Davita Scarlett Inks Overall Deal With CBS Studios

Liz Watts, exec producer of Netflix’s Cate Blanchett drama Stateless, has struck an overall deal with NBCUniversal’s Matchbox Pictures.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterEndeavor Content partner and executive vice president Lorenzo De Maio is exiting the company to launch a new venture, De Maio Entertainment, which has backing from Fremantle through an exclusive long-term partnership deal.Based in Los Angeles, De Maio will work closely with both Fremantle’s senior leadership team and a broader group of independent labels and producers to grow the company’s scripted at factual slate and explore new strategic opportunities with

Joe Otterson TV ReporterGeorge R.R. Martin is staying in business with HBO, with the author signing a massive five-year overall deal with the premium cabler.The deal will see Martin develop new projects for both HBO and HBO Max.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorWestbrook Studios, cofounded by Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith, is going into business with the family of Nastya, the hugely popular 7-year-old YouTube personality.Under the deal, Westbrook will partner with Nastya to develop a slate of animation projects, ranging from shows aimed at preschool-age kids to “four-quadrant family” programming.

Tracy Oliver, the writer behind “Girls Trip,” “Little” and “The Sun Is Also a Star,” has signed an overall deal with Apple.Apple landed the multiyear deal with Oliver in a competitive bidding situation. The deal will span original TV series and films, all through Oliver’s Tracy Yvonne Productions banner.

Tracy Oliver, the co-writer of Girls Trip and creator of The First Wives Club, has signed an overall deal with Apple.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterIn a competitive situation, Tracy Oliver has signed an overall film and television deal at Apple.Under the multi-year deal, Oliver and her her Tracy Yvonne Productions shingle will work to develop projects across film and TV with an emphasis on diverse and meaningful stories.Oliver is best known for co-writing the film “Girls Trip,” which came out in 2017.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterKrista Vernoff has renewed her multi-year overall deal at ABC Signature.Vernoff will continue to serve as president of Trip the Light Productions, with Alexandre Schmitt serving as president of production and development. In addition, Kasha Foster has been named Trip the Light’s director of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

One of ABC Signature’s top showtunners, Krista Vernoff (Grey’s Anatomy, Station 19, Rebel) is staying put with a new multi-year overall deal for her company Trip the Light Productions. Closing a new big three-year pact with Vernoff represents a key piece of the complex effort to bring Grey’s Anatomy back for Season 18.

EXCLUSIVE: Michael Jonathan Smith, a co-exec producer of Cobra Kai, is sticking with Sony Pictures Television.

Jamie Foxx pulls up his mask up on his face while leaving dinner in Los Angeles on Wednesday night (March 24).

Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios have teamed up to sign their first joint overall deal – with Pete Browngardt, exec producer of HBO Max’s Looney Tunes Cartoons

CBS Studios and German producer Syrreal Entertainment are teaming to create a series for RTL streamer TV Now in which David Hasselhoff will star as himself in a fictional international conspiracy story.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeMeghan Trainor is now all about the laughs. The singer has sealed a major overall deal with NBCUniversal Television and Streaming Entertainment that includes a comedy series in development.Trainor will star in and help develop the sitcom for NBC, but there is no concept or writers attached just yet.

EXCLUSIVE: HBO Max’s garden of unscripted talent continues to blossom after the streamer struck an overall deal with director Joseph Guidry.

EXCLUSIVE: Writer Syreeta Singleton is expanding her relationship with HBO and HBO Max, signing a one-year overall deal with the premium cabler and streaming platform. Under the pact, Singleton will develop new material for the networks and showrun the upcoming HBO Max series, Rap Sh*t.

Paris Hilton is getting into business with Warner Bros. Unscripted Television, signing an exclusive two-year overall deal with the studio.

Melissa Stokes, exec producer of HBO Max’s Selena + Chef, is preparing to stick with the streamer after striking an overall deal.

EXCLUSIVE: Emmy Award-winning animation writer/producers Kevin and Dan Hageman, creators, executive producers and showrunners of the upcoming Star Trek: Prodigy, have signed an exclusive overall deal with CBS Studios, the studio behind the Paramount+/Nickelodeon animated series. Under the significant, multi-year pact, the Hagemans will continue on Star Trek: Prodigy and exclusively create and develop new television content for the studio.

Mónica Marie Zorrilla Angela Robinson has signed a multi-year overall deal with Warner Bros. Television GroupUnder the terms of the agreement, the director and writer of the GLAAD Media Award and Saturn Award-nominated independent drama “Professor Marston and the Wonder Women” will develop and create original scripted television programming for all Warner Bros.