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Exclusive: Sugar23 has added managers Antoni Kaczmarek and Sydney Blanke to its literary department

“We could not be happier to have both Antoni and Sydney joining our literary ranks. With Antoni’s deep relationships and experience in scripted television, and Sydney’s impeccable taste and reputation, we feel lucky to have them,” says Sugar23 founder Michael Sugar.

Kaczmarek joins Sugar23 after spending the last three years at A3 Artists Agency as a television literary agent. He began his career as an agent trainee at UTA and in series development at FX Networks. He first became an agent in 2018 at Paradigm where he focused on international formats, playwrights, and development.

Along with his experience, Kaczmarek brings to the Sugar23 team screenwriters including: Adam Starks, Pamela Garcia Rooney, Jonny Gomez, Erick Galindo, Jerry Kontogiorgis, Miriam Hernandez, Candace Jackson and others.

Blanke joins Sugar23 from Fourth Wall Management, where she was a literary...

Criminal Network, the new film by Adam Starks, stars him alongside Joshua Copeland, Keiran Donnelly, and Beandan O’Connor. The film revolves around the story of two brothers, James and Ryan, who find themselves in trouble after getting mixed up in the proceedings of a secret criminal organization. The younger one, Ryan, a nihilistic soul, has grown indifferent to the world after losing his investments and failing to complete his degree at the university. His elder brother James is the saner one of the two, but when Ryan tells him about a new job paying a hefty sum of money, he doesn’t decline. It almost gets too late before he discovers that the job is related to the operations of an underground criminal organization, and he has to run around London to save Ryan, who has gone missing.

Spoilers Ahead

Plot Synopsis: What Happens In ‘Criminal Network’?

The streets...

Julie Plec is ramping up her development slate and has put a slew of projects into the pipeline including an adaptation of YA novel Running Out of Time at Peacock.

It comes after a number of shows from The Vampire Diaries co-creator were axed earlier this spring including Legacies, Roswell, New Mexico and The Endgame.

Plec and her production banner My So-Called Company signed a mega-multi-year overall deal with Universal Television in 2020. She said that when she signed that deal she told the studio that she believes in “earning my keep” and added that “this slate reflects that promise”.

The first project set is Clifton, based on Margaret Peterson Haddix’s Running Out of Time. The series, which is in the works at NBCU streamer Peacock, follows 17-year-old Jazzie Smith, who was born and raised in the idyllic, island village of Clifton – a sanctuary for runaway slaves and others who...

Under her overall deal at Universal Television via her My So-Called Company Banner, Julie Plec has set a new development slate at the studio beginning with “Clifton,” based on Margaret Peterson Haddix’s young adult novel “Running Out of Time.”

“Clifton,” which is now in development at Peacock, will be adapted by Aisha Porter-Christie. The series follows 17-year-old Jazzie Smith, who was born and raised in the idyllic, island village of Clifton, a sanctuary for runaway slaves and others who fled the United States at the height of the Civil War. When a mysterious stranger from the mainland washes up on shore, Jazzie learns a truth about the island’s origins that shatters everything she thought she knew to be true. Plec executive produces alongside My So-Called Company president Emily Cummins as well as Kevin Misher through Misher Films. Misher Films executive Andy Berman will serve as a producer.

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Julie Plec, in the wake of the surprising Legacies cancellation, is putting her energy into a sprawling development slate for Universal Television.

The prolific showrunner, who already has Vampire Academy due in September on Peacock, has unveiled five new scripted shows in development at the studio where her My So-Called Company has been based since mid-2020.

The five shows are: Clifton, based on the book Running Out of Time and set up at Peacock; medical drama Douglass Medical; thriller Freeman; romantic dramedy about a transgender teen Stay Gold; and This Savage Song, the horror fantasy that is based on the novel of the same name. (More info on all can be found below.)

Plec also has five more shows in the works, details of which were not immediately available.

“When I first met with Universal Television to discuss an overall deal, I told...

This Snowpiercer review contains spoilers.

Snowpiercer Season 3 Episode 5

Things were going a bit to well for Andre Layton by the standards of Snowpiercer. Zarah’s pregnancy is getting close to the end. Layton has the train headed for New Eden. Wilford is in a coma state and safely out of the way. Ben has figured out a way to try and help Javi recover from his traumatic experience at the hands of Wilford, and everyone’s excited by the prospect of a new little Layton running around, fomenting revolution and causing trouble. However, trouble never waits for children to grow up, or even arrive. In fact, sometimes trouble uses the joy of impending parenthood as a chance to take advantage with no one watching.

Every big event to take place on Snowpiercer seems to be a cover for someone to do something nefarious, be it Wilford using the Loyal Wedding...

Former Writers Guild of America West president Patric Verrone and negotiating committee co-chair Betsy Thomas are among the 15 candidates for eight WGA West board seats.

The guild’s nominating committee made the announcement Friday. The election will take place on Sept. 21.

The seats are for two-year terms. The president, vice president, secretary-treasurer, and eight other board seats will be up for election next year.

Verrone, best known for leading the bitter 2007-08 strike while president, is an incumbent on the board. Thomas, who is also an incumbent and has credits on “My Boys” and “Whitney,” was named co-chair of the negotiating committee with Michele Mulroney and Shawn Ryan late last year.

The WGA launched negotiations on May 18 on a successor master contract for film and TV with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The current three-year contract expires on June 30. The WGA has announced that it’s seeking gains in streaming residuals,...

The WGA West’s nominating committee has selected 18 candidates to vie for eight open seats in the guild’s upcoming board of directors election.

Seven of the candidates are incumbents: Patti Carr, Ashley Gable, Betsy Thomas, David Slack, Patric M. Verrone, Travis Donnelly and Deric A. Hughes. The other candidates selected by the nominating committee are Adam Starks, J. David Shanks, John Lopez, Carlos Foglia, Rob Forman, Scott Rosenbaum, Andrew Ti, Katherine Beattie, Daniel Kunka, Leland Jay Anderson and Eric Haywood.

Eligible members also can run for the board by petition by obtaining 15 member signatures in support of their candidacies. The deadline for submitting signed petitions is July 23. Guild members will receive voting materials, including links to candidate, non-candidate and rebuttal statements, on August 31. The voting period concludes on September 21.