Sally Hawkins (Paddington), Rob Brydon (Gavin & Stacey) and Diana Rigg (Game of Thrones) are lending their voices to BBC One and ZDF Christmas special The Snail And The Whale. UK production outfit Magic Light Pictures is behind the well-sold book adaptation about the epic journey of a tiny snail who longs to see the…

German powerhouse production and distribution firm Constantin has appointed UPIE exec David Kehrl as Head of Acquisitions and International Co-Production following the departure of Sasha Bühler to Netflix. Starting February 2020, Kehrl will be responsible for the acquisition of international theatrical productions for…

Scandinavian studio Nordisk Film has attached May el-Toukhy (Queen Of Hearts) to direct The Lioness, the upcoming biopic of Out Of Africa author Karen Blixen, a.k.a. Isak Dinesen. Script comes from Jakob Weis (That Time Of Year) in collaboration with El-Toukhy and is based on author and historian Tom Buk-Swienty's…

The impressive new German film and TV conglomerate backed by New York investment firm KKR has finally found a name, eight months after launch: Leonine. The entertainment firm includes local film distributors TMG and Universum Film and TV companies i&u TV and Wiedemann & Berg Film. The holding company will go by…

The 17-year tenure of UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero will end in June, as the UC Regents approved a six-month extension of his contract, which was set to expire in December. Guerrero’s decision means the two major universities in Los Angeles are looking for athletic directors. Earlier this month, the University…

A Facebook employee apparently leaped to his death today at the company headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. The man, who has not been identified, jumped from the fourth floor of a building on the Facebook campus, according to police. He was pronounced dead at the scene. "Menlo Park Police Officers and Menlo Park Fire…

Stephen Colbert made the inevitable whistleblower jokes during his Late Show monologue tonight, riffing on reports that President Donald Trump’s foreign policy became a matter of “urgent concern” to some. For the few who aren’t familiar with the Talking Point/News Story du Jour, the Beltway was abuzz last night and…

REPOSTED From September 11: The Emmy Awards party field, which had expanded dramatically over the past decade as new cable networks and streaming platforms entered the winners’ circle, is undergoing a major contraction this year. As we reported last month, following the WGA-ATA breakup that triggered the firing of…

Amazon has taken a vow to become carbon-neutral by 2040, 10 years earlier than the date specified by the Paris Climate Accord. CEO Jeff Bezos announced the new initiative, which it calls The Climate Pledge, as well as a set of related moves at a news conference Thursday (see a video clip below). The tech giant has…

Gold Derby’s Tom O’Neil and I are back again to thrash out this year’s most prestigious Emmy races, the Drama Series categories, but the big question remains: Can anyone beat the final season of HBO’s juggernaut Game of Thrones? Already a winner of three Emmys for Outstanding Drama Series, including last year, it…