Arrowverse Alum Marc Guggenheim Signs With CAA (EXCLUSIVE)

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Eiza González has joined Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal in the Hulu limited series “La Máquina.” The Spanish-language series was picked up at Hulu in July. Per the official logline, “‘La Máquina’ follows an aging boxer (García Bernal) whose crafty manager (Luna) secures him one last shot at a title. But to make it to fight night, they must navigate a mysterious underworld force.” González will star as Irasema. Her character descriptions says she is “an aspiring sports journalist who approaches boxing as more of an art form. She’s the ex-wife of Esteban (García Bernal), who she still deeply cares for, and mother to their two children. She’s known Esteban and Andy (Luna) since they were teenagers.”

Joe Otterson TV Reporter FX Entertainment president Eric Schrier has been promoted to the newly created role of president of Disney Television Studios and Business Operations for Disney General Entertainment. With the promotion, it was also announced that Bryan Noon would be exiting his role as president of entertainment for Walt Disney Television, but will stay onboard through a transition period. Noon came over to Disney from Netflix in November 2021. Schrier’s promotion was one of three announced by Dana Walden, the chairman of Disney General Entertainment Content. It was also announced that Craig Erwich, president of ABC Entertainment and Hulu, has added Disney Branded Television Streaming Originals to his purview. In addition, Shannon Ryan has been named president of marketing for Disney General Entertainment. All three will report to Walden.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Carla Gugino has been cast in a series regular role in the upcoming HBO Max series “The Girls on the Bus,” Variety has learned. Gugino is the latest addition to the cast, joining previously announced cast members like Melissa Benoist, Natasha Behnam, Christina Elmore, and Brandon Scott. “The Girls on the Bus” is inspired by a chapter in Amy Chozick’s book “Chasing Hillary.” It is described as a comedic character-driven drama that chronicles four female journalists who follow every move of a parade of flawed presidential candidates, while finding friendship, love, and scandal along the way.

EXCLUSIVE: Kids podcast company Wonkybot found agency. The company, which is behind the hit children’s audio series Tara Tremendous, has signed with CAA.

EXCLUSIVE: CAA has signed three-time Academy Award winner Ang Lee. Lee is the director of such acclaimed films as Life of Pi, Brokeback Mountain and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon all of which won him an Oscar. Life of Pi was also nominated for 11 Academy Awards, winning four, including Best Director for Lee and grossed more than $600 million worldwide, the groundbreaking Brokeback Mountain, which won three Academy Awards, including another Best Director win and four-time Academy Award-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, is the highest-grossing foreign language film U.S. history and won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

EXCLUSIVE: Award-winning Senegalese filmmaker Alice Diop (Saint Omer) has signed with CAA for representation.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter WWE superstar Bianca Belair has signed with WME for representation in all areas, Variety has learned exclusively. With the signing, the powerhouse Hollywood agency will work to build her business across podcasting, acting, marketing, and more. Belair was originally a track and field standout at the University of Tennessee, where she earned All-SEC and All-American Honors. She first signed with WWE in 2016, joining the sports entertainment giant’s developmental brand, NXT. During her time there, she challenged for the NXT Women’s Championship on multiple occasions and went on a winning streak that lasted just over a year.

Manori Ravindran International Editor “The Last Days of the Space Age” creator David Chidlow has signed with CAA for representation. The writer-director works across shows in the U.K., Australia and the U.S. Most recently, he is the writer, creator and showrunner behind Disney+’s eight-part series, “The Last Days of the Space Age.” Set in 1979 Western Australia, the series is billed as a comedy drama that centers on three families whose relationships are put to the test while major social and political events — such as the Miss Universe pageant and the U.S. Space Station Skylab crashing just outside the suburb — throw everything into disarray.

EXCLUSIVE: Jason Clarke has signed with CAA.

