BBC Studios Backs New UK Entertainment Outfit Rebel Rebel Pictures

EXCLUSIVE: Non-English language drama streamer Walter Presents has acquired a package of five drama titles from Beta for release on its services in Australia and New Zealand.

TWICE have announced six new shows in North America and Australia for their upcoming ‘Ready To Be’ world tour.Today (March 23), the popular K-pop girl group announced on Twitter that they are adding two new shows to the Australian legs of their ‘Ready To Be’ tour. They include a second Sydney show on May 2, as well as a follow-up Melbourne concert on May 7.As for the North American leg of TWICE’s upcoming world tour, it will see the addition of four new stops – three in the US and one in Canada.

Amazon Studios is taking to the streets to promote Ben Affleck’s “Air,” which chronicles the beginnings of the iconic Air Jordan sneaker brand. The studio has teamed up with iconic sneaker culture icon Jason Markk to host a multi-city consumer experience, dubbed “Fresh Air,” which ties into the film’s social campaign, “A shoe is just a shoe until I step into it.” The activation will see guerilla street teams flood U.S. cities including Los Angeles, New York, Miami and Chicago, in a unique opportunity to bring together sneakerheads and celebrate the culture and history of the sneaker community. The street team will also have a presence at the Jason Markk flagship store in L.A.

New Order have backed the #LetTheMusicMove campaign against proposed changes to US visa rules that would impact touring artists.Last month saw the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announce that it was planning to raise touring visa fees for foreign acts by more than 250 per cent.The DHS said in its proposal that applications for a P visa, which is for acts arriving in the states to perform temporarily, would increase from the current rate of $460 (£375.23) to $1,615 (£1,317). Meanwhile, the longer-term O work visa would jump from $460 (£375.23) to $1,655 (£1,349).Numerous musicians have since spoken out against the plans, saying that it would be “a huge hardship to pay such high visa fees”.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Yellow Veil Pictures has acquired worldwide rights to the erotic thriller documentary “We Kill For Love” ahead of its world premiere at the Overlook Film Festival. The company is planning a domestic release later this year and will represent the film for international sales with a launch at the upcoming Marche Du Film in Cannes. Written, produced, and directed by Anthony Penta, “We Kill for Love” depicts the long-gone world of direct-to-video erotic thriller, an American film genre that once dominated late night cable television and the shelves of neighborhood video stores.

EXCLUSIVE: Angel Studios — the producer and distributor of the equity-crowdfunded, faith-based series The Chosen, which has done major business both online and in movie theaters — has today announced its launch of a theatrical division, as well as its appointment of Brandon Purdie as Vice President of Theatrical Distribution.

New Duke Of Edinburgh Opens Sky Studios Sound Stage

Naman Ramachandran U.S.-Europe media fund APX Group has acquired a 50% stake in London’s Twickenham Film Studios. The move comes weeks after Twickenham Studios chair Sunny Vohra acquired a 6.95% stake in the APX Group for more than $70 million, reflecting a market cap of $1.1 billion for APX, which is planning a public listing on New York Stock Exchange later this year. APX and Twickenham did not disclose the financial value of the deal. As part of the acquisition, APX Group will rebrand its global network of studios with the Twickenham Studios name. The parties have also agreed on an accelerated expansion plan to acquire additional studios and land suited for studio construction in Europe and the U.S., all under the Twickenham Studios brand.

EXCLUSIVE: Drift director Anthony Chen is gearing up to direct his first US-set project, Heartbeat: A New York Story, about the rarely-told experiences of the Asian gay community during the AIDS epidemic in 1980s New York.

Nia Archives.•READ MORE: Nia Archives on the cover: “Jungle music has always been a strong sound of the underground”The mural,  is to celebrate the Bradford-born’s third highly-anticipated EP, ‘Sunrise Bang Ur Head Against Tha Wall’. The artwork took four days to complete and Nia Archives had a chance to add some finishing touches to the mural herself.The 80-square-metre mural was created by the Shoreditch-based street art collective Graffiti Life, who also done murals dedicated to other musicians including late Nipsey Hussle, Giggs and Charlotte Black.You can currently visit the mural at 455 Hackney Road, E2 9DY until March 24.In addition to the mural, Nia Archives and Spotify have teamed up to offer fans a chance to win exclusive press-on nails, designed by Suki Nailz, inspired by Nia’s synonymous nail sets.In other news, Nia Archives released her third EP ‘Sunrise Bang Ur Head Tha Wall’ today (March 10) via Island Records/HIJINXX.Also, she will support Slowthai on his ‘UGLY’ European tour alongside Sainté.

