writer/director Veena Sud‘s Hulu movie “The Stranger” is a one-night thriller that allows for only a couple of scenes before rideshare driver Clare (Maika Monroe) realizes she’s made a horrible mistake picking up passenger Carl (Dane DeHaan). From that point, the movie is a nonstop adrenaline rush and so perfectly paced that the most surprising thing about it is that it didn’t begin as a feature film at all — this new Hulu movie is a re-edit of a series Sud initially made for Quibi.

Before its swift demise, Quibi was a platform designed for people to watch shows in 10-minute episodes on their phones, with content presented in dual simultaneous aspect ratios so that one could watch the episodes either vertically or horizontally. The unique format provided filmmakers like Sud, Mark Pellington, and Catherine Hardwicke opportunities to experiment with new ways of storytelling; it also gave...

Veena Sud is no stranger to the tangled streaming rights game when it comes to distribution.

After her Quibi series folded, the filmmaker is now bringing her breakout horror hit “The Stranger” to Hulu with a new director’s cut. “Longlegs” actress and horror staple Maika Monroe plays a rideshare driver who goes through a twelve-hour fight for survival when she picks up Carl (Dane DeHaan), a passenger who becomes her worst nightmare. Avan Jogia co-stars in the former series which is now a feature film.

“The Stranger” began as a Quibi series, which meant that Sud co-owned the copyright to the work, as part of the Quibi business model. Sud is now able to “self-distribute” the footage, recut as a feature.

“For artists and creatives in the industry, the right to own one’s work has been a decades-long

struggle. From the creation of United Artists in 1919, to Paul Newman,...

In April 2020, “The Stranger,” the story of a driver who picks up the rideshare passenger from hell, debuted on Quibi with the world in lockdown. Like most of the bite-sized pieces of entertainment that premiered on the service it came and went without much fanfare, a fate that ultimately was shared by Quibi itself. Launched by Jeffrey Katzenberg with the idea of making short pieces of content that could be consumed on smartphones by people in transit, Quibi had the misfortune of launching as Covid-19 was leading the world into an extended period of couch potato-dom.

“Obviously, the timing was unfortunate,” says Veena Sud, the writer, director and show-runner of “The Stranger.” “But Jeffrey was very generous in supporting all of us filmmakers over the course of making our shows. It just didn’t succeed.”

But “The Stranger” has a fresh chance to connect with audiences who may have missed it the first time around.

Veena Sud's 2010s TV series The Killing (based on Forbrydelsen by Søren Sveistrup) is still one of the most enthralling viewing experiences I've ever had, so I'm especially thrilled that Veena's 2020 Quibi series The Stranger (starring Maika Monroe as a rideshare driver who encounters a killer client plalyed by Dane DeHaan) has been re-cut as a feature film that will arrive on Hulu on April 15th:

Press Release: - TV creator and filmmaker Veena Sud and Hulu announced today that they are teaming on the release of Sud’s latest project, The Stranger. The horror film, which stars Maika Monroe (star of It Follows and Neon’s upcoming Longlegs), Dane DeHaan (recently seen in Oppenheimer and star of HBO’s The Staircase) and Avan Jogia, was written and directed by Sud, whose previous work includes the Emmy-nominated AMC/Netflix mystery series The Killing and police violence drama Seven Seconds,...

Sundance Film Festival 2025 is set to take place on Jan. 23-Feb. 2 in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah. Submissions will open later this spring.

“While the next Sundance Film Festival is still 10 months away, we’re already laying the foundation for the 2025 edition, looking ahead to sharing a new group of artists’ work with audiences at the start of next year,” said Eugene Hernandez, director of Sundance Film Festival and Public Programming.

This year’s festival marked Hernandez’s first as director. The Grand Jury awarded prizes to films “In the Summers” in the U.S. Dramatic category, “Porcelain War” (U.S. Documentary), “Sujo” (World Cinema Dramatic) and “A New Kind of Wilderness” (World Cinema Documentary).

Natalie Burn Cast in Medieval Epic ‘The Last Redemption’

Natalie Burn is the latest to be cast in John Real’s Middle Ages action flick “The Last Redemption,” which just wrapped production in Italy.