BreAnna Bell Two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Chloe Kim has signed with Buchwald for entertainment agency representation as she hopes to roll her sports success into a promising acting career.Kim cemented herself as a force at the 2022 Beijing Olympics when she became the first woman in history to win back-to-back Olympic Gold Medals in halfpipe snowboarding.The snowboarding champion returned to the sport in January 2021 after focusing on her education at Princeton University for the 2019-20 season. Her comeback spawned a win in all four women’s superpipe events in the 2020-21 season including her sixth X Games gold medal and her second World Championship.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterShowrunner, playwright, and performer Rick Cleveland has signed with APA for representation, Variety has learned exclusively. Cleveland will continue to be represented by Rain as well as attorney Ken Richman at Hansen Jacobson TellerCleveland is a six-time Emmy nominee, winning the award for best writing for a drama series alongside Aaron Sorkin for the first season episode of “The West Wing” titled “In Excelsis Deo.” Cleveland was then nominated three times as part of the producing time on the hit HBO series “Six Feet Under” and again as part of the producing teams behind the Showtime series “Nurse Jackie” and the Netflix series “House of Cards.”Cleveland has also worked on a number of other critically-acclaimed shows.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterKirby Howell-Baptiste has signed on to star opposite Colin Farrell in the Apple series “Sugar,” Variety has learned.The project was first ordered to series in June. Exact plot and character details for the show remain under wraps, aside from the fact that it is described as a genre-bending contemporary take on the private detective story set in Los Angeles.Howell-Baptiste was most recently seen in the Netflix series adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman,” playing the role of Death, one of the seven Endless.

The CW is about to enter a new ownership era, as local TV giant Nexstar Media Group has confirmed a pending deal to acquire a 75% stake in the 16-year-old broadcast operation.

Emily Longeretta For the first time in her career, Sofia Carson got to be part of a film from the moment pre-production began until the very end — and then some. In fact, five years ago when director-producer Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum met Carson on “Pretty Little Liars: Perfectionists,” the two clicked immediately. Rosenbaum asked one of her producer friends to keep an eye out for a script the two could do together.

Love Island star Danica Taylor looked loved-up with her man Jamie Allen as she hit the town in Manchester. The couple stuck up a romance towards the end of the series after Danica went through a rocky time on the ITV2 dating show.

EXCLUSIVE: Sylvester Stallone has signed with CAA.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterLucy Liu is the latest addition to the cast of the upcoming Netflix limited series “A Man in Full,” Variety has learned exclusively.Liu will star in the series alongside previously announced leads Jeff Daniels and Diane Lane as well as cast members William Jackson Harper, Aml Ameen, Tom Pelphrey, Sarah Jones, Jon Michael Hill, and Chanté Adams.The series is based on the Tom Wolfe novel of the same name. Variety exclusively reported the show had received a straight-to-series order at the streamer in November 2021. It hails from David E.

Angelique Jackson Actor and comedian Jillian Bell has signed with CAA for representation.Bell is best known for comedic hits such as “Idiotsitter,” the Comedy Central series which she created and starred in for two seasons, and the critically-acclaimed movie “Brittany Runs a Marathon,” directed by Paul Downs Colaizzo. She most recently starred in “The Drop,” which premiered at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, and is set to appear opposite Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston in the upcoming “Murder Mystery 2” for Netflix.Other highlights of Bell’s filmography include a standout role in “22 Jump Street” — for which she was nominated for two MTV movie awards as well as a Teen Choice Award.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterWith streamers making their biggest bets yet on content — and more of them about to include advertising options — Variety spoke with Dan Erlij and Allan Haldeman, UTA co-heads of TV literary, about the state of the television industry.In a rare joint interview, the two covered a wide range of topics, such as Netflix’s and HBO’s domination of the Emmys, and how AVOD streaming could bring “transparency we can find in terms of making deals.” The duo have more than 40 years at the agency between them, as well as a roster of A-list clients that includes “Succession” creator Jesse Armstrong, “The Good Fight” duo Robert and Michelle King, and “Atlanta” director and executive producer Hiro Murai. I want to use the Emmy nominations as a starting point. In particular, the fact that HBO/HBO Max got 140 nominations and Netflix got 105. You’d have to add up the next seven platform totals to equal that 245 number. Is it good or bad to have two major players dominating the awards landscape?Erlij: I would say I think you have to look at the shows that are being nominated first and foremost.

Naman Ramachandran UTA has signed BAFTA and Golden Globe winning actor Bill Nighy in all areas. The global talent, entertainment and sports company will help build upon Nighy’s career across a range of verticals.