Latest in Production

Dallas Jackson, best known as writer-director-producer of Blumhouse’s urban slasher Thriller (2018), begins filming his sophomore project this week in Winnipeg as production begins on Welcome to Sudden Death for Universal 1440 and Netflix. Netflix has scheduled the film for a June 2020 release. Michael Jai White (Black…

EXCLUSIVE: Actor Theo James and producer Andrew D. Corkin are joining forces to produce theatrical and small-screen projects in the UK and U.S. with their new label Untapped. "While our primary focus is genre and thriller, we are drawn to stories of conflicted humanity that force viewers to question how they would…

An executive suite full of Lionsgate executives — seven in all — took turns answering questions from Wall Street analysts Thursday in a conference call to discuss quarterly results and the state of the company. Lionsgate silenced some of the naysayers by soundly beating analysts’ estimates for the fiscal first quarter…

EXCLUSIVE: New Republic Pictures has become a co-financier of the Sam Mendes-directed WWI film 1917.  The producer-financier, run by CEO Brian Oliver, has been behind such films as the Elton John biopic Rocketman. Oliver’s earlier films at Cross Creek include Hacksaw Ridge and Black Swan. Oliver, returning from London…

Harry Friedman, the longtime executive producer of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, is stepping down when his current contract expires next May, capping a 25-year career that has seen him produce more than 6,270 hours of programming, most of those on two of TV’s most venerable game shows. Friedman shared the news with…

Tokyo-based internet services giant Rakuten and LA-based production and distribution company The H Collective have agreed to establish Rakuten H Collective Studio, a joint venture film production entity in Japan. They have also formed Rakuten Distribution which will primarily release films produced by The H Collective…

Warner Horizon Scripted Television has promoted a trio of division heads to newly created EVP posts: Leigh London Redman (scripted programming), Kevin E. Fortson (production) and Matt Matzkin (business affairs). The latter two’s oversight also includes Warner Horizon Unscripted Television The trio had been SVP of…

CBS All Access, nearly four years after launch, is starting to distinguish itself both in the streaming landscape and within CBS Corp, according to Julie McNamara, the streaming service’s EVP Original Content. “Are your shows like what people get on the broadcast network? Are they more like your corporate sibling…

Netflix has decided to give the devil his due. The streamer has expanded the final Season 5 episode order for Lucifer, adding six more hours to bring the season total to 16 episodes. The addition was announced Friday on the official NetflixUS Twitter account. The move to add additional episodes might have come from…

HBO is set to increase the amount of original hours by around 10% in 2020, but its linear programming strategy won't be shaken up in light of WarnerMedia anointing its forthcoming service HBO Max. HBO content chief Casey Bloys said it will do around 160-165 hours of original programming next year, up from 150 this…

On-location shooting days in Los Angeles fell 3.9% in the second quarter of 2019 compared with the same period last year, with feature films down 16.7%; TV down 1.2%; commercials plunging 19.8%, and TV reality shows down 16.2%, according to FilmLA, the city's film office. The only bright spots were TV dramas (up…

The 2020 edition of Music’s Biggest Night will be a big one for Ken Ehrlich. CBS and the Recording Academy today set him to produce his 40th — and final — Grammy Awards. Ehrlich’s producing partner on the past three Grammycasts, The Late Late Show EP Ben Winston, also will produce the 62nd annual Grammy Awards in…