Once upon a time, a bunch of disgustingly wealthy entertainment executives got together with a dream — a dream that answers the question, "What if people consumed film and TV in short segments like a TikTok playlist, but on a brand new platform that no one is going to pay to use with a bananas ridiculous name?" The result was Quibi, a short-form streaming platform that went as quickly as it came, shutting down after only seven months of operation and hemorrhaging over a billion dollars from investors.

The downfall of Quibi rivals that of fellow colossal "good idea on paper but never gonna happen in execution" entertainment failure, MoviePass, but came with the depressing caveat that Quibi actually produced a huge chunk of *content* that was now at risk of being drop-kicked into the unstreamable void of tax write-off and nothingness unless other platforms stepped in to save them. Fortunately,...

Remember Quibi? The short-lived, bite-sized entertainment experiment gave us some horror gems including a brand new horror anthology series from Sam Raimi, most of which is currently unavailable to watch anywhere. But there’s good news for one of Quibi’s projects this week, as Veena Sud’s series “The Stranger” has found new life as a Hulu feature film.

Written and directed by Veena Sud (The Lie, Seven Seconds, The Killing), Quibi’s “The Stranger” has been recut into a feature film, and it’s coming to Hulu on April 15, 2024.

In The Stranger, “New to Los Angeles, rideshare driver Clare picks up Carl from a home deep in the Hollywood Hills. What begins as a routine ride turns into Clare’s worst nightmare: a twelve-hour fight for survival through the city’s seedy underbelly. Carl is not the passenger Clare thought he was, and Clare is not easy prey.

True Detective has to be one of the most brilliant anthology mystery thriller shows ever made. Originally created by Nic Pizzolatto, the HBO series told a dark and haunting tale through the brilliant performances by Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in its first season. The quality of the series took a nosedive in its second season and the third season while better from Season 2 didn’t really match the expectation that the inaugural season of True Detective set. Now, we are in Season 4 titled Night Country and with a new creative force behind the series, the fans are getting exactly what they want. So, if you have already finished the much awaited Season 4 of True Detective and are hoping for a renewal, here are some similar shows you could watch while waiting for the new season.

Mare of Easttown (Max & Prime Video Add-On) Credit – HBO

Mare of Easttown is a...

Updating a 2005 action movie, one most remembered for a tabloid frenzy inspired by the on-set romance between its stars, was not on Francesca Sloane’s to-do list. And yet, Donald Glover called her a few years ago with that very proposition.

Sloane had been writing and producing on the final two seasons of Atlanta, a gig that cemented her membership in TV’s art house, and she anticipated her next project would be similarly less mainstream — an erotic comedy featuring animatronic dog puppets, for that matter. But Glover’s pitch was convincing. “I laughed, and then he explained why it’d be cool,” she says. “I was intrigued, then excited and then it became an undeniable ‘yes.’”

Where their Mr. & Mrs. Smith landed is a more subtle spin on the married spy conceit — one that puts priority on relationship dynamics and finds absurd and often surreal parallels in espionage and assassinations.

Once (or even twice) apparently isn’t enough when it comes to Stieg Larsson‘s “Millennium” trilogy. Variety reports that Amazon MGM Studios has a new series adaptation of Larsson’s nordic noir book series in the works; moviegoers may better know them for “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,” which David Fincher did his own take of back in 2011 as part of his lean, mean, airport paperback adaptation phase that also included 2014’s “Gone Girl.”

Read More: David Fincher Is Proud Of ‘Dragon Tattoo’ But Admits The Film Is “A Swing & A Miss”

Amazon/MGM first announced their new adaptation was in development in May 2020, but without a showrunner attached.

Continue reading ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’: Veena Sud Is The Showrunner For Amazon MGM Studio’s Upcoming Series Based On The ‘Millennium’ Books at The Playlist.

The in-the-works series adaptation of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” from Amazon MGM Studios has tapped Veena Sud as showrunner, TheWrap has learned.

