Disney Streaming Division Hires Ex-Netflix Exec Ajay Arora to Lead Commerce, Experimentation Team

Selome Hailu editorAva DuVernay’s arts and social impact collective ARRAY announced “Liberated Territory: A Masterclass with Haile Gerima,” a five-day storytelling workshop taking place at the Array Creative Campus in Los Angeles this September.Gerima is an Ethiopian filmmaker and Howard University professor best known for his Golden Bear-winning 1993 film “Sankofa,” and is also set to receive the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’s inaugural Vantage Award in September.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargePublic broadcaster KCET, which had led all local TV stations in nominations for the this year’s Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards, also wound up taking home the most (for the fifth year in a row), with nine awards. It was followed by Telemundo’s KVEA and Spectrum SportsNet, both of which landed six.The Television Academy announced the 2021 Los Angeles Area Emmy Award winners in an in-person ceremony at its North Hollywood headquarters on Saturday.

KCET led in wins at the 73rd Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards, which took place Saturday.

Will.i.am Hosts ITV Race Film ITV has commissioned The Voice UK coach will.i.am to front Will.i.am: The Blackprint, a documentary examing what it means to be Black and British. Produced by Twofour as part of a season of shows for Black History Month, will.i.am will travel the UK meeting Black Brits and will compare their experiences with his own, having grown up in Los Angeles.

EXCLUSIVE: Los Angeles and Oslo based management and production company Cultivate Entertainment has made a pair of hires.

Comcast and ViacomCBS are exploring partnerships in international streaming — a more targeted agreement than a full-out merger, speculation of which has dogged both companies for months.

Jared Leto‘s Joker for The Suicide Squad.Leto’s take on the DC villain was introduced in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad in 2016. However, he failed to make the cut in Gunn’s sequel, which shares some of the same cast.In an interview with the New York Times, Gunn confirmed that he never considered bringing the character back for the film.“I just don’t know why Joker would be in the Suicide Squad,” he said.

Jay-Z over the streaming rights to the rapper’s debut album ‘Reasonable Doubt’.The new suit comes after Jay-Z’s label Roc-A-Fella sued co-founder Dash on June 18, claiming that he was attempting to sell virtual ownership of the copyright to the rapper’s 1996 debut album.A New York federal judge subsequently blocked an attempt by Dash to auction off Jay-Z‘s ‘Reasonable Doubt’ as an NFT (non-fungible token).

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterAfter zooming to the top of the pandemic-era box office in the global hit “F9,” actor Tyrese Gibson has booked his next gig alongside Ray Liotta and Scott Eastwood.The trio will lead the Los Angeles riots thriller “April 29, 1992,” the forthcoming feature from the breakout director of “The Iceman,” Ariel Vromen. Pre-production from a script by Sascha Penn is underway, aiming for an August start.

Spotify executive has sparked controversy after claiming that musicians are “entitled” in asking for more money from the streaming service.Spotify’s business model has faced increasing scrutiny in recent years, with many musicians claiming that the meagre amount paid per stream is severely affecting their ability to earn a living.As Digital Music News notes, former executive Jim Anderson recently spoke at a music conference in New York where he was grilled on Spotify’s payment model by

New York Times article and is exactly what the title suggests – about a 175-pound black bear that died after ingesting a duffel bag full of cocaine. The cocaine had been dropped out of an airplane by a convicted smuggler because he was carrying too heavy a load.Production on “Cocaine Bear” is set to begin August 23 in Ireland.Lord and Miller are producing “Cocaine Bear” along with Aditya Sood, the president of the Lord Miller banner, who also brought the project to the studio.

Fubo TV, a provider of internet-delivered pay-TV bundles, is on the hunt for a new chief financial officer.

Archewell Audio, the production company founded by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, has hired Rebecca Sananes as head of audio.

So many stars have joined the cast of Elizabeth Banks‘ movie Cocaine Bear!

Universal Pictures is working on a feature film “Cocaine Bear,” based on a 1985 New York Times article about a 175-pound black bear that got into a duffle bag filled with more than 70 pounds of cocaine that was dropped from an airplane in Kentucky by local drug smuggler Andrew Carter Thornton II, a wealthy son of an elite Kentucky horse-breeding family.

Gallery: 10 summer blockbusters to watch in cinemas (BANG Showbiz)According to a New York Times article in 1985, the bear was found dead among 40 opened containers with traces of cocaine, apparently dropped from a plane by a convicted drug smuggler because he was carrying too heavy a load while parachuting. Production is set to begin in Ireland in August with Phil Lord, Chris Miller and Aditya Sood producing for Lord Miller.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorArchewell Audio, the podcast arm of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s production firm, has tapped award-winning podcast producer Rebecca Sananes as head of audio.Most recently, Sananes for the last two years has been lead producer for New York Magazine’s “Pivot” tech, media and business podcast hosted by Recode cofounder Kara Swisher and NYU professor Scott Galloway.Archewell Audio, founded by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex last year, inked a multiyear pact with

Jordan Moreau Elizabeth Banks’ upcoming movie “Cocaine Bear” has added several A-list cast members.Keri Russell, Ray Liotta, O’Shea Jackson, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Alden Ehrenreich have joined the film about a real-life 175-pound bear who died of an apparent cocaine overdose.