‘Elite’ Producer Zeta Studios Boards Julio Medem’s Drama Series ‘Jai Alai’ (EXCLUSIVE)

WarnerMedia has been rolling out HBO Max around the world over the last few months and has been ramping up the number of international originals that it orders.

Emilio Mayorga Based out of the U.S. and Spain, 34T Sales has taken international rights to surrealist romcom “The Queen of Lizards,” directed by Nando Martínez and Juan González, who go by the name of Burnin’ Percebes.The feature is produced by Pedro Hernández at Madrid-based Aquí y Allí Films which first caught notice with “Here and There,” the debut feature of Antonio Méndez Esparza, which won Cannes Critics’ Week Grand Prize in 2012.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentSeville’s Ferdydurke Films, the label of San Sebastian and Goya-winning director Fernando Franco, will join forces with San Sebastian’s Kowalski Films and Madrid’s Lazona Films to produce “The Rite of Spring” (“La consacración de la primavera”), Franco’s awaited third feature as a director.Delayed by COVID-19 – the project was originally presented at Paris forum Small is Beautiful in 2019 – “The Rite of Spring” is scheduled to shoot in the first

Joe Otterson TV ReporterAustin Stowell has been cast in the upcoming Showtime drama series “Three Women,” Variety has learned exclusively.The series is based on the book of the same name by Lisa Taddeo. It is described as a portrayal of American female desire, in which three women are on a crash course to radically overturn their lives.

Brianna Bennett is moving from CBS TV Studios to ABC Entertainment to head up drama for the Disney-owned network.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaProducers Isaac Robert Hurwitz and Seth A. Goldstein are teaming up to launch Hugo Six, a transmedia production company that will focus on Broadway content and talent.

Common is the latest star to join Apple TV+’s dystopian drama Wool.

We’ll be seeing more of Octavio Pisano on Law & Order: SVU. Pisano, who portrays Detective Joe Velasco, has been promoted to series regular on the NBC procedural.

Jamie Lang Madrid-based The Mediapro Studio, the high-end drama production arm of communications giant Mediapro, has kicked off pre-production on Season 2 of “The Head,” whose first season was a massive global hit for the company which has already released in 90 countries.Continuing with the show’s key themes of isolation and the struggle between good and evil, often highlighting the grey areas in between, Season 2 will relocate from the South Pole to an ocean freighter on a scientific

Mónica Marie Zorrilla Amazon Studios has ordered a pilot for the George Lopez-led drama series “Once Upon a Time in Aztlan,” hailing from STXtelevision. The Mexican American multi-award-winning actor, author, comedian and film and TV star is executive producing via his Travieso Productions banner.

EXCLUSIVE: Soul Food alumna Vanessa Estelle Williams has joined the Season 5 cast of Fox drama series 9-1-1 in a heavily recurring role.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterOdetta Watkins has been hired by Amazon for the newly created role of head of drama series, the streamer announced Wednesday.In her new role, Watkins will report to Laura Lancaster, head of series for Amazon Studios.

Former Scandal star Bellamy Young is returning to ABC as a lead opposite John Ortiz in Promised Land, a Latinx family drama starring Ortiz and Christina Ochoa.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterHBO Max is developing a series adaptation of the upcoming Stacy Willingham novel “A Flicker in the Dark” that hails from Emma Stone’s Fruit Tree and A24, Variety has learned exclusively.The novel is slated for publication in the U.S. in January 2022 with rights sold into 17 foreign markets to date.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe creators of “Cobra Kai” and yes Studios have teamed to develop a followup to the Israeli mockumentary series “Red Band,” Variety has learned exclusively.“Cobra Kai” creators Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, and Josh Heald will executive produce the new series, titled “The New Red,” under their Counterbalance Entertainment banner. Counterbalance’s head of development, Dina Hillier, will also executive produce.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Chilean bio-musical series “Los Prisioneros” had its European debut at Madrid’s inaugural Iberseries Platino Industria on Sept. 28 where it screened in the event’s Chapter One sidebar.Taking place in the mid ‘80s, the eight-episode show kicks off with the titular iconic band Los Prisioneros playing their sardonic protest songs to a rowdy, unappreciative crowd.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentIn the biggest news to come out of Iberseries Platino Industria, L.A., Miami and Madrid-based Secuoya Studios and Telemundo Streaming Studios are joining forces to co-develop, co-produce and co-finance multiple fiction projects through to 2023.Sequoya Group’s content production arm, Sequoya Studios, leapt to prominence in April 2020 when appointing James Costos, a former HBO executive and U.S.

EXCLUSIVE: Keshet Studios, the company behind NBC’s La Brea, is heading to Cuba for its next project.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Season two of Leticia Dolera’s award-winning dramedy series “Perfect Life” (“Vida Perfecta”) will stream on Movistar Plus by November 19, said Movistar exec Susana Herreras who recited a list of European territories where the series would be available.“Perfect Life” was among the three new series that kicked off the Iberseries Platino Industria showcase in Madrid.“Our partner HBO Max will be streaming it simultaneously in the U.S.