News of an Amazon adaptation of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” can be traced as far back as 2020. Amazon MGM Studios and Left Bank Pictures, which is part of Sony Pictures Television, will produce.

Based on the books by Stieg Larsson, the series’ logline states that the project will “take the iconic and much-loved character Lisbeth Salander and place her in today’s world — with a new setting, new characters and a new story that will resonate with fans of the original and thrill a whole new generation.”

Sud is best known for developing and executive producing “The Killing” for AMC. Based on the Danish series “Forbrydelsen” (translated as “The Crime”), the series followed homicide detectives Sarah Linden (Mireille Enos) and Stephen Holder (Joel Kinnaman) as they investigated various murders.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Amazon MGM Studios’ in-the-works series based on the Steig Larsson books, has brought on Seven Seconds creator Veena Sud as showrunner, Deadline has confirmed.

The series, which has been in development since May 2020, revolves around the Lisbeth Salander character from the books. It is a co-production between Amazon MGM Studios and Left Bank Pictures, in association with Sony Pictures TV.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo will take the iconic and much-loved character Lisbeth Salander and place her in today’s world – with a new setting, new characters, and a new story that will resonate with fans of the original and thrill a whole new generation, according to Amazon.

Harries, founder and CEO of Left Bank Pictures, will executive produce along with Rob Bullock.

Lisbeth Salander is the lead character in Larsson’s award-winning Millennium series. Salander first appeared in the 2005 novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

A TV adaptation of the late Stieg Larsson’s Millennium book series is moving further into development at Prime Video, our sister publication Variety reports, with Veena Sud (The Killing) joining the project as showrunner.

If this sounds a little familiar, that’s probably because news of Prime Video’s adaptation was first reported back in 2020; this is the first update we’ve received since then.

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If you don’t have the memory of a goldfish (like me), you might remember that Amazon was developing a TV series based on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. That was over three years ago, and Variety has now reported that they’ve finally snagged a showrunner for the series.

Veena Sud, best known for developing The Killing for AMC, is set to serve as showrunner on Amazon’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series. Current details regarding the series are being kept under wraps, but it was originally reported that the project would not be a sequel or continuation of the story from the books or films, but would instead place Lisbeth Salander in today’s world with a new setting, new characters, and new story. Amazon MGM Studios will produce the series with Left Bank Pictures.

Related Best Female Revenge Films

Lisbeth Salander has been portrayed...

“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” series currently in the works at Amazon MGM Studios has found its showrunner.

Variety has learned exclusively that Veena Sud will head up the series, which will be set in the world of the so-called Millennium novels originally written by Stieg Larsson.

Variety previously reported that the series was in development in May 2020, though no showrunner was attached at that time. It was originally reported to be a new standalone story about one of the novels’ main characters, Lisbeth Salander, but current plot details remain under wraps. Amazon MGM Studios will produce along with Left Bank Pictures, which is based at Sony Pictures Television.

Sud is no stranger dark crime and mystery dramas. She is best known for developing the series “The Killing,” which was based on the Danish series “Forbrydelsen.” She also served as executive producer and showrunner on that series. The show...

Updated, Sept. 8: Roku has removed at least 37 original shows from the Roku Channel, as part of its announced effort to cut costs.

Those include episodes of the “Reno 911!” revival of the Comedy Central series; oddball sex-doll comedy “Dummy” starring Anna Kendrick; plane-crash drama “Survive” starring Sophie Turner and Corey Hawkins; and dystopian thriller “Most Dangerous Game,” starring Christopher Waltz; “Singled Out,” a reboot of the ’90s MTV dating show hosted by Keke Palmer; “The Andy Cohen Diaries,” an animated series chronicling the life of the Bravo TV producer and personality; a remake of “The Fugitive” starring Kiefer Sutherland; “Elba vs. Block,” a stunt-racing show in which Idris Elba and professional rally driver Ken Block competed head-to-head; and survival drama “Wireless” starring Tye Sheridan.

Also pulled from the Roku Channel were “Dishmantled,” a cooking competition hosted by Tituss Burgess; “The Newsreader”; “Panhandle”; “Slip”; “Moving the Needle With Dr. Woo...

