Jonathan Bing Exits Netflix to Lead Communications at Vice Media Group

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentIn late April, Banijay Iberia moved waves by taking an equity stake in Alex de la Iglesia and Carolina Bang’s Pokeespsie Films, with the aim of scaling up on its Spanish-language high-end original series and fiction production.Via Shine Iberia, Banijay is also producing biopic “Bosé,” one of VIS’ biggest Spanish-language plays for Paramount Plus, about singer-songwriter Miguel Bosé.Best known for its entertainment formats – though it does own Barcelona’s Diagonal TV, producer of hit Netflix historical sagas “Cathedral of the Sea” and “Heirs to the Land” and DLO Producciones, behind “Tell Me Who I Am” and “El Immortal,” – Banijay is now moving to strengthen its position in scripted in the Iberian market and, via it, across the globe. That is seen at Conecta Fiction, which runs June 21-24 in Toledo, Spain, where Banijay will have one of the biggest presences of any global company at the TV co-production forum, with Lars Blomgren, Banijay head of scripted, teaming with Maria Rua Aguete, Omdia senior research director, to deliver a first full day keynote on Wednesday on Global Fiction Trends, Consumer Choices & The Future of Fiction TV in a Streaming World.James Townley, Banijay’s global director of content development, who overseas new non-scripted IP, will also speak at Conecta Fiction;  Pilar Blasco, CEO of Banijay Iberia, will engage in a conversation with María José Rodríguez, head of Spanish originals at Amazon’s Prime Video.In the run up to Conecta Fiction, Variety talked with Blomgren about Banijay’s plans to ramp up its series and fiction output in the Spanish-speaking world.At Conecta Fiction, you’ll deliver a keynote on global TV fiction trends. Could you anticipate

EXCLUSIVE: Casey Benesch, a former Netflix executive who helped build up the streaming giant’s stature in comedy, is moving to rival Prime Video to head up comedy marketing.

Netflix released a first-look teaser for its upcoming holiday season special Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical, with Alisha Weir as the title character, a little girl with an extraordinarily vivid imagination. The film adaptation, written by Dennis Kelly, adapted from the Tony and Olivier award-winning Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of the stage’s Matilda The Musical, also stars Emma Thompson as Miss Trunchbull), and Lashana Lynch, Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough and Sindhu Vee.

Malin Andersson has shared a photo of the moment she took her daughter Xaya to meet her older sister Consy in a heartbreaking, ‘bittersweet’ moment.The 29 year old welcomed Xaya into the world in February this year, but just three years previously faced tragedy when her first daughter Consy passed away at just four weeks old. Sharing a photo of herself taken from behind, Malin can be seen holding Xaya close as they look out at a graveyard together. In the caption, Malin wrote: “Today I took Xaya to meet her older sister.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSince launching its mobile games offering to members seven months ago, Netflix has released a total of 23 titles. While the streamer has just debuted its “Queen’s Gambit” game and revealed plans to make titles based on popular Netflix IP — including “Shadow and Bone,” “Too Hot to Handle” and “Money Heist” — plus a unique “Exploding Kittens” franchise plan that will see both a TV series and new version of the hit mobile game come to the platform, the streamer still hasn’t given much in the way of details about its gaming future.But part of its strategy, for the moment, is not announcing its strategy.“We started in November of last year, so only a handful of months and we’re still intentionally keeping things a little bit quiet because we’re still learning and experimenting and trying to figure out what things are going to actually resonate with our members, what games people want to play,” Leanne Loombe, Netflix’s head of external games, said during a panel at the Tribeca Film Festival on Monday.

Squid Game, which tapped into our societal dystopia and became ever, has gotten the green light for a second season. In a letter to fans, show creator Hwang Dong-hyuk confirmed that “a whole new round is coming,” before tossing out some breadcrumbs for what the next installment may entail.This content can also be viewed on the site it from.“It took 12 years to bring the first season of Squid Game to life last year,” Hwang began.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorSPOILER WARNING: THIS STORY CONTAINS DISCUSSION OF MAJOR STORYLINES AND SCENES IN “INTERCEPTOR.”First-time director Matthew Reilly admits he never anticipated his feature film debut “Interceptor” to do as well as it has since its release on Netflix earlier this month. The movie, which follows a U.S.