K.J. Yossman BBC Studios has backed a new production label, Rebel Rebel Pictures, launched by Simon Shalgosky and Daniel Brookes. Rebel Rebel will focus on unscripted primetime and factual entertainment, aimed at both U.K. and international audiences. Shalgosky and Brookes have both spent decades in television, working across development and production with credits including “Love Island,” “X factor” and “Britain’s Got Talent.” Brookes has previously worked in senior development roles at ITV Studios, SYCO, Expectation Entertainment and MGM Unscripted. Shalgosky was previously head of global development at Seven Studios and has experience at Lion TV, Keshet UK, ITV Studios, and Celador.

K.J. Yossman Mercury Studios, the production company behind recent Abbey Road Studios doc “If These Walls Could Sing,” have unveiled their new feature, about composer Felix Mendelssohn’s genius sister Fanny. Although Felix, who is best known for writing “The Wedding March,” is still world-renowned 175 years after his death, his sister Fanny was also a prolific musician, composing 450 works – including her own wedding music – before she died in her early 40s. “Fanny: The Other Mendelssohn” tells her story. Sheila Hayman (“Mendelssohn, The Nazis and Me”) directs the doc, which also stars classical artist Isata Kanneh-Mason bringing Mendelssohn’s works to life. Filming has taken place in Berlin, New York, London, Oxford and Buckingham Palace, where Kanneh-Mason played Queen Victoria’s piano.

EXCLUSIVE: Abramorama and Giant Pictures have acquired North American rights to Nuclear Now, the latest documentary from 3x Academy Award winner Oliver Stone, which premiered (as Nuclear) at last year’s Venice Film Festival.  

Amazon Studios has ordered “Twin Love,” a new reality dating competition show from ITV Entertainment, to series. Premiering this summer on Prime Video and the free, ad-supported Freevee, the show will be hosted by WWE Hall of Famers and TV personalities Brie and Nikki Bella.Billed as a “social dating experiment,” “Twin Love” explores the love lives of identical twins.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Fox has named John Hesling its new head of Alternative Entertainment, the broadcast network’s in-house unscripted studio. Responsible for overseeing the development and production of all unscripted series owned by Fox Entertainment (FAE), as well as programs FAE produces for third-party buyers in the U.S. and abroad, Hesling will be based in Los Angeles and report to Allison Wallach, president of unscripted programming at Fox Entertainment. “I am so excited for John to join FAE and lead the incredible team we have assembled,” Wallach said. “His creative vision and vast experience as both a producer and an executive working on a global scale will be key to our strategy of building FAE as a leading provider of innovative series and formats for Fox and third-party platforms throughout the world.”

London-based businessman and Twickenham Studios chair Sunny Vohra has acquired a 6.95% in APX Corporation Inc, the parent company of the American-European media fund, the APX Group.

K.J. Yossman “Cunk on Earth” star Diane Morgan and “Intelligence” creator Nick Mohammed have each inked independent deals with BBC Studios. Both comedians, who act and write, have signed deals for development, co-production and distribution of new scripted material, which BBC Studios will rep and distribute internationally. Mohammed is a double Emmy nominee who created and co-starred in “Intelligence” alongside “Friends” star David Schwimmer. He is perhaps best known for his role as Nate in “Ted Lasso” and will be seen in the upcoming feature “Maggie Moore(s)” opposite Jon Hamm and Tina Fey. Mohammed is also an associate of the Inner Magic Circle. Morgan recently had a hit with “Cunk on Earth” in which she starred as professional dim-wit Philomena Cunk. She is also known for comedy show “Mandy,” which she created, wrote and directed, and has starred in shows including “After Life” and “Motherland.”

Ted Lasso‘s Nick Mohammed and After Life‘s Diane Morgan have struck scripted development deals with BBC Studios.

BBC Studios Renews Pact With ZDF

More details have been revealed from the court battle between Nicola Peltz‘s father and the wedding planners that were fired in the weeks leading up to her 2022 wedding with Brooklyn Beckham.