When Teresa Hsiao (“Family Guy”), Cherry Chevapravatdumrong (“Family Guy”) and Adele Lim (“Crazy Rich Asians”) set out to write “Joy Ride,” the aim was to develop a story that they wished they could have had seen in their twenties.

“Joy Ride” sees Lim transition from writer to director in this “Girls Trip” meets “The Hangover” ride of a film where Stephanie Hsu, Sherry Cola, and Sabrina Wu follow Ashley Park’s Audrey across the world on a business trip to Asia. Things go awry when she has to track down her birth mother to close a huge business deal.

The writers wanted a film that would show young Asian women having fun and being messy, smashing past narratives of Asian women as exotic fetishes. This was a story they wanted to tell on their terms.

Says Lim, “It’s a crazy bananas movie and you don’t know how it...

Exclusive: Anonymous Content has closed a first-look deal with Theresa Park’s film and TV banner Per Capita Productions.

Park’s Per Capita Productions is focused an auteur-driven, independent films, primarily based on literary material.

Most recently, Park produced Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All starring Timothée Chalamet, Taylor Russell and Mark Rylance. The movie has been nominated for 2023 Independent Spirit Awards for Best Feature Film, Best Lead Performance and Best Supporting Performance; received two acting nominations from the Gotham Awards; and won the Silver Lion at Venice for Best Director; and Best New Talent for Russell. Bones and All was financed by The Apartment Pictures (a Fremantle company) and produced by that studio’s Lorenzo Mieli as well.

Park also produced the film After Yang with Cinereach for A24, starring Colin Farrell, Jodie Turner-Smith and Justin Min, adapted by writer-director Kogonada from Alexander Weinstein’s short story Saying Goodbye to Yang.

Film Independent, the nonprofit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards, has selected 30 filmmakers for Project Involve 2023 and with a renewed partnership with Laika Studios expanded the stop-motion animation track into a two-year program, selecting five filmmakers.

Project Involve is a free nine-month program for writers, directors, producers, editors, cinematographers, programmers and entertainment executives from diverse backgrounds. During the program, participants meet one-on-one with film industry mentors, create short films and attend master workshops taught by top film professionals and industry networking events.

Now in its 30th year, Project Involve fosters the careers of talented filmmakers from communities traditionally underrepresented in the film industry. Alumni include Andrew Ahn (Fire Island), Lulu Wang (The Farewell), Linda Yvette Chávez, Marvin Lemus and Aaliyah Williams (Gentefied), Effie T. Brown (The Inspection), Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) and Justin Simien (Dear White People).

“We’re elated to welcome the 2023 Project Involve Fellows...

Exclusive: Disney General Entertainment has selected 13 participants for its 2023 Writing Program.

The one-year writing initiative, formerly known as the Disney|ABC Writing Program and the Walt Disney Television Writing Program, helps participants secure their first TV staff writer assignments on a Dge series. Participants also are offered mentorship, advanced professional development and access to Dge’s creative executives, producers, showrunners and program alumni.

“The Creative Talent Development & Inclusion team is proud to launch this extremely talented group of writers into the next phase of their career,” said Tim McNeal, senior vice president, Creative Talent Development & Inclusion (Ctdi). “The flagship Writing Program is one of the critical ways Ctdi connects creative talent to opportunities across Disney and continues to fuel our company’s staffing pipeline specifically for emerging, diverse TV writers. We look forward to seeing this cohort shape the next generation of producers and showrunners.”

The program was the starting...

Exclusive: David Ayer and Chris Long’s Cedar Park Studios has hired former Netflix Original Series executive Kate Regan as SVP Development for TV and Film. Regan spent the past three years at Netflix developing a slate of drama programming from greenlight to launch, including titles such as Pieces of Her and The Lincoln Lawyer.

“I’m honored to be joining David, Chris and the rest of the team at Cedar Park Studios,” Regan said, “David’s body of work is iconic and has been hugely influential for me professionally. I’m thrilled to reunite with Chris and Shane and eager to expand our development slate.”