Bollywood star Ranveer Singh is heading into the harsh forests of Serbia with adventurer Bear Grylls in an interactive special for Netflix India.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterVeteran Warner Bros. executive and film division chief operating officer Carolyn Blackwood is parting ways with the studio, sources told Variety.Her resignation follows a week after word that her boss Toby Emmerich, chairman of the motion picture group, will transition to lot producer later this year. The regime changes come as Warner Bros.

The Byron Allen-led media company AMG has hired Christopher Malone to the position of executive vice president and head of corporate development. Malone will help lead AMG senior management in merger and acquisition efforts, along with additional corporate strategic initiatives. Malone was an integral role in financing recent notable AMG transactions, including the AMG acquisition of The Weather Channel in 2018 and the AMG acquisition of several ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX broadcast network-affiliated television stations nationwide. “Chris will play a vital role in helping Allen Media Group continue its trajectory of growth and execute on the large number of acquisition opportunities in front of us,” Allen said in a statement.Malone moves to AMG from Stellex Capital Management. Prior to that, Malone was a director at Brightwood Capital and previously held positions at RLJ Equity Partners, William Blair, and Credit Suisse.

EXCLUSIVE: Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group has hired veteran finance exec Chris Malone as EVP, Head of Corporate Development. Based at AMG’s Los Angeles headquarters, he will work with the company’s senior management in M&A efforts and other corporate strategic initiatives involving capital markets, private equity and credit.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“Stranger Things” Season 4, Volume 1 has already smashed multiple Netflix viewership records in less than two weeks after its release, and anticipation for Volume 2’s July 1 launch is building more by the day. But the success of the streamer’s first-ever two-batch drop with just over a month in between releases does not mean Netflix is considering shaking up the “Stranger Things” model further ahead of its fifth and final season, meaning there are no plans to shift the Duffer Brothers series to a weekly release.“For the fans of ‘Stranger Things,’ this is how they’ve been watching that show, and I think to change that on them would be disappointing,” Peter Friedlander, Netflix’s head of scripted series for U.S.

Six actors will join the Straw Hats on the Going Merry as Netflix expands the cast of its upcoming One Piece live-action series. Joining the series, based on the beloved manga from author Eiichiro Oda, are Langley Kirkwood, Celeste Loots, Alexander Maniatis, Craig Fairbrass, Steven Ward and Chioma Umeala. They will appear opposite stars Iñaki Godoy, Mackenyu, Emily Rudd, Jacob Romero Gibson and Taz Skylar, who will take on the primary Straw Hats.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterMedia stocks were up when the bell rang Monday, showing growth from where they closed the Memorial Day-shortened trading week last Friday. The movement is a bit of a rally in the market, which has been trending toward bear territory for two months, that comes days before the U.S. consumer-price index release.The tech-sector heavy Nasdaq index closed at 12,012.73 on Friday, which was down 0.9% for the week and -9.5% year-to-date.

Netflix has dropped the first footage of Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams in Wednesday, Tim Burton’s live-action Addams Family series. The 28-second teaser clip was released Monday, the first day of Netflix’s Geeked Week.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorJonathan Littman is exiting as CEO of Jerry Bruckheimer Televison after a 25-year run with the company that included launching the “CSI” and “The Amazing Race” franchises.Littman plans to segue into his own production company. The split came together amicably between longtime partners.

its studio arm, according to The Information.Vice Media has reportedly brought in consultancy AlixPartners to review the business. The media company plans to slow down hiring and cut other costs in order to generate $25 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBIDTA, this year.

EXCLUSIVE: Jonathan Bing is joining Vice Media Group as the new chief communications officer.

We’re getting a first look at The Thing, the disembodied hand featured in Wednesday, Tim Burton’s live-action Addams Family series for Netflix. Netflix dropped the 27-second teaser Wednesday ahead of Geeked Week next week (captioned “Enjoy this marketing ploy.”) See it below.

EXCLUSIVE: Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group has promoted Michael Senzon to President of Digital, overseeing the company’s worldwide direct-to-consumer and streaming portfolio. He had been SVP Digital and General Manager of AMG’s streaming platform Local Now.