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Exclusive: Prolific duo Greg Berlanti & Sarah Schechter have set their Berlanti/Schechter Films banner to an exclusive first-look feature film deal at Netflix.

The film pact with Netflix comes two and a half years before Berlanti’s mega overall deal with Warner Bros. Television — valued at as much as $400 million — is slated to end. It signals that the most prolific producer in the history of television, who had renewed his TV studio deal with the previous Warner Media/Warner Bros TV regime, could be in play.

Berlanti, who broke his own record for most series on television at the same time multiple times, currently has 14 on-air series produced by his Berlanti Productions. That includes the popular Netflix drama You — picked up for a second and third season — and several CW shows that are popular draws on Netflix including Riverdale, All American and The Flash. His company also produced the streamer’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

Exclusive: Riverdale‘s Cole Sprouse will star alongside Lana Condor in New Line’s Max Original feature Moonshot. Chris Winterbauer is attached to direct from a screenplay by Max Taxe. Sprouse’s Riverdale exec producers Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter will produce through Berlanti/Schechter Films along with Jill McElroy and Jenna Sarkin of Entertainment 360.

The romantic comedy with a sci-fi twist is set in a future where Mars is terraformed and colonized by the best humanity has to offer. Two very different college students wind up joining forces and sneak onboard a space shuttle to the red planet in order to be united with their significant others.

Mike McGrath of Berlanti/Schechter Films will executive produce alongside Dana Fox. Moonshot is the second feature collaboration between Berlanti/Schechter Films and HBO Max, where they have a four-picture pact, following their Unpregnant released last year. WarnerMedia is also home...

Following the success of “The Babadook” and “The Nightingale,” Australian filmmaker Jennifer Kent is close to locking a deal with Amazon Studios to finance her next project, the true crime thriller “Alice + Freda Forever.” (Via Deadline). Based on the book by Alexis Coe, the thriller tells the true-life story of two teenage girls whose intense romance turns into an unstable and violent obsession. Dubbed “A Very Unnatural Crime” at the time by the sensationalist press, the 1892 Memphis, Tennessee case captivated the American public and was largely responsible for launching the murderous lesbian trope in literature that persists in pop culture today.

Kent is set to write the adaptation as well as direct. Greg Berlanti, Sidney Kimmel, Sarah Schechter and John Penotti are producing, with a summer 2020 production planned. Negotiations are ongoing for Amazon Studios to finance the project and gain world distribution rights.

Berlanti is a powerhouse out gay producer,...

This Toronto Film Festival shapes up largely as an international platform for studios to launch their awards-season entries for the next Oscar race. There are dozens of finished films for studio execs to be tempted by while they’re here, but there will be a healthy level of skepticism from buyers who’ve seen too many acquisitions not justify acquisition prices and P&a spends in arguably the most tumultuous transitional period in movie history. It is a moment when streamers continue to assert themselves as a viable alternative to moviegoing with the young crowd, when television gives audiences what they want when they want. And while in many ways the relationship between distributors and major exhibitors has the film business seeming like it’s in the Jurassic era.

Toronto is a good filter for buyers, because it brings back to earth the films that get overly fawning treatment at Telluride and Venice,...

Amazon Studios has snapped up global rights to the big screen adaptation of “Alice + Freda Forever,” Variety has confirmed.

The deal for the film comes as the Toronto International Film Festival kicks off and could signal that the streaming service will be an active buyer. That should be welcome news for agencies, who are looking for some deep-pocketed content companies as they hustle to kick off some bidding wars.

The big attraction here is Jennifer Kent, the Australian filmmaker who scored a low-budget horror hit with “The Babadook.” She followed that up with “The Nightingale,” a revenge thriller that earned a largely positive reception from critics. Kent will write and direct the film, which is adapted from Alexis Coe’s book.

The film is based on the true story of Alice Mitchell, who inspired a media frenzy after she murdered her lover, Freda Ward. Here’s the official logline: “In 1890’s Memphis,...

In only two films, director Jennifer Kent has established herself as one of the best voices in modern film. Though her most recent film “The Nightingale” hasn’t received the rapturous reception that her debut “The Babadook” might have, the new thriller proved that Kent isn’t willing to ever take the safe route with her films and can still disturb and move audiences without a fairy tale monster.

Continue reading ‘Nightingale’ Director Jennifer Kent Teams With Amazon Studios For Her Next Film ‘Alice + Freda Forever’ at The Playlist.