Prior to her stint at Netflix, Regan served as Head of Current Programming at AT&T Audience Network (formerly DirecTV’s Audience Network), where she worked with Long and Cedar Park’s EVP Development and Production Shane Elrod. In that role, she was charged...

Becoming Nicholas Sparks’ literary agent and then film production president might not seem like the best preparation for making a romantic drama about cannibalism, but Per Capita Prods. founder Theresa Park is transitioning to a wider, edgier range of projects with ease.

Park is producing an animated children’s show based on Michael Buckley’s bestselling fantasy novel series “The Sisters Grimm” for Apple TV+. And she arrives in Venice for the Sept. 2 world premiere of “Bones and All,” Luca Guadagnino’s adaptation of Camille DeAngelis’s novel about a couple (Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell) whose tastes run more towards hand eating than the hand holding found in Sparks’ works. The MGM/UA feature follows two other offbeat projects in Per Capita’s first year of releases: A24’s robot drama “After Yang” starring Colin Farrell and the Apple TV+ female-centered series “Roar” with Nicole Kidman.

“I sort of backed into producing,...

The Brady organization against gun violence is calling on Hollywood writers, directors and producers to examine onscreen gun violence and depictions of gun safety, asking the creative community to sign a pledge that’s already garnered more than 200 signatures of such names as Judd Apatow, Shonda Rhimes, Damon Lindelof and Jimmy Kimmel and the writers of Jimmy Kimmel Live!

The pledge, while noting that the “responsibility lies with lax gun laws supported by those politicians more afraid of losing power than saving lives,” acknowledges that “America’s storytellers” have the power to “effect change.”

“Cultural attitudes toward smoking, drunk driving, seatbelts and marriage equality have all evolved due in large part to movies’ and TV’s influence. It’s time to take on gun safety,” the Brady pledge states, and goes on to ask writers, directors and producers to, whenever possible, to:

Use creativity “to model responsible gun ownership and...

#1 New York Times bestselling author Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook) has entered into a first-look production agreement with Universal Pictures, which will see him produce three features for the studio alongside Anonymous Content.

The films will be based on some of Sparks’ most recent novels, the first being his 2021 hit The Wish—a story about the enduring legacy of first love, and the decisions that haunt us forever. Zack Hayden will produce the big-screen adaptation on behalf of Anonymous Content with oversight by CEO Dawn Olmstead and Cco David Levine, alongside Sparks’ longtime literary agent and collaborator, Theresa Park, and Universal Pictures’ Vice President of Production Development, Lexi Barta.

“Nick Sparks’s evocative novels have served as beloved cultural touchstones, with strong characters and powerful themes that make them ideal for cinematic adaptation,” said Universal Pictures President, Peter Cramer. “We are honored to partner with Nick, Theresa, and Anonymous Content on these new films,...

The Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (Cape) celebrates the tenth anniversary of their New Writers Fellowship Program by ushering in a class of seven writers.

The New Writers Fellowship Program is a non-studio professional development program that trains emerging writers to succeed in Hollywood. The program boasts a reputable track record, placing graduates on over 50 shows across all major network, cable and streaming platforms in addition to those who have signed overall deals.

“In Cape’s research survey with the Geena Davis Institute, nearly 90 percent of Asian and Pacific Islander entertainment professionals we surveyed said they were often the only Asian or Pacific Islander person in the room,” said Michelle K. Sugihara, Executive Director of Cape. “That ultimately reflects what we see on screen and if we want to change the stories Hollywood tells, it starts with writers.”

The 2022 Cape fellows join a distinguished alumni network including April Shih...

More than 50 prominent showrunners, including J.J. Abrams, Shonda Rhimes and Mike Schur, have signed the WGA West’s Safe and Inclusive Workplace Pledge, committing to “partner with the guild in developing best practices proven to drive change, alongside support programs for the wider show-running community that ensure every leader has the tools and understanding necessary to create workplaces in which all members can thrive.”

The guild’s Showrunner Initiative Committee said in a message to the guild’s members, “As a writer community, we can help create a new culture, one in which abuse and discrimination cannot thrive.”

