Alfonso Cuaron’s Esperanto Head of Creative Lila Rawlings Joins Fifth Season-Backed Motive as Executive Producer (EXCLUSIVE)

EXCLUSIVE: Vince Vaughn (Bad Monkey) will topline Nonnas, an original comedy that Stephen Chbosky (Wonder) has been tapped to direct for Fifth Season (80 for Brady), 1Community (Just Mercy) and Madison Wells (The Eyes of Tammy Faye).

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Emmy-winning writer/producer/director Manny Coto, whose credits include “24” and its sequels “24: Live Another Day” and “24: Legacy,” as well as “American Horror Story,” “Star Trek: Enterprise” and “Dexter,” died Sunday in Pasadena. He was 62. News of Coto’s death was confirmed by a family representative. Coto died after a 13-month battle with pancreatic cancer, and passed away at his home, surrounded by family. Born in Havana, Cuba, Manuel Hector Coto was one of primetime’s most prominent Latino writers and showrunners. He shared the outstanding drama series Emmy in 2005 for Season 5 of “24,” and co-created “24: Legacy.” Coto also spend four seasons as exec producer of “American Horror Story,” and also exec produced two seasons of “American Horror Stories,” directing the 2021 episode “Feral.”

Joe Otterson TV Reporter ESPN Films is working on a docuseries about the legendary Gracie family, Variety has learned exclusively. Titled “Gracie,” the series will delve deep into the family’s history and dissect how they became the founders of Brazilian jiu jitsu, which serves as a major cornerstone of modern mixed martial arts (MMA). The official description of the series states: “Featuring larger-than-life personalities, triumphs and tragedies, deep loyalties, passionate loves and deadly feuds, ‘Gracie’ will explore the essence of family, honor, legacy, and humanity’s innate desire to fight. Told through the eyes of key Gracie family members, the series will dive deep into an epic family saga that takes audiences from Scotland and Japan, to Brazil and America.”

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Food Network has renewed its latest “Baking Championship” spinoff, “Summer Baking Championship, for a second season. “Summer Baking Championship” features 10 talented bakers from around the country competing in unique summer-themed baking challenges featuring the flavors, ingredients and celebrations of the season for a chance to earn the title of Summer Baking Champion and win $25,000, per the cable channel’s official description for the competition series. The show is hosted by Jesse Palmer, with Duff Goldman, Carla Hall and Damaris Phillips serving as judges.

Julia Fox is dabbling in the Canadian film industry.

Angelique Jackson Jodie Turner-Smith, star of “Queen & Slim” and the upcoming “Star Wars” series “The Acolyte,” is plugging into the grid. The British star is latest addition to the cast of Disney’s “Tron: Ares,” joining Jared Leto, Evan Peters and “Past Lives” star Greta Lee. Joachim Rønning (“Maleficent: Mistress of Evil”) will direct the third “Tron” installment from a script by Jesse Wigutow and Jack Thorne. Leto will play Ares, the manifestation of a program that becomes sentient and crosses over into the human world, with Lee as a video game programmer and tech company CEO who aims to protect her world-changing technology. Additional plot details, including specifics of Turner-Smith’s role, are being kept under wraps. Production on the film is set for August (an actors strike notwithstanding).

EXCLUSIVE: Tough as Nails returns for its fifth season and this time, it’s coming from the Great White North.

Naman Ramachandran Julia Fox, breakout star of “Uncut Gems” has signed on as executive producer for Luis De Filippis’ debut feature “Something You Said Last Night.” The Canadian-Swiss project bowed at Toronto in 2022 and won the Shawn Mendes Change Maker Award there and went on to win major awards at San Sebastian, Cairo and Rotterdam. It stars emerging performer Carmen Madonia, Ramona Milano (“Due South”), Paige Evans (“Trapped With My Husband”) and Joey Parro (“Nikita”). The trans themed story follows 20-something aspiring writer Ren (Madonia) and her younger sister Siena (Evans) as they reluctantly accompany their parents on a family vacation.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor The Alliance of Women Directors has named Melanie Mack as its new executive director. AWD is a nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles that advocates for women directors in film, television and new media. Mack, who is CEO of Codega Media — a multi-media company she founded in 2016 which produces and curates content created by women — will lead the member organization in its efforts to increase opportunities for women and nonbinary directors working in the screened content industry through robust advocacy, craft development programs and mentorship.

“The View” has had plenty of chaos break out on the show over the years, but we don’t think it’s ever had a surprise water balloon attack happen on air — at least, not until Thursday’s episode. The victim? Executive producer Brian Teta.The moment came at the end of the show, as the hosts of the ABC talk show were doing their “Favorite Things Under $50” segment.

