Amazon Studios’ Head of Diversity: Inclusion Playbook Boosts the Bottom Line and Appeals to Broader Audiences

EXCLUSIVE: Initial Co-Managing Director Cat Lynch is joining Amazon Studios in the UK, Deadline can reveal.

As we told you last week, former Warner Bros Global Marketing Chief Sue Kroll was bound to be named Amazon Studios’ new Head of Marketing. On Monday, the company confirmed the news.

Three weeks after the exit of David Nevins left a hole in the oversight of Paramount+ scripted originals, the void is yet to be filled. However, chatter about a restructuring of the operations along the lines laid out in Deadline’s piece on the day of Nevins’ departure announcement has been gaining momentum.

Apple reported a record $90.1 billon in revenue for its fiscal fourth quarter, up 8%, with EPS of $1.29, both better than expected. The key services sector that includes paid subscriptions to Apple TV+ and Music fell shy of expectations and iPhone sales were a bit light.

EXCLUSIVE: We hear that the Nobody director Ilya Naishuller is set to direct Idris Elba and John Cena in the Peter Safran-produced movie Heads of State at Amazon.

Amazon Studios’ is shaking up the leadership of its TV programming operations under Head of Television Vernan Sanders, I have learned. Marc Resteghini is stepping down as US/Global Head of Development, sources said. He is negotiating a producing deal with Amazon Studios. Nick Pepper, Head of Studio Creative Content, and Laura Lancaster, Head of Series, are expected to divvy up Resteghini’s responsibilities and co-run development and production of TV content, reporting to Sanders. MGM TV’s operations remain separate and do not factor into the current executive changes. A rep for Amazon Studios declined comment.

The Warner Bros Worldwide Marketing vet is in talks for the top Film & TV, Marketing post at Amazon Studios, sources tell us. The rumor has been around for a while, and we understand it’s becoming more real, and it really shouldn’t surprise as Sue Kroll has been a marketing consultant at Amazon Studios for six months. Sources tell us that the streamer and Kroll are still working out details.

By Solea Pfeiffer says she's used to the question: “What are you?” As a mixed woman who describes herself as racially ambiguous, she knows all too well how it feels to have her identity questioned. It's why she related so much to her character in Tyler Perry's new , A Jazzman's Blues. Pfeiffer stars as Leanne, a Black woman passing as white in the South during the 1940s.

at a tribute concert honoring the late Taylor Hawkins.Hawkins, who was the band’s drummer since 1997, died in March due to a cardiovascular collapse at the age of 50 in a Colombian hotel where multiple drugs were found.The surviving members of Foo Fighters were joined by a star-studded array of performers, including Gallagher, as they all took to the stage at London’s Wembley Stadium last month.But the decades-long feud between brothers Liam and Noel seems to have gotten in the way of the tribute gig, as Liam claimed his brother didn’t let him sing the Oasis song he really wanted to.You can stop us using the songs but you can’t erase our memories shame on you Noel GallagherTaking to Twitter Wednesday, the singer fumed, “No oasis songs as the angry squirt has blocked them he also blocked the oasis I sang for Taylor Hawkins tribute he’s a horrible little man.”In a follow-up tweet, he wrote, “You can stop us using the songs but you can’t erase our memories shame on you Noel Gallagher.”It’s not clear which song Liam claims he was “blocked” from performing.The tribute opened with Liam performing his band’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” and “Live Forever,” backed by the Foo Fighters with frontman Dave Grohl on drums, Pat Smear and Chris Shiflett on guitar, and Nate Mendel on bass.

SF Studios Acquires Johan Rundberg’s ‘Moonwind & Hoff’ Book SeriesSF Studios has acquired the film rights to Johan Rundberg’s book series Moonwind & Hoff. The series includes the novels The Night Raven, The Queen of Thieves, The Angel of Death, and The Blood Pact. The Night Raven is the first novel that will be adapted, produced, and distributed by SF Studios. The film is expected to start shooting at the beginning of 2024 with a theatrical release in 2025. Stefan H. Lindén and Alexandra Thönnersten, producers at SF Studios, said: “The Night Raven and the entire series about Moonwind & Hoff are exactly in the realm of magical realism that we both dreamed of producing. In many ways, both the world and the characters feel inspiring and exciting. We want to create a grand series of films that can enthrall cinema audiences.”

U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss' push to cut taxes for her country's highest earners was a "mistake," President Biden stated Saturday. Truss was forced to scrap large portions of her tax plan last week amid market turmoil and disintegrating public confidence.

EJ Panaligan editor High Octane Pictures’ “Izzy Lyon: The Unspun Truth,” an absurd mockumentary about a famous sign spinner, is set for digital release on November 4th. The film stars comedians David Koechner, Greg Proops, Phil LaMarr, Lang Parker and Kym Whitley. Following the murky life of famed sign spinner Izzy Lyon, the film picks up twenty years since Lyon mysteriously disappeared, and a group of fervent fans seek to reunite in order to uncover the truth behind the celebrity’s disappearance. The group of fans investigate Lyon’s life in detail, from his early 80’s rise to his late 90’s downfall, in the process discovering a portrait of a flawed individual that they’ve worshipped blindly in the past. Anti-Izzy adversaries are said to be working to exclude Lyon from the Spinternational Hall of Fame, which is followers must reckon with throughout the film.

If President Joe Biden was looking for a gift for former President Jimmy Carter’s 98th birthday, his mishandling of the OPEC situation sure fits the bill. For all the current administration’s shortcomings and failures, they have been remarkably effective at waging war on America’s energy producers.

Trouble in paradise… already?!

The Treasury Department's launch of a new advisory committee on racial equity is just one of dozens of ways in which the federal government is working to advance President Biden's sweeping diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) agenda. "We know that we need to do all we can to build a fairer economy, and that’s why we have put racial equity at the forefront of our agenda at Treasury and across the Biden administration," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Tuesday as she announced the equity committee.

George Strait, LeAnn Rimes, Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, Carrie Underwood and more celebrities are mourning the country music icon, Loretta Lynn, who died at 90. "Our precious mom, Loretta Lynn, passed away peacefully this morning, October 4th, in her sleep at home in her beloved ranch in Hurricane Mills," the family said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital.They asked for privacy as they grieve and said a memorial will be announced later. Throughout Lynn's career, which spanned 60 years, she won every music award known to musicians, and was inducted into the County Music Hall of Fame in 1988.

Sissy Spacek, who won an Oscar for her indelible portrayal of Loretta Lynn in the 1980 biopic Coal Miner’s Daughter, is remembering the late icon as a “resilient country music pioneer” who became a lifelong friend.