Boutique Producer Señor y Señora Preps Aritz Moreno Karate Biopic, Samurai Series, Irati Gorostidi’s ‘Anekumen’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Russell Morash, who created long-running WGBH series This Old House and was a frequent Julia Child collaborator, has died.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Todd Harthan has been tapped as the new showrunner and executive producer of ABC’s “High Potential,” starring Kaitlin Olson. Harthan was previously executive producer/showrunner of Fox’s “The Resident,” which ran for six seasons and recently was a hit off-net for Netflix. Harthan replaces previous showrunner Rob Thomas, who departed the project earlier this month.

UCP is teaming with Side Naegle, Jenna Bush Hager’s Thousand Voices and Ali Krug’s Dinner Party Productions to develop a series adaptation of Chris Whitaker’s new novel All the Colors of the Dark. 

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Apple Tree Productions, the Danish company headed by “The Killing” producer Piv Bernth, is reteaming with the creative duo behind feelgood period drama “Chorus Girls,” Ditte Hansen and Louise Mieritz, Bernth told Variety at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival. Hansen and Mieritz are in development on a comedy-drama series, with the working title “Feelings and Things,” set in a shopping mall in contemporary Denmark. It will have the same underlying message as “Chorus Girls”: “We are stronger together,” Bernth said.

Lexi Carson “Pimp My Ride” is back … sort of. Actor and comedian Chris Redd is set to host Netflix‘s new motor makeover series “Resurrected Rides,” which will premiere on July 24.

After lighting up CineEurope with a feast of tulips last year and then again the Caesars Colosseum at CinemaCon in April, Universal returned to Barcelona today with a presentation heavy on its upcoming two-part musical Wicked. The jam-packed show also highlighted its 30-strong film slate and concluded with a surprise first-look at a scene from Michael Jackson biopic, Michael, centering on the making of the iconic “Thriller” video. It positively wowed the audience.

Alex Ritman Universal bookended its presentation at the 2024 edition of CineEurope with the Wicked Witch of the West and the King of Pop. Returning to the trade show in Barcelona buoyed by confidence after claiming 2023’s studio crown with a box office of almost $5 billion globally, the number one animation in “The Super Mario Bros.

EXCLUSIVE: “This is purely strategic,” exclaims Why Not Me? host and La La Land executive producer Mike Jackson of having John Legend as the first guest on his new podcast series. “There’s a method to the madness.”

Naman Ramachandran Mohaan Nadaar’s The Production Headquarters Limited, one of the producers of Cannes-prizewinning film “The Shameless,” has boarded Indian documentary “Legend of Abbakka.” “The Shameless” was directed by Bulgarian-American filmmaker Konstantin Bojanov and appeared in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival this year. There, Anasuya Sengupta won the best actress award. Rani Abbakka of Ullal, southern India, a 16th-century warrior-queen, defied the Portuguese Empire, a feat often overlooked in history books.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Berlin-based sales agency Films Boutique has closed further deals for Ray Yeung’s “All Shall Be Well,”following the North American deal with Strand Releasing and the first international sales previously announced by Variety.The film has been acquired by Nour Films in France, One From the Heart in Greece, Mezipatra in Czech Republic and Slovakia, HBO Europe in Eastern Europe, Beta Film in Bulgaria and Falcon in Indonesia, in addition to the already announced deals with Vedette in the Benelux, Karma in Spain, Trigon in Switzerland and Lev in Israel.Films Boutique is in negotiations with potential buyers in the U.K., Latin America, Germany and Japan.Additionally, New Voice Film Productions Ltd. secured distribution deals with Golden Scene for Hong Kong and Macau and Flash Forward Entertainment in Taiwan.“All Shall Be Well” is written and directed by Yeung and was produced by Yeung’s frequent collaborator Michael J.

EXCLUSIVE: Kerri Kenney-Silver(Reno 911!) is the latest to join the cast of The Four Seasons, Netflix‘s forthcoming comedy series based on the Universal Pictures title of the same name. She joins fellow series regulars Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Colman Domingo and Erika Henningsen. Details on their roles are being kept under wraps.

quitting. During the most recent installment — Season 13 — she made a few memorable, notable guest appearances, clashing especially with Erika Jayne and Dorit Kemsley.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent It’s shaping up to be a big summer for Max in France. Warner Bros. Discovery’s standalone streaming service is finally launching on Tuesday in France and Belgium with a splashy lineup, including “House of the Dragon” Season 2 and coverage of the upcoming Olympic Games starting on July 26.

Trigger warning: this article includes mention of suicide and other topics that readers may find disturbing.

Christopher Vourlias The team behind the Ukrainian hit animated feature “Mavka. The Forest Song” is partnering with “Luxembourg, Luxembourg” filmmaker Antonio Lukich to launch Ukraine’s first satirical animated feature, the filmmakers announced during the Annecy Animation Festival. Produced by Animagrad Studio and Telescope Animation, “Family Squad” is billed as a life-affirming dramedy pitched at young adults.

Marcelo Cajueiro RIO DE JANEIRO — Top Brazilian production company Gullane Entretenimento will make a feature-length doc and the third season of an animation series about Brazilian Formula One racing driver Ayrton Senna, company directors Fabiano and Caio Gullane told Variety. Produced by Gullane for Netflix, the highly anticipated “Senna,” a bio drama TV series helmed by Vicente Amorim and Julia Rezende, is due to open late this year. Designed for global audiences, “Senna” is the highest-budgeted Brazilian series ever.

AI tools in film and TV production. That was one of the messages sent Saturday at the Producers Guild of America’s 14th annual Produced By conference in Los Angeles, featuring a daylong schedule of panels drilling down on digital disruption and other pressing issues for content producers. “I don’t know if an artist I commission is using generative AI.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Woo Films, one of Mexico’s most successful indie companies behind such hit titles as Manolo Caro’s Netflix series “The House of Flowers” and lauded dramas “The Good Girls” (“Las Niñas Bien”) and “Los Adioses,” has teamed up with film collective Colectivo Colmena, to develop and produce three pics. Two of them are based on original ideas from Colmena and the third an adaptation of a Mexican novel.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Kit Zauhar will adapt “How Should a Person Be?,” the 2010 novel from acclaimed Canadian author Sheila Heti, for the screen. Neon Heart Productions, which previously worked with Zauhar on her second feature “This Closeness,” is developing the book. According to the logline, the film adaptation will focus on “a young artist [who] faces an early mid-life crisis when a new friendship makes her question her marriage and everything else about her current life path.” Heti is the author of eleven books to date including “Pure Colour,” “Alphabetical Diaries” and “Motherhood,” which wasshortlisted for the Giller Prize.

Naman Ramachandran Producer and actor Sadie Frost has joined Contro Vento Film’s psychological drama “To Love a Narcissist” as an executive producer. The film is directed by and stars Raffaello Degruttola (“Ted Lasso”). Producer Sadie Kaye and executive producers Bill Bossert and Lyndsey Marshal round out the production team as the film gears up for the international festival circuit.