DeVon Franklin Renews Overall Deal With CBS Studios

Tony McNamara, creator of Hulu series The Great, is staying in the Disney family.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterABC Signature has signed a two-year overall deal with Tony McNamara, the Oscar- and Emmy-nominated writer who created Hulu’s “The Great” and penned films “The Favourite” and Disney’s “Cruella.”Under the pact, McNamara will develop and supervise projects for the Disney Television Studios-owned division.“Tony’s work on ‘The Great’ and ‘Cruella’ is sly, subversive and delicious, and we made it our mission to get this spectacular talent to our studio,” ABC Signature president Jonnie Davis said in a statement Wednesday. “Thankfully, he said ‘yes.’ We’re so excited to support him in whatever he wants to do next.”McNamara is the creator, showrunner, and executive producer of the Emmy-nominated series “The Great” on Hulu, starring Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult, which is based on his stage play.

It was only a matter of time before celebrity pickleball became a TV thing, and here we are. Stephen Colbert’s Spartina, Funny or Die and CBS Studios are lobbing up Pickled, a two-hour primetime special to air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ this year.

EXCLUSIVE: Former Grown-ish co-showrunner Jeni Rice-Genzuk Henry has signed an overall deal with BET Studios, the venture launched last year by Paramount and BET to generate premium content from Black creators for Paramount+, Showtime, CBS, Nickelodeon, BET+ and BET, as well as select third-party platforms.

EXCLUSIVE: The Blacklist showrunner John Eisendrath is extending his relationship with Sony Pictures Television, the studio behind the long-running NBC drama. He has signed a new three-year overall deal with Sony TV through 2025.

Writer-producer-director Latoya Raveneau is expanding her relationship with Disney. The Rise Up, Sing Out EP and Proud Family revival series director has signed an overall deal to develop and produce animated projects with Disney Television Animation and 20th Television Animation, along with live-action content development.

Selome Hailu Latoya Raveneau, director of “The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder,” has entered an overall deal at Disney to develop and produce animated projects with Disney Television Animation and 20th Television Animation. The deal also includes terms for live-action content development.Through the new agreement, Raveneau is now developing a pilot at Disney Television Animation under the leadership of Meredith Roberts, the studio’s senior vice president and general manager.

Apple TV+ has signed an overall deal extension with Jonathan Tropper, the executive producer/showrunner of streamer’s original series See, starring Jason Momoa. In addition to continuing to shepherd See, currently in production on Season 3, under the new three-year pact Tropper will develop television projects exclusively for Apple TV+ through his banner Tropper Ink.

Underwood and CBS Studios, which produces The Talk, have also entered into new two-year first look deal.

Angelique Jackson CBS is doubling down on its commitment to Sheryl Underwood, the Emmy-winning host of “The Talk.”Underwood has inked a multi-year deal to remain on the panel of the daytime talk series through Season 15 (“The Talk” is currently in its 12th season), plus she’s entered into a new two-year first-look deal with CBS Studios.“‘The Talk’ will forever be my home; I have no intentions of going anywhere, but while I have this platform and while I have access to the audience, I want to be as integral in the success of the corporation of CBS as I possibly can,” Underwood tells Variety of expanding her relationship with the network. “I want to be able to create content — not just for me to star in, but for other people to get the same opportunity and go on the same journey, especially women and stand-up comics.” Underwood joined “The Talk” in September 2011, as the show entered into its second season, and earned a Daytime Emmy Award alongside her fellow hosts in 2017.On behalf of CBS, CEO George Cheeks stated: “Sheryl has been critical to ‘The Talk’s’ success for more than a decade and we’re excited that she will be part of the conversation for several years to come.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSelwyn Seyfu Hinds has signed an overall deal with UCP, which will see him adapt the Civil War graphic novel series “The Sixth Gun” into a TV series for the Universal Studio Group-owned studio.Under the pact, Hinds will produce projects across various platforms through his production company Mad Massive Entertainment. First up is “The Sixth Gun,” based on the graphic novels from Oni Press by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt.Per UCP’s description for the potential show, “During the darkest days of the Civil War, vile men unearthed six pistols of otherworldly power.

As The Bold and the Beautiful approaches a remarkable milestone of 35 years on the air, CBS has renewed the venerable daytime drama for two more years, through the 2023-2024 broadcast season.

J. Kim Murphy CBS announced Wednesday that it has renewed its long-running soap opera “The Bold and the Beautiful” for two more years, setting a run through the 2023-2024 broadcast season. The network also announced a celebration of the program’s 35th anniversary for March 23.“The Bold and the Beautiful” premiered on the CBS Television Network on March 23, 1987.

Chelsea Devantez, who was previously head writer on The Problem with Jon Stewart, has signed an overall deal with 20th Television.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“Celebrity Book Club” podcast host and Apple’s “The Problem With Jon Stewart” head writer Chelsea Devantez has signed a multi-year overall deal at Disney’s 20th Television.Under the pact, Devantez will write and produce her own comedy projects for the studio, as well as supervise others.Devantez began her TV writing career on Stewart’s writing staff on his never-released and untitled HBO show. Her other TV credits include Tina Fey and Meredith Scardino’s Peacock comedy “Girls5Eva” and Liz Meriwether and Lake Bell’s ABC comedy “Bless This Mess.” Last year, Devantez sold her pilot, “This Is Our Year,” to 20th Television and CBS.

EXCLUSIVE: Olatunde Osunsanmi, director/executive producer of Star Trek: Discovery, has signed a multi-year overall deal with the studio behind the flagship Star Trek Universe series, CBS Studios.

EXCLUSIVE: Nicole Kerr has been promoted to VP Entertainment at Jessie Cohen PR & Consulting, where she has been for the past five years. In the newly created leadership position, the veteran will continue rep her full slate of clients spanning film festivals, feature films, filmmakers and talent.

Amazon Studios will further dive into the world of video game adaptations, signing an overall deal with one of the production companies behind the Sonic The Hedgehog film. 

The Flight Attendant creator Steve Yockey is expanding his relationship with Warner Bros., signing an exclusive, multi-year overall deal with WB Television Group. Under the pact, his first with the studio, Yockey will develop, create, and produce original programming to be produced by Warner Bros. Television for all platforms, including HBO Max, external streaming services, cable, and the five broadcast networks.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterSteve Yockey has signed a multi-year overall deal with Warner Bros. Television, Variety has learned.Yockey is best known for creating the critically-acclaimed HBO Max series “The Flight Attendant” starring Kaley Cuoco, which is produced by WBTV.