Today In Entertainment

FEBRUARY 18, 2021

What's news: Donald Glover departs Disney for Amazon, why Hipgnosis is spending big on music libraries, Tim Burton sets new Addams Family series, CBS cancels two long-running shows as its 2021 lineup comes together, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon stock up on series, Apple inks a deal with Skydance Animation. Plus: Universal Music and Big Hit Entertainment want to create the next great boy band, and The THR Writer Roundtable. --Alex Weprin

 THR Writer Roundtable

►The THR Writer Roundtable: Aaron Sorkin, Emerald Fennell, Kemp Powers, Radha Blank and Sam Levinson on the journey to get their stories to screen. Five top screenwriters — behind the films The Trial of the Chicago 7, Promising Young Woman, One Night in Miami/Soul, The Forty-Year-Old-Version and Malcolm & Marie — open up to Scott Feinberg about the struggle and satisfaction of finding their voice and harnessing their power.

--Aaron Sorkin on how Trial of the Chicago 7 landed on Netflix: "Back in the spring, I was on a call with Jim Gianopulos, the head of Paramount, and at the end Jim said, 'Listen, we've done some market research to try to find out when people are going to come back to movie theaters. The first group of people that are going to come back are people who think that COVID is a hoax.' I agreed with Jim that chances are the Idaho militia was not going to show up for the film on its opening weekend, and that we might be in trouble. We wanted the film to come out before the election, not because we thought we could persuade anybody or affect the election in any way, but because right now is when we're talking about these things. So Jim said, 'Should we check out what the streamers' appetite for the film would be?' And Netflix came along and made an offer."

--Kemp Powers on One Night In Miami: "When I wrote the play, I had no intention of ever adapting it into a film. Some of the things that Radha discusses in her film about being a Black playwright forced me to decide, 'If I'm going to get this story out, I guess theater's not going to be the medium.' Because people questioned the viability of that story as a play. That's the irony of seeing some critics say it's too much like a play as a movie. It's like, 'Oh, you must not have been there when it was a play.' They said it wasn't worthy of being a play because 'nothing happens in the room.'" The THR Writer Roundtable.

 Donald Glover Inks Amazon Deal

►Donald Glover is on the move. Sources tell THR's Lesley Goldberg that the Atlanta multihyphenate has exited his pact with Disney-owned FX for a multiple-year, eight-figure overall deal with Amazon. The pact is believed to include a content channel of sorts that will spotlight Glover's work and other curated content on Amazon's Prime Video hub. Additionally, Stephen Glover — who wrote and produced on Atlanta alongside his brother — has also signed an overall deal with Amazon.

--The Amazon deal, which has been in the works for weeks, will also see Glover exec produce other projects for the retail giant and streamer. Sources note one such project is already beginning to come together: a potential series called Hive, which is rumored to revolve around a Beyonce-like figure and stem from writer Janine Nabers (Watchmen, Away). The project has already begun staffing a writers room, with sources noting Malia Obama is among those recruited to work on the series. The story.

+Tim Burton is officially revisiting The Addams Family. Netflix has handed out a straight-to-series, eight-episode order for Wednesday, a live-action offshoot of The Addams Family, from director Tim Burton and showrunners Al Gough and Miles Millar (Smallville, Into the Badlands). The story.

+More John Constantine is on the way. J.J. Abrams will produce a new series based on the DC character for HBO Max. Abrams' Bad Robot and WarnerMedia have tapped British novelist Guy Bolton to pen the pilot, and are aiming to cast an actor of color in the role. More.

+In other streaming news: NBCUniversal International said Thursday that it has launched its subscription-based reality TV streaming service Hayu in 11 more countries. Hayu is becoming available in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Switzerland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. It is now also being offered in direct-to-consumer fashion in Germany and Austria. More.

+And: Discovery+ has hired another former Hulu executive. Patrizio “Pato” Spagnoletto is joining the company as gloval CMO for the streaming service. He was most recently the head of marketing for Hulu, and joins fellow Hulu veteran Jim Keller (who was hired last year to lead Discovey+ ad sales) at the company.

►CBS is beginning to put its 2021-22 slate together. The broadcast network has handed out early renewals for its Monday comedies, handing out a third season for Chuck Lorre's Bob Hearts Abishola and a fourth season to Cedric the Entertainer's The Neighborhood. More.

