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Exclusive: Exploring tales of Muslim teen summer camps, flying Singaporean children, a post-apocalyptic 2065, British soccer stars, and some Bill Shakespeare, the Black List and GLAAD unveiled the 2024 GLAAD List today.

The fourth annual list spotlighting the most auspicious unmade LGBTQ-inclusive scripts in town chose 10 finalists across a variety of genres. It is pretty good company, if for no other reason than of the 40 scripts picked in the first three GLAAD Lists since its 2019 Sundance Film Festival, the quartet of the Ximena Garcia Lecuona penned Anything’s Possible, the Jared Frieder written Three Months, Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman’s Knock At the Cabin, and the Trevor Anderson & Fish Griwkowsky penned Before I Change My Mind have all been released already as features.

A lucky 13 other past GLAAD List scripts are in development at the moment and four more scripts have been shot as proof-of-concept short films. In that context, the odds...

One of the hard-earned truths of Game of Thrones is its sudden and shocking tragedies that not only catch the viewers unaware but leave them shaken for weeks after. But despite placing no value on a hero’s life and killing off fan-favorite characters without hesitation, such bold strokes on the creators’ part only invited more frenzied fanatics to the show instead of putting them off.

Game of Thrones [Credit: HBO]

George R.R. Martin’s creation, in the decade and a half since its live-action debut, has maintained a stranglehold over the audience that no other show has ever managed to replicate in television history. Be it Breaking Bad or The Sopranos, the other-worldly allure that Game of Thrones possesses to this day, along with its irreplaceable and iconic storylines, remains unsurpassed and unparalleled by all means and standards.

Game of Thrones Director Leaves His Mark on Society

No amount of exceptional...

Exclusive: The Black List is opening submissions for six diversity lists in partnership with GLAAD, Cape, the Mpac Hollywood Bureau, The Salon, the Latin Tracking Board, Nalip, 1IN4 Coalition, and the WGA Disabled Writers Committee, in addition to establishing the Desi List-–a new, curated list that will shine a light on the most promising feature scripts and pilots from South Asian writers.

“South Asians make up a quarter of the human population; Asian-Americans are the fastest-growing ethnic group in the U.S.; and South Asians are the fastest growing group of Asian-Americans. That’s a lot of math to say something pretty simple: we’re here, the talent’s here, and the audience is here,” said The Salon co-founders Nik Dodani, Bash Naran, and Vinny Chhibber in a statement.

“We’re excited to partner with The Black List to accelerate the development of the best scripts from South Asian...

Shay Lia never needed an intricate formula to succeed. There were certain things about music that naturally poured out of the East African musician, like the way she conceptualized melodies and how her body translated those feelings into movements. And when music became something Shay Lia lived and breathed as a career rather than just a hobby, she looked back and realized that it was all predestined. “I feel like everything that I’ve been accomplishing has been a result of a full moon manifestation for me,” the singer tells...

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Don’t Look Up, Black-ish and Pachinko were among the winners of the 46th annual Humanitas Prizes announced Friday from a luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.

The awards, honoring the craft of screenwriting, featured winners in nine juried categories spanning film and television. These included Don’t Look Up from writer Adam McKay for comedy feature film, The Starling from Matt Harris for drama feature film and Encanto from Charise Castro Smith and Jared Bush for family feature film.

On the TV side, Black-ish writer Robb Chavis prevailed for comedy teleplay, Pachinko creator Soo Hugh won for drama teleplay and Women of the Movement creator Marissa Jo Cerar was tops for limited series, TV movie or special.

Larry Wilmore hosted the event, and presenters included Nkechi Okoro Carroll, Jasmine Cephas Jones and Humanitas board president Jenny Bicks. Also honored were...

Retiring ABC series “Black-ish” picked up one more honor on Friday, a Humanitas Prize for comedy teleplay, while Apple TV+’s “Pachinko” and ABC’s “Women of the Movement” also were recognized at the event.

Held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel and hosted by comedian Larry Wilmore, the 46th annual Humanitas Prize event centered on awards and 10,000 cash prizes to screenwriters across ten categories. In addition, Humanitas board president Jenny Bicks presented Filmmakers for Ukraine with the Kieser Award “in recognition of their work to connect the Ukrainian film and TV community impacted by the Russo-Ukrainian War with resources, jobs, and funding to meet basic needs.”

