After receiving a great amount of criticism for the lack of diversity in their new fall shows, CBS has ordered Superior Donuts starring Jermaine Fowler. The multi-camera show was up this past development season but missed a pick up and was instead reshot.
Emily J
All articles written by Emily Jermusyk.
A spacecraft traveling to a distant colony planet and transporting thousands of people has a malfunction in its sleep chambers. As a result, two passengers are awakened 90 years early.
An upcoming crime thriller from Don Winslow has landed a pre-emptive acquisition from 20th Century Fox as a potential directing project for Ridley Scott. Scott Free is set to produce.
Online network Netflix continued its shopping spree over the weekend as it picked up romantic-heist feature Tramps. The film from writer-director Adam Leon had several interested parties including A24, Sony Pictures Classics, and The Orchard.
Broadway performer Ben Vereen is joining Fox comedy Making History in a recurring role. The series stars Adam Pally, Yassir Lester, and Leighton Meester, and was created by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.
White Collar creator Jeff Eastin has landed a script commitment plus penalty for his pilot Miacle Commission from Fox. Eastin has an overall deal with 20th Century Fox TV, who is the studio on the project.
Fox drama series Pitch has booked Rita Wilson and Lyndsy Fonseca for guest starring roles. The series was created by Dan Fogelman and follows the first female to play in the major leagues.
Worldwide sales for Medici: Masters of Florence have been scooped up by Wild Bunch TV. The historical drama hails from Frank Spotnitz and stars Dustin Hoffman and Richard Madden.
Never Let Me Go director Mark Romanek has been tapped to direct romantic comedy Septillion to One. The script from Adam R. Perlman and Graham Sack was featured on the 2015 Hit List.
U.S. rights to Ana Lily Amirpour’s The Bad Batch have landed at Screen Media Films. The film previously won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival and starts Suki Waterhouse, Jason Momoa, Giovannie Ribisi, and Yolanda Ross.
The North American rights to the documentary I Am Not Your Negro have landed at Magnolia Pictures. The film follows James Baldwin’s unfinished novel Remember This House.
The sales are starting to pick up at the Toronto International Film Festival as Roadside Attraction acquires Lady Macbeth. The indie is an adaptation of the 1865 novella Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk.
An art gallery owner is haunted by her ex-husband’s novel, a violent thriller she interprets as a veiled threat and a symbolic revenge tale.
A young woman uses her navigational talents to set sail for a fabled island. Joining her on the adventure is her hero, the legendary demi-god Maui.
Jay Chandrasekhar’s cop comedy Super Troopers 2 has landed Rob Lowe to join the cast. The $4.5 million funding for the film was raising through an Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign last year and reunites the original creative team
James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez’s Alita: Battle Angel has tapped Jackie Earle Haley to join the adaptation. He joins previously cast Rosa Salazar and Christoph Waltz.
Sci-fi thriller What Happened to Monday? is in final negotiations to land at Netflix. The project, which will close in the mid-seven figures, stars Noomi Rapace, Willem Dafoe, and Glenn Close.
Emmy-winner Tony Shalhoub has been cast in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the Amazon drama pilot starring House of Cards actor Rachel Brosnahan. The series is written and created by Gilmore Girls scribe Amy Sherman-Palladino.
Fox horror-comedy Scream Queens continues to mine television stars of the past and present with the addition of Cheers star Kirstie Alley. She joins other new regulars including John Stamos, Taylor Lautner, and James Earl.
Development season continues to trek on this week as CBC has put legal drama Southern/Eastern into development. The project hails from Silver Pictures Television’s Joel Silver and writer John Romano, Lionsgate TV is the studio, where Silver Pictures has a first-look deal.
Sicario star Benicio Del Toro is in talks to headline 20th Century Fox’s Predator reboot. The Nice Guys writer-director Shane Black is set to direct the project.
Coming off of one of the summer’s biggest comedy successes, Sausage Party co-director Conrad Vernon has already lined up his next project with The Toxic Avenger remake. The film is set to be a more grounded, live-action version of the Troma Films franchise that debuted in 1984.
Streaming network Hulu has given a 13-episode order to Future Man, the half-hour comedy from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg starring Hunger Games star Josh Hutcherson. This is Rogen and Goldberg’s first half-hour comedy who also helmed the pilot from Sony Pictures Television.
AMC has booked Tobias Menzies to lead their new anthology drama The Terror based on the novel by Dan Simmons. The 10-episode first season is due out next year.
The DC movie universe is in talks with Billy Crudup to play Ezra Miller’s father in the upcoming DC actioner The Flash. This will not be Crudup’s first go-round with the superhero world as he previously starred in Zack Snyder’s Watchmen as Dr. Manhattan.
The ever-busy actor James Franco has two projects making big moves today. First up, science fiction-thriller Kin has made a big pre-buy deal at TIFF, and second, the Afghanistan war drama Burn Country is been picked up by Samuel Goldwyn and Orion Pictures, landing a December 9 theatrical and VOD release.
Set in Boston in 1978, a meeting in a deserted warehouse between two gangs turns into a shootout and a game of survival.
Jonathan Baker-directed thriller Inconceivable has tapped Nicolas Cage, Faye Dunaway, Nicky Whelan, and Natalie Eva Marie to star. The project hails from Emmett/Furla/Oasis and Baker Entertainment.
Amy Pascal’s Pascal Pictures have set up American Heritage at ABC with a script commitment plus a significant penalty. The project was written by Taylor Hamra, a co-executive producer on Nashville.
