Latest in Michael Sugar

EXCLUSIVE: Michael Sugar’s Sugar23 is expanding into unscripted programming, launching a new Alternative & Unscripted division, headed by veteran Lifetime reality executive David Hillman. "Not only are we thrilled to announce the creation of our Alternative & Unscripted division here at Sugar23, but are honored to…

Michael Sugar's Sugar23 and advertising and representation agency DMA United are partnering with Nelson Mandela's family to launch Mandela Media to develop long and short-form content under the Mandela Media banner. The partnership also will be responsible for production, branding and initiatives pertaining to…

EXCLUSIVE: Beating out bidders from several studios in a fevered auction, Sony Pictures is in negotiations to score rights to The Tree With Matchmaking Powers, an article in The Atlantic by Jeff Maysh. Peter Chiarelli (Crazy Rich Asians) will script a movie based on the true story of a German mailman who delivers love…

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has set Michael Sugar's Sugar23 in an exclusive, multi-year overall deal for scripted series programming. The deal also includes a first look for unscripted series. Sources said it’s an unusually rich deal for a non-writing producer. It puts Sugar’s TV deal under the same roof as his feature deal…

EXCLUSIVE: AMC has made a pilot script commitment on the Owen King & Stephen King’s bestselling novel Sleeping Beauties. The goal is to create an open ended TV series and Owen King has been set to write the pilot script. Sugar23’s Michael Sugar and Ashley Zalta will be exec producers. The book has the obligatory…

EXCLUSIVE: Sugar23 Global has taken a minority position in Short of the Week, the premier online short film platform for discovering and launching the new wave of emerging filmmakers. In addition to Sugar 23 and Michael Sugar’s position, filmmakers Cary Fukunaga and David Gordon Green are also investing in Short of…

EXCLUSIVE: In competitive bidding, Netflix and Sugar23 landed feature rights to Erica Katz's upcoming book The Boys' Club. Sugar23’s Michael Sugar and Ashley Zalta will develop a film based on a book that will be published by the HarperCollins imprint Harper in summer 2020. The Boys' Club follows first-year female…

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix won a three-studio bidding battle to acquire screen rights to Faun, an upcoming short story by bestselling author Joe Hill. Jeremy Slater will write the script and Michael Sugar will produce through his Sugar23 banner with Ashley Zalta. The story will be published in a new short story collection in…

In a heated auction with multiple studios bidding, Netflix won movie rights to Dr. Rapp, and already is eyeing for John Hamburg to write the script and direct the film. The Atlantic magazine article by Jeff Maysh was published in January under How a Stroke Turned a 63-Year-Old Into a Rap Legend. It became the year’s…

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has made a multi-year first-look feature film deal with Sugar23, the company founded by Oscar-winning Spotlight producer and manager Michael Sugar. He and Sugar23's Head of Production Ashley Zalta will make Netflix their creative home, with the streamer getting first crack at any feature film the…

EXCLUSIVE: Sugar23, the production venture founded by Oscar-winning Spotlight producer Michael Sugar, has launched a brand incubator and investment division. Kristin Patrick, the former chief marketing officer of PepsiCo, has been hired to run Sugar23 Global. Patrick will spearhead plans to incubate and launch new…

EXCLUSIVE: Michael Sugar has named Ashley Zalta to be head of production at Sugar23, the production company he recently formed with a multi-year first-look deal with Anonymous Content. Zalta has been Sugar’s longtime production executive and collaborator at Anonymous Content. "Ashley has been an extraordinary…