Former Verve Head of Unscripted Bill Thompson Joins Vital Artists Agency

A former USF women’s basketball player from Wisconsin died by suicide after her fiancé called off their engagement.

Janice Fournier is sharing new original music.

Billy Joel has been announced as the latest headliner of BST Hyde Park 2023.The summer series of gigs will return to Hyde Park in central London in July 2023, with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band already announced on the line-up.BST Hyde Park organisers have confirmed this morning (September 29) that Joel will headline the series on July 7, 2023, in what will be his only European live appearance of the year.A line-up of special supporting guests for the show is set to be announced soon.Tickets will be available first to AMEX members in a pre-sale from 10am today before a general sale begins at 10am on October 6 from here.A post shared by BST Hyde Park (@bsthydepark)Elsewhere, Billy Joel’s 1990 live film Live At Yankee Stadium will be screened in cinemas next week (October 5 and 9) to celebrate the musician’s 50 years in music.“Billy Joel’s legendary 1990 concert at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx stands as one of the greatest concert films of all time,” a synopsis for the film reads. “Shot in 16mm colour film, the original concert has now been meticulously re-mixed and re-edited.“The newly edited version includes a never-before-released performance of ‘Uptown Girl’, along with interviews from Billy and behind-the-scenes footage from the event’s production.

K.J. Yossman The first image has been released of Bill Bailey and Adjoa Andoh’s characters in upcoming BBC short film “The Smeds and The Smoos.” Based on Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s picture-book of the same name, it tells the story of two warring families whose children, Bill and Janet, fall in love and run away together. Hotly pursued by their grandparents, Grandfather Smed (Bailey) and Grandmother Smoo (Andoh), the two young aliens lead their families on a chase across space, giving them the opportunity to find out they have more in common than they think. Rounding out the cast are Ashna Rabheru as Janet, Daniel Ezra as Bill, Rob Brydon as Uncle Smoo, Meera Syal as Aunt Smed and Sally Hawkins as the narrator.

Both Jonathan Bailey and Bridgerton have been making headlines this week, so we figured it’s the perfect time to look back at these hot photos of him on the show!

Constanza Arena, the former executive director of CinemaChile, has established Agencia La Luz, an agency and project incubator that will represent in international markets many of Chile’s foremost writing, directing and acting talents. Many writers are connected to Chile’s fast-growing premium drama/audio scene. Julio Rojas, one Agencia La Luz client, created and wrote “Case 63,” Spotify’s most-listened-to scripted original podcast in Latin America, with an English-language version I the works starring Julianne Moore and Oscar Isaac, and co-wrote Pablo Fendrik’s Latino sci-fi series ‘The Shelter,’ from Starzplay, Pantaya, Fabula, Fremantle. 

There’s huge Wicked movie news that just broke!

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorJonathan Bailey is in talks to join the cast of Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked” movies.The “Bridgerton” star will play Fiyero in the two-part feature adaptation headlined by Ariana Grande as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba. The Universal Pictures films are set for release on Christmas in 2024 and 2025.“Wicked” is a prequel to “The Wizard of Oz,” telling the story of how Elphaba became the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch.“We decided to give ourselves a bigger canvas and make not just one ‘Wicked’ movie but two!” Chu wrote in a statement when announcing the two-parter. “With more space, we can tell the story of ‘Wicked’ as it was meant to be told while bringing even more depth and surprise to the journeys for these beloved characters.”

BreAnna Bell Non-scripted and digital production company FRANK has signed to A3 Artist Agency for representation across all divisions, Variety has learned. Known for their non-scripted television series under the Discovery umbrella, FRANK’s impressive slate boasts projects like “Delicious Miss Brown” on Food Network, and the James Beard award-winning PBS series, “Pati’s Mexican Table.” The company was founded by Dan Connell and Pasquale DeFazio. FRANK’s “Baked in Tradition,” which stars pastry chef and cookbook author Bryan Ford, premiered last month on the Magnolia network, and their Food Network series, “Outchef’d” premieres September 27th. The show will feature home cooks going head-to-head with world-class chefs.

Eric McCormack and helped raise more than $725,000 for education in Haiti at the annual Artists for Peace and Justice Festival Gala held in Toronto on September 11 during TIFF.  MORE: All the highlights from HELLO! Canada and Toronto Life's Hollywood North party during TIFF 2022The Will & Grace star was given the annual Artist for Peace and Justice Award to recognize how much he's given back over the years, which was presented to him by Murdoch Mysteries actor Yannick Bisson and Zoomer Editor-in-Chief and Publisher Suzanne Boyd. Environmentalist Dax Dasilva was also honoured with the Canadian Changemaker Award.

EJ Panaligan editor The Los Angeles LGBT Center has announced the hire of Phillip Picardi as the organization’s chief marketing and communications officer. “I am so excited to be joining The Los Angeles LGBT Center at this urgent moment in our community’s history,” Picardi said in a statement Thursday morning. “After working for over a decade in the media, I know how powerful storytelling can be as a cultural salve. I’m thrilled to take the Center’s marketing and communications initiatives to new heights.” Picardi joins as a member of the Center’s executive team, working alongside newly-appointed CEO Joe Hollendoner, chief impact officers Terra Russell-Slavin and Sharon Brown, chief financial officer Ricardo DeLeon, chief development officer Saurabh Bajaj and chief health officer Dr. Ward Carpenter.

Actor Bill Heck (Broadway’s Cabaret, Hulu’s The Old Man) will join the return Broadway engagement of Richard Greenberg’s Take Me Out co-starring Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Jesse Williams.

EXCLUSIVE: UTA’s unscripted television department is getting a new agent.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor UTA veteran Brett Hansen has moved to Paradigm Talent Agency as senior content agent, a hire that comes as part of Paradigm’s stepped-up effort to rebuild its roster of agents and clients. Hansen is a prominent unscripted TV agent. He’s repped such notables as SallyAnn Salsano’s 495 Productions, Ben Silverman and Howard T. Owens’ Propagate Content, Bunim-Murray Productions, Embassy Row, Zero Point Zero Productions, Chip and Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia banner as well as Sean Combs, Elizabeth Banks and Bryan Cranston. He spent 22 years with UTA, rising to partner status in 2010. “Brett’s extensive expertise and relationships in television bring an added dimension to our representation of creators in both scripted and unscripted programming,” said Andrew Ruf, managing partner of Paradigm Talent Agency. “Along with our parent company Paradigm Entertainment’s recent launch of Paradigm Media Entertainment, we continue to expand our clients’ access to creatively and financially rewarding opportunities across all media.”

Ethan Shanfeld Disney made quite a splash at its D23 Expo last weekend with a first look at Halle Bailey’s live-action “The Little Mermaid,” which earned over 104 million global views, Variety has learned exclusively. The clip takes viewers on a journey through the ocean before showing the shimmering underwater life of Ariel (Bailey), who teases her version of the iconic “Little Mermaid” song “Part of Your World.” “The Little Mermaid” teaser floated above those of all recent Disney live-action titles, including “Cruella” (68 million views), “Beauty and the Beast” (94 million views), “Alladin” (74 million views) and “Maleficent 2” (62 million views). Due to Queen Elizabeth II’s death on Thursday, “The Little Mermaid” metrics do not include views from the U.K., Ireland and Australia.

Brett Hansen, who has spent 22 years at UTA, is moving to Paradigm Talent Agency.

Dove Cameron, Kelsea Ballerini and Madison Bailey were seen all over New York Fashion Week this weekend!

Today at D23, Disney offered a first look at its live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid, starring Halle Bailey and directed by Rob Marshall, which is slated to hit theaters May 26. Watch the teaser above.