And Jasmine Cephas Jones presented Starz with Voice for Change Award for its #TakeTheLead initiative. Starz president/CEO Jeffrey Hirsch accepted the prize on the network’s behalf. Nkechi Okoro Carroll oversaw the New Voices Fellowship and College Screenwriting Award presentations.

Here are this...

The new queer coming-of-age comedy “Three Months” stars Troye Sivan as Caleb, a charismatic gay high schooler awaiting test results after an HIV exposure. Heartfelt, funny, and brimming with lovable characters, the film is a joyous ode to queer friendship that makes huge strides towards de-stigmatizing the contemporary conversation around HIV. But the film also portrays another little-known sub-section of the LGBTQ community: Orthodox Jews.

While “Transparent” may have forever wedded TV caricatures of secular Jews with neurotic queer people (Amy Landecker even stars as Caleb’s mom in Jared Frieder’s film), modern Orthodox Jews are rarely portrayed onscreen. That unique element of Caleb’s story was not only personally important to writer/director Frieder, but to Sivan as well.

“I grew up in…an Orthodox community in Australia. The thing is, though, because it was such a small Jewish community, there was only one Jewish school and it was an Orthodox school.

Troye Sivan remembers that first time he got tested for HIV. “I was in a new relationship and I wanted to have sex,” he recalls on this week’s episode of the “Just for Variety” podcast. “We both went and got tested and once we were all clear, it was all good to go.”

He also remembers learning about the virus that causes AIDS while growing up in Australia. “It was probably doom-and-gloom movies that were super heartbreaking,” Sivan says.

Things are much different today. Sivan stars in the new Paramount Plus feature “Three Months” as Caleb, a high school senior in Florida who learns he may have been exposed to HIV during a one-night stand. Written and directed by first-time filmmaker Jared Frieder, “Three Months” is a coming-of-age dramedy about young queer love and family. “Where are the stories that are painting the picture of what HIV is like today?...

For every Ryan Murphy and Greg Berlanti, there are hundreds of Jared Frieders in Hollywood: sharp, funny, and ambitious working writers who make careers improving and punching up other people’s ideas, hoping to one day get their solo shot. Nearly 10 years since he first began writing the script for the tender coming-of-age comedy “Three Months,” which he also directed, that day finally came for Frieder. While the writer and director calls the film’s February 23 release on Paramount+ “truly surreal,” he is under no illusions as to how this particular dream came true. The script may be heartfelt, witty, and a nuanced take on HIV stigma, but it was the name recognition of star Troye Sivan that pushed it over the finish line.

“We already had a deal in place, but to get the green light for production, Troye really helped with that process, as did the entire cast,...

Welcome to this week’s “Just for Variety.”

Reggaeton star Adassa, who made her acting debut starring as Dolores in “Encanto,” says she’s “not surprised” that Disney didn’t submit the song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” for Oscar consideration because “Dos Oruguitas,” which is up for best song, is the “heart and soul of the film.” She adds, “Did we know ‘Bruno’ was going to become what it is? No!” Even though it isn’t nominated, Adassa is hoping she will get to perform it at the Oscars: “Hand me the mic. I’m ready for the stage!”

Adassa auditioned for Dolores with a performance of Céline Dion’s “All by Myself.” But then she got Covid. “I was almost dying,” she recalls. “I told doctors I wanted to go home and die with my kids [she and husband Gabriel Candiani have seven children]. So I came home and wrote...

Fittingly enough, “Three Months” is a movie about waiting, and while 12 weeks may seem like an eternity to its openly gay lead character, Caleb (Australian pop star Troye Sivan), it’s nothing compared with the decades others have spent waiting for a project like this to come along. Here, readily available to anyone with a Paramount Plus subscription, is a frank, affirmational portrait of a contemporary queer teenager. Writer-director Jared Frieder’s feature debut feels like the LGBT equivalent of “Juno”: snappy and refreshingly nonjudgmental in dealing with the consequences of a risky one-night stand.

In 2011, when the movie is set, it takes three months for an antibody test to conclusively determine whether someone who might have been exposed to HIV was in fact infected. That’s a simple rule of the road for sexually active gay men, but one rarely discussed in popular culture. It can hardly be...