Naman Ramachandran Actor and producer Jonathan Lipnicki has joined production, post-production and distribution company Buffalo 8 as an executive producer. Lipnicki made a mark with his performance alongside Tom Cruise in “Jerry Maguire,” before becoming the lead in the family franchise “Stuart Little.” He will soon be seen in the upcoming TBS show “The Joe Schmo Show,” Peter Pardini’s film “Man Goes on Rant” and Britt Robertson-led film “The Re-Education of Molly Singer.” Lipnicki will play a key role in packaging and project development within Buffalo 8’s EP services division, identifying storytelling opportunities and bringing together top-tier talent based on his extensive relationships spanning Hollywood studio films through to the independent sector.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone have boarded “Relighting Candles: The Tim Sullivan Story” as executive producers. The documentary short, co-directed by Zeberiah Newman (“Unexpected”) and Michiel Thomas (“Game Face”), is a portrait of West Hollywood candlemaker Tim Sullivan. It chronicles the 82-year-old Bronx native’s journey coming out as a gay man, how he got sober more than 40 years ago and his tradition of hiring homeless and newly sober people at his company, Timothy Jay Candles. McCarthy and Falcone tell me in a statement, “Once we heard the lovely story of Tim Sullivan and began to understand how many people he’s helped in his life through the making of beautiful candles, we realized these filmmakers were telling exactly the kind of story we want to help get out into the world.”

The cast of Wednesday made a video appearance at Netflix’s Tudum global fan event in São Paulo, Brazil, and teased that a new Addams family member was joining in Season 2.

Alfonso Ribeiro is excited for the new season of  and its return to ABC!«It's fantastic. I think some people look at last season as a failure and I look at it completely opposite, right? We were actually so much of a success on Disney+ that ABC was like, 'No, no, no, no, no, no, we want that back.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent “Prisma,” the groundbreaking Amazon Italian original series centered around identical adolescent teen twins who challenge gender norms in different ways, has been renewed for a second season. The second installment of the show is being financed and distributed under a different business model than the first season with Germany’s Beta Film now coming on board as a co-financier and international distributor outside Italy. Shooting is underway in and around the city of Latina, just south of Rome, on “Prisma” season two with director Ludovico Bessegato back at the helm. Bessegato, who previously gained local prominence as showrunner of “Skam Italia” – the hit Italian adaptation of the Nordic young adult drama – also serves as writer of “Prisma” 2. He is now working with Francesca Scialanca following his collaboration with writer Alice Urciuolo on the first installment that launched last year from the Locarno Film Festival.

Rebecca Romijn and Paul Wesley are blasting off to . With the second season of Paramount+'s Star Trek series in full swing, the two stars previewed the latest intergalactic adventures that await the crew of the USS Enterprise.In the new season, Captain Pike (Anson Mount) and the Enterprise team confront dangerous stakes, explore uncharted territories and encounter new life and civilizations. The crew will also embark on personal journeys that will continue to test their resolve and redefine their destinies.

Elizabeth Wagmeister Senior Correspondent Sherri Shepherd’s daytime talk show, “Sherri,” is shaking up its executive ranks, setting a new senior producing team ahead of its second season. The inaugural season of the top-rated freshman show carried over the production staff from “The Wendy Williams Show,” which was replaced in its time slot on the Fox stations by “Sherri” when Williams’ show ended in 2022. Now, Shepherd’s show has parted ways with some of Williams’ top producers, who helped launch “Sherri,” which has been renewed through 2025. “Sherri” hails from Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury, the same company that was behind “The Wendy Williams Show” for its 13-year run.

Rachel Seo Gavin Casalegno is entering his wrestling era. “The Summer I Turned Pretty” actor has joined director Ash Avildsen’s “Queen of the Ring,” his reps confirmed to Variety. “Queen of the Ring” follows the story of WWE Hall of Fame-inducted wrestler Mildred Burke, a world champion who broke glass ceilings throughout the course of her career from the 1930s through the 1950s. Casalegno will play the teenage version of Joe, Burke’s son. The cast also reportedly includes Emily Bett Richards (“Arrow”) and Josh Lucas (“Ford v Ferrari”) as Burke and her husband and business manager, Billy Wolfe. Marie Avgeropoulos (“The 100”) and WWE’s Charlotte Flair and Liv Morgan also star in the film. Avildsen (“Paradise City,” “American Satan”) will direct based on a script he penned. The film is inspired by Jeff Leen’s book of the same name.

Scarlett Johansson is getting real about the ups and downs of being an actress. In a May interview with , the Black Widow actress opened up about wanting to quit the industry in 2011, after losing two roles that instead went to Emily Blunt and Sandra Bullock.«The first was  and then the other one was Alfonso Cuarón’s ,» Johansson told the outlet. «I had wanted that role so much. It was sort of the straw that broke the camel’s back.