The pledge states: “As union members, mistreatment of one of us is a problem for all of us. For the last four years, there has been an evolving conversation about addressing sexism, racism, discrimination, and bullying in our industry. As showrunners, we believe this behavior should not be tolerated. And while the...

Roku is betting its fire-sale pickup of the shows from Quibi, Jeffrey Katzenberg’s short-lived, short-form startup, will continue to pay off for the streaming platform.

On Aug. 13, the company will premiere 23 new Roku Originals (each of them from Quibi’s library) exclusively on the Roku Channel to stream for free with ads. It’s the second tranche of Quibi shows coming to the Roku Channel, after Roku bowed 30 titles in May.

The new shows coming to the Roku Channel include “Mapleworth Murders,” a “Murder She Wrote” spoof that nabbed three 2021 Emmy acting nominations for Paula Pell, John Lutz and J.B. Smoove. Also on the slate are four previously unreleased Quibi titles: “Eye Candy” hosted by Josh Groban, a competition series in which contestants attempt to identify outrageous edible creations that look like everyday objects; cleaning competition “Squeaky Clean” hosted by Leslie Jordan; Season 2 of money-giveaway reality show “Thanks a...

Roku is officially dropping the Quibi name.

Roku announced that the content from its January acquisition of Quibi — the short-lived, short-form mobile entertainment startup founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg — will be rebranded as “Roku Originals.” The 75-plus original shows from Quibi will be available to watch for free on the ad-supported Roku Channel starting sometime this year, the company has said.

Roku Originals also will be the brand name for future original programming for The Roku Channel, which is currently available in the U.S., the U.K. and Canada. The company said it will provide additional details next month about the launch of Roku Originals.

The collection of Quibi programming — snapped up by Roku after Katzenberg’s richly funded company shut its doors six months after launching — includes a dozen unreleased series that will debut for the first time on The Roku Channel. Among those are “The Now,” a suicide-themed comedy from Peter Farrelly,...

Lindsey Kasabian, who most recently led casting efforts at Touchstone Television (aka Fox 21 Television Studios) as Vice President, has been named Senior Vice President of Casting for Freeform. Kasabian replaces Elizabeth Boykewich, who departed the Disney cable network as head of casting and talent earlier this month as part of the regime change at the net last May.

Working closely with Freeform President Tara Duncan, Kasabian will be responsible for identifying and helping to select the acting talent for all ongoing series and pilots at the cable net. The new assignment is effective immediately.

“Lindsey is a gifted executive who has distinguished herself as someone producers and executives trust, and Tara and I knew she was just the right person to help lead Freeform’s casting going forward,” said Sharon Klein, EVP of Casting, Walt Disney Television, to whom Kasabian will report. “She is a champion of actors and...

Film Independent has selected 30 filmmakers for Project Involve 2021.

This year marks the 28th iteration of Project Involve. The free nine-month program is for writers, directors, producers, editors, cinematographers, animators, programmers and entertainment executives from diverse backgrounds. During the program, participants meet one-on-one with film industry mentors, create short films, attend master workshops taught by top film professionals and industry networking events.

“Having triumphantly navigated this past year, the Project Involve team is prepared, very pleased and extremely excited to welcome the 2021 Project Involve Fellows into the Film Independent family” said Francisco Velasquez, Associate Director, Project Involve.

Project Involve alumni include Lulu Wang (The Farewell), Linda Yvette Chávez, Marvin Lemus and Aaliyah Williams (Gentefied), Effie T. Brown (Dear White People), Jon M. Chu (In the Heights) and Justin Simien (Dear White People).

Past Project Involve Mentors include Janicza Bravo, Ava DuVernay, Catherine Hardwicke, Alma Har’el, Barry Jenkins, Mako Kamitsuna, Spike Jonze,...

Exclusive: Disney General Entertainment Content has revealed the 13 individuals for its 2021 writing program and has named the recipient of Disney Channel’s Eunetta T. Boone Comedy Writer’s Scholarship, which was established last year in honor of the late writer/producer for diverse and aspiring comedy writers.