Caleb is looking for answers. That isn’t surprising; after all, he’s a just-graduated queer teen desperate to get out of South Florida, an endless summer of nothing stretching before him, simply itching for his “real life” to start. But Caleb, already understandably restless and out of place, really has one big, major answer he needs: whether or not he has HIV. And while this might not sound like the stuff of coming-of-age comedy, first-time filmmaker

Frieder, who previously served as a staff writer on the cut-way-too-short series “Sweet/Vicious,” knows a thing or two about the dramatic plot he’s crafted: He lived his own version of it more than a decade ago. Over time, Frieder’s story has seemingly settled into the neat beats of the indie coming-of-age tale, complete with “wacky mode of transportation,” “unsettling subplot involving a Bff that’s treated way too tamely,” and even “Ellen Burstyn is the grandmother!

Things are tense between Troye Sivan and Judy Greer in an exclusive sneak peek clip from Paramount+‘s upcoming MTV Entertainment Studios movie, Three Months. Set to release Wednesday, February 23 on the streamer, we have your first look at the coming-of-age comedy-drama that tells the story of Caleb (Sivan), a South Florida teen who loves his camera, weed, and grandma. Things change for Caleb on the eve of his high school graduation though when he’s exposed to HIV. As he waits three months for the potentially life-changing results, Caleb finds love in an unlikely place. Considering the antagonistic role Caleb plays towards Greer’s Suzanne and vice versa, we’re willing to be that unlikely love isn’t between them. (Credit: Paramount+/MTV Entertainment Studios) Working at a local market, Caleb appears to be indifferent towards his boss Suzanne when she calls him into her office. “You rang?” he...

Welcome to this week’s “Just for Variety.”

Matthew McConaughey hasn’t exactly shut the door on appearing in the third installment of Channing Tatum’s stripper franchise “Magic Mike.” But the actor, who appeared in the 2012 original (but said no to 2015’s “Magic Mike Xxl”), is still waiting for his phone to ring about “Magic Mike’s Last Dance.” “Channing Tatum, call me, bro! I haven’t heard from ya!” the Oscar winner said when I recently asked him if he’ll be back in the role of strip club owner Dallas.

“I don’t know,” McConaughey said. “I’d have to read [the script] first. It was a helluva lot of fun doing the first one.” Tatum announced in November that “Last Dance,” directed by Steven Soderbergh, will be released on HBO Max. Shooting is set to begin next month in London and Italy.

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Not only does Troye Sivan star in...

Three Months Trailer — Jared Frieder‘s Three Months (2022) movie trailer has been released by MTV Entertainment Studios. The Three Months trailer stars Troye Sivan, Viveik Kalra, Brianne Tju, Ellen Burstyn, Judy Greer, Javier Munoz, Louis Gossett Jr., and Amy Landecker. Crew Jared Frieder wrote the screenplay for Three Months. Roger Neill created the music for [...]

Continue reading: Three Months (2022) Movie Trailer: Troye Sivan finds Love in the Most Unlikely of Places in Jared Frieder’s Film...

"I'm not really sure how I'm feeling. And I think that's okay." Paramount has unveiled an official trailer for Three Months, a coming-of-age indie dramedy marking the feature directorial debut of filmmaker Jared Frieder. This hasn't played at any festivals as far as we know, but MTV is standing behind it and releasing the film streaming on Paramount+ later this month. Troye Sivan stars as Caleb, a South Florida teen. On the eve of his high school graduation, everything changes when he's exposed to HIV. While he waits three months for his results, he finds love in the most unlikely of places. Aw this looks really lovely! Better than expected. It also stars Viveik Kalra, Brianne Tju, Ellen Burstyn, Judy Greer, Javier Munoz, Louis Gossett, Jr., and Amy Landecker. I am not sure where this came from but it might be something special. Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Jared Frieder's Three Months,...

Exclusive: Outfest has launched its annual Outfest Screenwriting Lab and selected eight scripts that advance the visibility of Lgbtqia+ storytelling. This year’s fellows include Johnny Alvarez, Courtney & Hillary Andujar, Carlton Daniel Jr., Gary Jaffe, Raul Martin, Damon Royster, Cody Stickels & Kea Trevett, and Leandro Tadashi.

The Outfest Screenwriting Lab was established as a screenwriting contest in 1997 and has since become the cornerstone of Outfest’s education and mentoring program, Outfest Forward. Because this year’s Lab will take place virtually, it provided Outfest the ability to accept their largest cohort to date and extended the time frame of the Lab to five days. Fellows will meet with top industry showrunners, executives, and writers who will offer professional development and discuss trends within the industry.

The Lab roster of Lgbtqia+ industry leaders include showrunners Latoya Morgan, Derek Simonds (The Sinner), and M Dickson, alongside...