--However, CBS also set end dates for two long-running shows. The broadcast network announced Wednesday that Mom, its Chuck Lorre comedy starring Allison Janney, will end in May after eight seasons... NCIS: New Orleans, the youngest show in the franchise, will end with its current seventh season. The series finale of the Scott Bakula-led drama will air May 16 on CBS...

+Young Rock showrunner Nahnatchka Kahn on working with Dwayne Johnson to tell his story. With a new sitcom about The Rock, the veteran showrunner explores her love of wrestling, writing for kids' shows and her uphill battle to get her unique intersectionality represented in Hollywood. The interview.

►Tom Ascheim is wasting no time getting to work for WarnerMedia. The former Freeform president who joined the company in April as president of its Global Kids, Young Adults and Classics division, presented a massive slate featuring more than 300 hours of content during a Wednesday upfront presentation to Madison Avenue ad buyers.

--The slate features a new preschool programming block, Cartoonito, for both Cartoon Network and HBO Max, will kick off in the fall as WarnerMedia continues to blur the line between the linear network and its recently launched streamer. Ascheim's first slate features originals and acquisitions that are designed to appeal to preschoolers, kids ages 6-11 and content that can be viewed by the whole family. The slate and details.

+Nickelodeon on Thursday rolled out its latest renewals. The ViacomCBS-backed basic cable network has handed out renewals for Paw Patrol (season nine), Blue's Clues & You (season four) and picked up rookie breakout Santiago of the Sea for a sophomore run. Additionally, head of the spring premiere of Baby Shark's Big Show, Nickelodeon has ordered five shorts that promote the 26-episode series that will launch Friday, Feb. 26, at 12:30 p.m. The story.

►Meanwhile, YouTube also unveiled a new slate of originals: YouTube continues to lean into its music DNA with its slate of original programming. The ad-supported streaming platform has ordered new projects from Alicia Keys and Quavo, which will join a roster of upcoming programming that includes a Demi Lovato docuseries. The currently untitled Keys docuseries is expected to provide an intimate look at the Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter. Will Smith's Westbrook Media is producing the project, which will premiere later this year. The story.

+Peacock set a new slate too. Ahead of its virtual time with press Wednesday at the Television Critics Association's winter press tour, the NBCUniversal-backed streamer added a pair of scripted comedies, an Andy Cohen-produced unscripted series and a pair of totally different docuseries to its slate as the service continues to bolster its offerings. It's the first slate for the streamer under Susan Rovner, who took over originals for Peacock following NBCUniversal's massive executive restructuring last year. More.

 Gold, Oil, and Music

►Hipgnosis is buying mega music libraries — and plans to spend $1 billion more. A former music manager’s startup has bought more than 100 publishing catalogs, including a 50 percent stake in Neil Young’s, as well as hits performed by Rihanna and Shakira, and is eyeing $1 billion-plus more, Georg Szalai reports.

--"I compare songs to gold and oil. They’re predictable and reliable, but songs aren’t affected by politics or pandemics. If you’re living your best life, you’re doing it to a soundtrack of great songs. If you are experiencing challenges, you are taking comfort and escaping." The story.

+Meanwhile: Big Hit Entertainment and Universal Music Group announced Wednesday a strategic partnership in which they will assemble and debut a new global K-pop boy group together in the United States for the first time. The members will be selected from a global audition process that will be televised sometime next year with a U.S. media partner to be determined. The story.

►Apple has unveiled an overall deal with Skydance Animation for feature films and TV series for its AppleTV+ streaming service. The agreement, which follows Apple holding initial talks to acquire movies for its streaming service, will see Apple Original Films debut the animated movies Luck and Spellbound alongside a two season order for The Search for WondLa series. 

--The deal promises more feature films and TV series to come from Apple's multi-year pact with Skydance Animation. Luck and Spellbound were originally set up at Paramount, which has a movie deal with Skydance. The story.

+Related: Netflix has unveiled plans for Sulwe, an animated musical feature based on the graphic novel series of the same title by Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o. More.

In other film news...

+Regina King, who most recently stepped behind the camera for One Night in Miami, has set a new onscreen role, playing pioneering politician Shirley Chisholm. John Ridley will write and direct Shirley, which will be produced by Participant. More.

+Also: Ahead of her Netflix debut in Yes Day, Jennifer Garner has signed on to star in her next project with the streamer. Garner will lead the body switch comedy Family Leave that is based on the book from Yes Day author Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Bedtime For Mommy. More. 