Created in 1990 with the WGA West, Disney Creative Talent Development & Inclusion’s one-year writing program offers advanced professional development with the primary goal of helping to secure participants’ first staffing assignment via Disney General Entertainment Content series.

Now in its 30th year, the program is held in high regard, with a nearly 100% hiring rate for more than a decade. This makes the program an ideal launching pad for talented writers and their careers — and with Disney no less.

“The Creative Talent Development & Inclusion team is proud to launch this extremely talented group of writers into the next phase of their career,” said Tim McNeal,...

Updated with stock uptick. In its biggest original programming foray to date, Roku has bought exclusive global distribution rights to the portfolio of Quibi, the recently shuttered mobile-only streaming venture fronted by Jeffrey Katzenberg.

The acquisition covers most of the Quibi library, but some daily news shows are not part of the package. A key draw for Roku is the talent, a roster including Idris Elba, Kevin Hart, Liam Hemsworth, Anna Kendrick, Nicole Richie, Chrissy Teigen and Lena Waithe. The lineup includes titles like Most Dangerous Game, Dummy and Murder House Flip.

Financial terms were not disclosed, though the valuation is understood to be less than $100 million, according to insiders. Roku shares rose 5% to $398.60 on the news. At one point early in the trading day, they reached $402.81, an all-time high.

In an interview with Deadline, Roku VP of Programming Rob Holmes told Deadline that the unusual rights flexibility offered by Quibi will stay in place,...

Roku and Quibi have officially struck a deal that will send 75+ Quibi shows to the streaming device’s The Roku Channel. They’ll be made available for free.

Technically, following an internal restructuring at Quibi, Roku acquired Quibi Holdings, LLC — that’s the company that holds all of Quibi’s content distribution rights. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

One does not need a Roku device to access The Roku Channel. It can be downloaded for free on mobile devices, which is exactly where Quibi was originally conceived to be consumed.

Here’s hoping Quibi content on Roku fares better than Quibi series on Quibi: Jeffrey Katzenberg’s radical short-form streaming service shut down after only seven months.

“The most creative and imaginative minds in Hollywood created groundbreaking content for Quibi that exceeded our expectations,” Katzenberg said on Friday. “We are thrilled that these stories, from the surreal to the sublime,...

Roku snapped up the rights to the majority of Quibi’s multimillion-dollar portfolio original programming — more than 75 shows in all — and will make them available free to stream in 2021 on the Roku Channel.

Following Quibi’s decision last October to shut down after failing to attract a sustainable base of subscribers, Roku acquired Quibi Holdings LLC, the company that holds all of Quibi’s content distribution rights.

Financial terms of the pact were not disclosed. A source familiar with the agreement said Roku is paying “significantly” less than $100 million for the Quibi library, confirming an earlier Wall Street Journal report. Rob Holmes, Roku’s VP of programming, said in an interview, “We do think this deal represents a great value.”

“Fundamentally, we think that Quibi has created great, high-quality content,” Holmes told Variety. “It’s a great value proposition for our users… We’re pivoting from Quibi’s SVOD model to an ad-supported model,...

Roku has agreed to acquire the programming library from defunct mobile video startup Quibi as it looks to bulk up its free, ad-supported Roku Channel hub.

The deal means that more than 75 shortform shows like Veena Sud’s The Stranger and Liam Hemsworth starrer Most Dangerous Game will continue to have a home despite Quibi’s shutdown late last year. More than a dozen shows that were shot and completed for Quibi but not released before its shutdown will also be made available for viewers for the first time on Roku, which will distribute them in the U.S., Canada and ...

Roku has agreed to acquire the programming library from defunct mobile video startup Quibi as it looks to bulk up its free, ad-supported Roku Channel hub.

The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, means that more than 75 shortform shows like Veena Sud’s The Stranger and Liam Hemsworth starrer Most Dangerous Game will continue to have a home despite Quibi’s shutdown late last year. More than a dozen shows that were shot and completed for Quibi but not released before its shutdown will also be made available for viewers for the first time on Roku, which will distribute them ...

