Comcast NBCUniversal To Premiere HBCU Documentary ‘The Return’, Executive Produced By Will Packer

Oscar-nominated filmmaker RaMell Ross (Hale County This Morning, This Evening) has been tapped to direct a feature adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Nickel Boys for MGM’s Orion Pictures, with Oscar nom Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard), Ethan Herisse (When They See Us), Brandon Wilson (The Way Back), Hamish Linklater (The Big Short) and Fred Hechinger (News of the World) set to star.

Oscar-nominated filmmaker RaMell Ross (Hale County This Morning, This Evening) has been tapped to direct a feature adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Nickel Boys for MGM’s Orion Pictures, with Oscar nom Aunjanue L. Ellis (King Richard), Ethan Herisse (When They See Us), Brandon Wilson (The Way Back), Hamish Linklater (The Big Short) and Fred Hechinger (News of the World) set to star.

Award-winning producer Ben Feigin, who served as an executive producer on Schitt’s Creek, died Monday of pancreatic cancer. He was 47.

EXCLUSIVE: Maya Penn, the 22-year old award-winning animator, environmental activist and multi-hyphenate, has set her first directing project: the animated short film Asali: Power of The Pollinators. The short is an original project from Penn’s purpose-driven animation studio Upenndo! Productions and is set to be executive produced by Viola Davis, Julius Tennon and their JuVee Productions.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Cody Ryder has joined Park Pictures as senior executive producer for commercials and co-head of film and television. Ryder is the first executive producer at the company to serve in a dual capacity across its commercial and feature film divisions. Ryder previously served in the TV and branded content department at Plum Productions. There, she developed pitches and produced branded content until becoming a freelance line producer based out of New York. Ryder has been freelance ever since until she decided to join the ranks at Park in its Los Angeles office.   Ryder’s projects include the recently released Kendrick Lamar short film “We Cry Together”and the “We Matter Too” PSA produced with Common’s Imagine Justice organization. She has worked with brand clients including Coca-Cola, Old Navy, Verizon, McDonald’s, Chevy, Reebok, Instagram,and Kia, to name a few; and artists like LCD Soundsystem, Kanye West, Haim, Brandi Carlile and Questlove. Her feature film work includes “The Art of Self Defense,” “The Clovehitch Killer,” “Other People,” “Cop Car” and “Robot and Frank.”

Netflix has announced that it will be launching a new game development studio which will be led by Overwatch executive producer, Chacko Sonny.During the TechCrunch Disrupt 2022 event yesterday (October 18), Netflix’s vice president of games Mike Verdu shared the news of the new California studio, which is currently unnamed (via VGC).“We are starting another organic new studio in Southern California, this time around Chacko Sonny, who oversaw production on God of War Ascension for Santa Monica and oversaw a portfolio of their games, and then was executive producer of a little game franchise called Overwatch,” Verdu said.“He could have gone anywhere, he could have raised money, he could have done anything and he chose to come here. We are building a team around him and looking to him to reinvent what games can be.”Chacko Sonny left Blizzard Entertainment in September 2021 in order “to take some time off.” He worked at the company for five years from 2016 but didn’t become an executive producer on the Overwatch franchise until 2018.

Zoe Saldana and Reese Witherspoon have teamed up for a new limited series on Netflix!

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Six-time Primetime Emmy award-winner Frank Doelger, whose credits include “Game of Thrones,” “The Swarm,” “John Adams” and “Rome,” and Intaglio Films, a joint venture between Beta Film and ZDF Studios, have started production on surveillance drama thriller “Concordia,” set in an experimental utopian community. ZDF, MBC, France Télévisions and Hulu Japan have signed up as partners for the six-part series, shot in English and directed by Barbara Eder (“The Swarm,” “Barbarians,” “Cop Stories”). Doelger helms as executive producer and showrunner, alongside the executive producers Ute Leonhardt, Rafferty Thwaites, Jan Wünschmann and Robert Franke. Shooting takes place at various locations in Rome, Northern Italy, and Leipzig in Germany.

“House of the Dragon” executive producer Sara Hess is going to continue developing original projects for HBO. The network announced Friday that Hess, who is also a writer on the “Game of Thrones” prequel series, is extending her overall deal for another two years.

Sylvester Stallone and his wife Jennifer Flavin are looking so happy together!

Charles Yu’s “Interior Chinatown” is headed to the small screen as a 10-part series with the author acting as showrunner and executive producer alongside Taika Waititi, who will direct the pilot episode for Hulu.“Silicon Valley” and “Crazy Rich Asians” actor Jimmy O. Yang is set to star.

EXCLUSIVE: Mike Medavoy’s Phoenix Pictures and History Boutique Films have teamed on the documentary To Boldly Go which Erin Derham will direct. The docu will explore the explosion of NFTs and the digital Web3 future.

Mark Ruffalo, better known for his role as The Hulk, has signed on to executive produce an upcoming docuseries that explores the fight against systemic injustice for Native communities. “Natives” aims to highlight the ground-breaking achievements of Indigenous activists and allies in what Ruffalo coins as “The Native Century” — an era in which younger and older generations of Natives can better get in touch with their cultural heritage. Ruffalo is a three-time Oscar nominee and two-time Emmy winner for performances in works like the 2015 film “Spotlight” and 2020 miniseries “I Know This Much Is True.” Earlier this year, he executive produced the documentary “Lakota Nation vs. United States,” which exposes the exploitation of Native people by virtue of colonization from the late 1400s to modern day.

At least 132 people have died due to Hurricane Ian, according to local officials, as the death toll continues to climb more than a week after the powerful storm tore across Cuba and the eastern United States. Search and rescue operations continue in Florida after Hurricane Ian devastated large portions of the state as a powerful Category 4 hurricane with winds up to 150 mph.  Hurricane Ian is now the second-deadliest storm in the continental United States in the 21st Century since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.The deadliest hurricane ever to hit the U.S.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Troy Kotsur, the Oscar-winning actor of “CODA,” has joined Mounia Meddour’s uplifting drama “Houria” ahead of its world premiere at the Rome Film Festival. Meddour’s follow-up to her Cesar-winning film “Papicha” tells the story of Houria, a gifted dancer with dreams of joining the Algerian National Ballet. To make ends meet, she bets in clandestine fights overnight. However after winning a final, Houria is violently assaulted by a man determined to get his money back. When she wakes up in a hospital, she no longer is able to speak and will certainly never dance again. Refusing to abandon her dream, she throws herself, heart and soul, into her physical recovery and meets at a rehab center other women damaged by life. Houria resolves to help them transcend their wounded bodies and stand tall by teaching them how to dance through a choreography inspired by sign language.

Craig Zobel, the Emmy Award-nominated writer, director and producer who was most recently responsible for the Kate Winslet-led crime drama “Mare of Easttown,” will direct and executive produce “The Penguin” for HBO Max. The series is a spin-off of Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” from earlier this year, with Colin Farrell once again starring as the waddling crime boss.Zobel is has established himself as one of the most dependable and artistically ambitious filmmakers working in both film and television.

BreAnna Bell Caroline Moore has been promoted to president of development and production at Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg’s production company The Js. Previously, Moore served as the company’s SVP of development and production. The elevation comes in light of her success as an executive producer on FX’s “The Patient,” which was released on Aug. 30. The series, co-created by Fields and Weisberg, is available for streaming exclusively on Hulu. The Js is currently adding to its development slate, working with a range of playwrights, novelists and television writers to create a host of entertaining stories as part of its overall deal at FX Productions.