►Obituary: Rush Limbaugh, the conservative commentator whose rhetorical persuasiveness and political pugnacity brought him a massive radio following, made him a multimillionaire and won him a Presidential Medal of Freedom, has died. He was 70. Limbaugh's wife, Kathryn, announced his death on his long-running syndicated radio show on Wednesday, saying that her husband died Wednesday morning due to complications from lung cancer. The obituary.

►Larry King's widow is pushing back against an effort by his son to wrest control of the late journalist's estate based on a nearly illegible handwritten will. Probate battles are usually messy, but here there are a few complicating factors: A divorce was pending between Larry and Shawn Southwick King and the talk show host didn't learn of Larry King Jr.'s existence until his son was an adult. Shawn also contends she recently discovered Larry had a "secret" bank account through which he gave more than $266,000 of joint money to Larry Jr. without her knowledge and she is entitled to declare those gifts void and demand it be returned. The story.

►What Framing Britney Spears doesn't really answer. In a guest column, Allen Secretov, an entertainment attorney at Kinsella Weitzman, explains conservatorships and addresses the big question that's left ambiguous in the hit documentary. The column.

►SPAC of the day: Advancit Acquisition Corp. 1 is targeting companies in the TMT (technology, media, telecommunications) sector, and is led by CEO Randy Freer, who was most recently the CEO of Hulu. Jon Miller, the former CEO of AOL, is chairman, while music biz veteran Troy Carter is on the board. It's seeking to raise $350 million in its IPO.

►Jesse Plemons has joined Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro in Killers of the Flower Moon, the big-budget thriller Martin Scorsese is directing for Apple. More.

+Casting roundup: Alison Oliver will join Sasha Lane, Joe Alwyn and Jemima Kirke in Hulu's Conversations With Friends... Netflix's limited series True Story is rounding out its cast. Tawny Newsome, Will Catlett, Paul Adelstein, Ash Santos, John Ales, Chris Diamantopoulous, Lauren London and Billy Zane are joining the limited series... Marwan Kenzari, the Aladdin star who stole scenes in The Old Guard, is in final negotiations to join Dwayne Johnson in Black Adam...

In other news...

--A class action lawsuit alleging Disney pays women less than men for substantially similar work continues to chart new territory. The women suing the entertainment giant say that they have recently discovered that Disney has been violating a California law prohibiting workers from discussing wages. In the nearly three-year-old lawsuit, the plaintiffs now wish to amend their complaint to include a claim related to pay secrecy.

--Starz has taken a multipronged approach to its commitment to brand itself as a purveyor of storytelling by and about women and underrepresented people. The premium cabler is launching its #TakeTheLead initiative, which begins with revealing the results of a study it commissioned UCLA's Center for Scholars & Storytellers to conduct.

--Netflix has taken the global rights to Canadian director Ricardo Trogi's Le Guide de la famille parfaite (The Guide to the Perfect Family).

--Nominations for the Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild (IATSE Local 706) Awards have been announced, with  Bill & Ted Face the Music leading the feature competition with four nominations, followed by Hillbilly Elegy and Mulan, with three apiece.

--Fox News primetime host Tucker Carlson will develop two new video projects for the channel's Fox Nation streaming service, the company said Wednesday. Carlson will host a video podcast for Fox Nation, and will host a series of "in-depth specials" called Tucker Carlson Originals. Both programs are in addition to his 8 p.m. show on Fox News.

--Publicists with the International Cinematographers Guild have canceled their annual awards luncheon to instead support their Local 600 Hardship Fund amid the pandemic.

--The BRIC Foundation — an organization founded in 2018 to Break, Reinvent, Impact and Change representation in the entertainment industry — has announced details for its third annual summit.

--Reply All host PJ Vogt and producer Sruthi Pinnamaneni are stepping away from the popular Gimlet podcast following allegations that they contributed to a toxic workplace environment at the Spotify-owned studio.

What else we're reading...

--"Inside Hollywood's rush to make the first GameStop movie" [Vulture]

--"Kemp Powers is awards season's most valuable filmmaker" [Vanity Fair]

--"Fox's Daytona 500 ratings hit an all-time low as NASCAR Cup Series sees soggy start" [Sportico]

--"Fox News tries to keep Trump fans satisfied. But at what cost?" [LA Times]

Today's birthdays: John Travolta, 67, Matt Dillon, 57, Cybill Shepherd, 71, Molly Ringwald, 53, Yoko Ono, 88.

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FEBRUARY 18, 2021

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