Amazon & Blumhouse's partnership on "Welcome to the Blumhouse" has proven to be a big hit and they've just announced the next four movies that will be released on Amazon Prime Video in 2021, including The Manor from Axelle Carolyn, Black as Night from Maritte Lee Go, Madres from Ryan Zaragoza, and Bingo from Gigi Saul Guerrero:

"Following the highly-anticipated global launch of “Welcome to the Blumhouse”, Prime Video announced today the next chapter of four films in this collection of eight genre-movies produced by Amazon Studios and Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Television. The slate of titles are: The Manor written and directed by Axelle Carolyn, Black as Night from director Maritte Lee Go, Madres directed by Ryan Zaragoza and Bingo from director Gigi Saul Guerrero. The suspenseful thrillers will launch in 2021 on Prime Video in over 240 countries and territories worldwide.

The “Welcome to the Blumhouse” program continues the legacy of original,...

Exclusive: AMC Studios has closed exclusive, multi-year overall deals with writers-producers Peter Ocko and J. David Shanks. Both have worked on AMC Studios series for AMC — Ocko was executive producer/showrunner on the praised Lodge 49, which aired for two seasons; Shanks serves as executive producer of the upcoming 61st Street, which has a two-season order.

Under the pacts, Ocko and Shanks will develop and produce new series for AMC Networks’ Entertainment Group as well as other content companies.

“The world of television is much better when creative talents like Peter and David are in it, telling unique and original stories that inform, entertain and elevate viewers,” said Dan McDermott, President of Original Programming for AMC Networks’ Entertainment Group and Co-President of AMC Studios. “We are so pleased to extend these creative relationships and to be the studio home of these two remarkable writers and creators.”

Ocko and Shanks join...

Many editors will use a director’s shaky hand-held footage and use quick, short cuts to create tension and suspense in the thriller genre, but not Phillip Fowler.

For Blumhouse’s new anthology series airing on Prime Video, Fowler collaborated with director Veena Sud for “The Lie.” Sud had written much of the tension and tone within the script, so when it came to setting the pace, Fowler’s job was to hone in on that and build suspense by lingering on characters and letting the audience simmer on the character’s actions.

“The Lie” stars Joey King as Kayla, a teenager who confesses to killing her best friend. It’s up to the parents to protect their daughter and cover up her crimes, but it’s not without consequences.

Below, Fowler breaks down how he created that tension and discusses why the opening montage was the most challenging to cut.

Where Is It?: Sud Mines the Ethical Decay of the Privileged in Familiar but Fashionable Debut

Resorting to a continual, if varied tradition of remaking European neo-noirs in English, Veena Sud refashions an ethical dilemma for her debut The Lie (originally titled Between the Earth and the Sky), a remake of the 2015 German film We Monsters.

At its core, this is another exercise of privileged white families manipulating the system to ensure their wayward children won’t have to pay the price for a heinous crime, something obsessively documented across a variety of languages (and almost always remade in English instead of celebrating the foreign origination).…...

Amazon Prime Video rolled out the mood-setting black carpet Monday night for a virtual premiere event celebrating its Welcome to the Blumhouse titles The Lie and Black Box.

The festivities kicked off at 6:30 p.m. Pst as invitees screened one of the titles as selected in advance. From director Veena Sud, The Lie stars Peter Sarsgaard, Mireille Enos and Joey King in the story of what happens as two parents struggle to cover up their teenage daughter’s alleged crime. Black Box, from filmmaker Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour, casts Mamoudou Athie as a single father who undergoes an experimental treatment administered by Phylicia Rashad to ...

Amazon Prime Video rolled out the mood-setting black carpet Monday night for a virtual premiere event celebrating its Welcome to the Blumhouse titles The Lie and Black Box.

The festivities kicked off at 6:30 p.m. Pst as invitees screened one of the titles as selected in advance. From director Veena Sud, The Lie stars Peter Sarsgaard, Mireille Enos and Joey King in the story of what happens as two parents struggle to cover up their teenage daughter’s alleged crime. Black Box, from filmmaker Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour, casts Mamoudou Athie as a single father who undergoes an experimental treatment administered by Phylicia Rashad to ...