Graham Nash’s Music Catalog Acquired by Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group (EXCLUSIVE)

Sharareh Drury Freestyle Digital Media, the film distribution division of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, has picked up North American theatrical and VOD rights to “America’s Family.” The immigrant docudrama, written, directed by and starring Anike Tourse, follows the events of an ICE raid of the Diaz family on Thanksgiving day. “As each family member braves their way through the crisis, they discover unexpected reserves of love, faith, and the restorative resilience of community.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent MK2 Films has boarded Bernhard Wenger’s feature debut, “Peacock,” a tragicomedy headlined by Albrecht Schuch, the German actor who starred in “All Quiet on the Western Front” and “System Crasher.” An up-and-coming Austrian director, Wenger developed the script at the Cannes Film Festival’s Cinefondation residency and was part of Berlinale Talents in 2020. His shorts, including “Keeping Balance,” “Guy Proposes to His Girlfriend on a Mountain” and “Excuse Me, I’m Looking for the Ping-Pong Room and My Girlfriend,” have played at festivals in Chicago, Palm Springs and Nashville, among others.

EXCLUSIVE: Nick Vallelonga, the writer, producer, and actor, whose work on Universal’s Green Book brought him a pair of Oscars and Golden Globes for Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture, has signed with Independent Artist Group for representation.

Naman Ramachandran Signature Entertainment has acquired U.K. and Ireland rights to horror thriller “Don’t Move” from Capstone Global. The film follows a seasoned killer as he injects a grieving woman with a paralytic agent.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor International sales agency the Playmaker has signed a deal with Blue Finch Film Releasing to distribute the one-shot horror film “Home Sweet Home — Where Evil Lives” in the U.K. and Ireland. Thomas Sieben’s film, which made its world premiere in August at FrightFest in London, has its market premiere at AFM.

Quentin Dupieux is a filmmaker who is known for drastically switching subject matter between films. Sure, most of his films are incredibly surreal and absurdist, but he will do a film about a oversized fly and then follow it up with a film about cigarette-inspired superheroes.

EXCLUSIVE: Actress Arielle Kebbel, known for roles in The Vampire Diaries and John Tucker Must Die, has signed with Independent Artist Group.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Hipgnosis Songs Fund — the company that led the music-catalog gold rush of recent years by spending more than $2 billion for song assets by Neil Young, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and many others — is facing an uncertain future as some 83.2% of its investors voted Thursday that a new board make major structural changes to the overextended company. Investors also rejected a proposal by its leadership to shore up its finances by selling off around $440 million of its 65,000-song catalog to a sister fund backed by Blackstone.

The lawsuit – filed in a Nashville court on Wednesday (October 18) by UMG’s publishing company Universal Music Publishing Group, along with co-plaintiffs Concord Music Group and ABKCO – seeks potentially tens of millions of dollars in damages from Anthropic and its AI assistant service Claude (per Music Business Worldwide)It claims that, “in the process of building and operating AI models, Anthropic unlawfully copies and disseminates vast amounts of copyrighted works — including the lyrics to myriad musical compositions owned or controlled by Publishers”.“Publishers embrace innovation and recognise the great promise of AI when used ethically and responsibly,” the suit continued. “But Anthropic violates these principles on a systematic and widespread basis.

Christopher Vourlias Amazon Prime Video and German broadcaster ARD have acquired the distribution rights to “The Morning After,” an eight-part dramedy series starring rising British actress Amara Okereke (“In the Lost Lands,” “Red Rose”), with principal photography now underway in Cape Town. Created by Thierry Cassuto and Karen Jeynes (“Recipes for Love and Murder,” “Puppet Nation”) and set in Cape Town, the show stars Okereke as a young, aspiring singer from the U.K.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music News arrived gradually of the Rolling Stones’ special celebration in New York of their new album, “Hackney Diamonds.” First it was a “Rolling Stones event on the evening of Oct. 19,” then it was an album-release party, and then rumors spread that they were going to perform “a couple of songs, but with the boys, you never know” (yes, the person quoted actually called them “the boys”).

Graham Nash has sold the rights to his back catalogue to Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group.The deal includes songs from his solo career, as well as his time in The Hollies and Crosby, Stills and Nash.Azoff told Variety: “I am thrilled to welcome Graham Nash to the iconic family, which now represents the works of all three of Crosby, Stills, and Nash.“Graham is not only an incredible talent and true gentleman but a longtime friend as well. Back when I struck out on my own and started my first management company, Graham visited my office and came up with the name, ‘Front Line Management.’”While Nash said: “I’m looking forward to working with the Iconic team on various projects to further the legacy of CSN’s music and my own.”Jimmy Edwards, the president of the Iconic Artists group, added: “We’re excited to be working with Graham.

EXCLUSIVE: Scott Foley, the actor known for his work in film and television and on stage, who most recently starred in the Broadway production of The Thanksgiving Play, has signed with Independent Artist Group.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Universal Music Group and BandLab Technologies have announced plans for a strategic relationship concentrated on protecting artists’ rights in the age of AI. “Centered on empowering the next generation of artists, including within BandLab’s global community, the alliance will advance the companies’ shared commitment to ethical use of AI and the protection of artist and songwriter rights,” the announcement states.

The producers of the Broadway musical Shucked have announced that the show will be closing in January 2024.

Dancing With the Stars, was unceremoniously quashed.“I stood on Dancing with the Stars, in between Ariana Grande and Meghan Trainor, and all the while behind the scenes I’m being told I’m not a superstar and all these things,” he says. “Boys Like You” cleaned up on the music apps — Spotify alone shows it at 70 million streams — but “they wouldn’t take it to the radio because of fear, because I would’ve been a boy singing about a boy on American radio in 2015. And for some reason that was just too edgy for even the biggest names in music.“Really,” he continues, “what it would’ve been is groundbreaking and historic.

Brandy and Heather Graham are old college friends in the upcoming movie BEST. CHRISTMAS. EVER!

Brent Lang Executive Editor “Shucked” will embark on a North American tour in the fall of 2024, one that will see the charmingly corny Broadway musical make stops in the likes of Austin, Chicago and Los Angeles. The tour will begin performances at the Providence Performing Arts Center in Rhode Island before playing in over 30 cities in its first season. Currently, the show is scheduled to also hit Atlanta, Buffalo, Charlotte, Dallas, Durham, East Lansing, Fort Lauderdale, Greenville, Houston, Los Angeles, Madison, Nashville, Orlando, San Antonio, Schenectady, St.

BreAnna Bell Ebony Media Group, the company behind Ebony Magazine, has teamed up with Lionsgate to announce the launch of their joint venture, Ebony TV by Lionsgate. With access to Lionsgate’s expansive library of titles, the FAST channel will be available on Samsung TV Plus starting on Oct.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Raffaele Annecchino, the former president of Paramount Global who left the company last year, is launching a consultancy firm called Blue Ocean Media Partners. In its first deal, he has forged a partnership with Spain’s Mediapro Group, which is looking to expand its footprint in the Middle East.